High schools and colleges will be handing out diplomas soon -- if they haven't already -- and that means a lot of parents will be considering whether to hand out car keys to help send their new graduates into the world.
Even before the economy soured, buying a car for a young driver presented tough choices. Many cars that are cheap lack the safety technology parents want. Cars that have advanced safety technology often aren't cheap. Then there's the question of reliability.
And what about finding the perfect blend of safety and practicality in a car that would be really cool to be seen driving? Well, kids, beggars can't be choosers.
Sometimes the best blend of safety and affordability comes in a luxury car that's three or four years old, like the 2006 Lexus ES 330.
Autos
Several years ago, when I had cars to buy for my teenage children, I devised the Eyes on the Road "Teen Car Search System." It's pretty simple: To filter out the dozens of different vehicles on the market, I use safety and crash-test information from the Web sites of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and quality and reliability scores from Consumer Reports, the nonprofit product-analysis publisher.
To make the list, a vehicle should have "good" ratings from the IIHS for front and side crash protection, four or five stars for front and side driver protection from the NHTSA, and at least an average reliability rating from Consumer Reports.
To further narrow the field of vehicles, I eliminated from consideration some classes of vehicles that experts at the IIHS and Consumer Reports agree are inappropriate for younger drivers: pickup trucks, body-on-frame sport-utility vehicles such as the Ford Explorer and the Toyota 4Runner, high-powered sports cars and very small cars.
Pickups and SUVs are out because of their comparatively high centers of gravity, which make them more prone to rollover accidents, particularly in inexperienced hands. Safety experts don't like very small cars for younger drivers because in a crash, they afford less protection than a larger vehicle -- though some small cars have good crash test scores.
High-powered sports cars are a bad choice for obvious reasons, and for one in particular: Single-vehicle crashes in which a driver loses control, often at high speed, are the most common type of fatal accident among teen drivers, says David Champion, director of vehicle testing for Consumer Reports magazine. The insurance industry also frowns on young drivers with hot rods, and will charge jacked-up rates if you give in to your son or daughter's plea for a Mustang GT or a car like the one I own, a Subaru Impreza WRX.
Unless you are feeling very generous, you needn't spring for a new vehicle. Teens can get by just fine with a car that's lightly to moderately used. In assembling this year's list, I focused on cars that are likely to cost $20,000 or less in the categories that follow.
The 2008 Chevrolet Malibu offers stability control and is recommended by Consumer Reports.
Mal;ibu
Family Sedans
The best vehicles for teens, as far as safety experts are concerned, are midsize family sedans. Four-cylinder midsize cars in this class represent the Goldilocks solution -- economical but not too powerful.
Good choices in this class include four-cylinder versions of the 2004-06 Toyota Camry, ideally those that have the optional electronic-stability-control system. This feature, which helps prevent vehicles from skidding out of control, can greatly improve a young driver's chances of avoiding an accident, Mr. Champion says.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says stability control -- sometimes called ESC or VSC (for "vehicle stability control") -- is highly recommended for sedans acquired for young drivers, and essential if you plan to give a young driver a crossover vehicle such as a Toyota RAV 4 or a Ford Edge.
The 2005-07 Honda Accord has good safety scores and better-than-average reliability ratings. But Accords of that vintage don't come with stability control. Two Detroit-brand vehicles in this class that deserve a look are the 2008-09 Chevrolet Malibu, which has stability control available and is recommended by Consumer Reports, and the Ford Fusion, though older models of the latter don't come with stability control.
Another car that fares well in my matrix is the 2006-09 Subaru Legacy. Mr. Champion of Consumer Reports says he likes the Hyundai Sonata, a midsize, moderately priced car that comes with stability control. I include it with an asterisk because the Insurance Institute gives it an "average" mark for side-impact protection, though it's rated "good" for frontal crashes, and the NHTSA gives it five stars for both front- and side-impact protection.
A larger car that your teen may sneer at, but which has excellent safety scores and is a domestic brand, is the 2008 Ford Taurus. Look for one with optional stability control.
Sometimes the best blend of safety and affordability comes in a luxury car that's three or four years old. Used luxury cars are more likely to have electronic stability control and other safety features.
[No SUV]
Used Luxury Cars
Cars worth a look in this category include the 2003-06 Lexus ES and the 2006 Audi A4. Mr. Champion says he bought one of his children an Acura TSX, a four-cylinder car with good quality ratings. It fell off my list of used luxury cars because the IIHS rates 2005-08 models only "average" for side-impact protection. (The 2009 Acura TSX earns "good" ratings for both front and side impacts.)
Crossover vehicles, which are built on the same underpinnings as sedans, are less likely to roll over than truck-based SUVs. They may be practical choices for college graduates who want a wagon to facilitate a nomadic lifestyle. Among those that have good crash-test scores and reliability ratings are the Ford Edge, Honda Element and Toyota RAV 4. You should be sure a vehicle of that class has stability control, says Anne Fleming of the Insurance Institute.
Finally, if your graduate demands a "green" car, a used Toyota Prius makes the cut. It scored "good" on the IIHS front and side crash tests, though the NHTSA rated it four stars out of five on its front and side crash tests. The Prius has much better-than-average reliability ratings from Consumer Reports. Stability control was an option on 2004-09 models.
Of course, if your son or daughter is truly ecology-minded, he or she will be satisfied with a nice bike -- and maybe a cut of the thousands you saved by not buying a car.
Even before the economy soured, buying a car for a young driver presented tough choices. Many cars that are cheap lack the safety technology parents want. Cars that have advanced safety technology often aren't cheap. Then there's the question of reliability.
And what about finding the perfect blend of safety and practicality in a car that would be really cool to be seen driving? Well, kids, beggars can't be choosers.
Sometimes the best blend of safety and affordability comes in a luxury car that's three or four years old, like the 2006 Lexus ES 330.
Autos
Several years ago, when I had cars to buy for my teenage children, I devised the Eyes on the Road "Teen Car Search System." It's pretty simple: To filter out the dozens of different vehicles on the market, I use safety and crash-test information from the Web sites of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and quality and reliability scores from Consumer Reports, the nonprofit product-analysis publisher.
To make the list, a vehicle should have "good" ratings from the IIHS for front and side crash protection, four or five stars for front and side driver protection from the NHTSA, and at least an average reliability rating from Consumer Reports.
To further narrow the field of vehicles, I eliminated from consideration some classes of vehicles that experts at the IIHS and Consumer Reports agree are inappropriate for younger drivers: pickup trucks, body-on-frame sport-utility vehicles such as the Ford Explorer and the Toyota 4Runner, high-powered sports cars and very small cars.
Pickups and SUVs are out because of their comparatively high centers of gravity, which make them more prone to rollover accidents, particularly in inexperienced hands. Safety experts don't like very small cars for younger drivers because in a crash, they afford less protection than a larger vehicle -- though some small cars have good crash test scores.
High-powered sports cars are a bad choice for obvious reasons, and for one in particular: Single-vehicle crashes in which a driver loses control, often at high speed, are the most common type of fatal accident among teen drivers, says David Champion, director of vehicle testing for Consumer Reports magazine. The insurance industry also frowns on young drivers with hot rods, and will charge jacked-up rates if you give in to your son or daughter's plea for a Mustang GT or a car like the one I own, a Subaru Impreza WRX.
Unless you are feeling very generous, you needn't spring for a new vehicle. Teens can get by just fine with a car that's lightly to moderately used. In assembling this year's list, I focused on cars that are likely to cost $20,000 or less in the categories that follow.
The 2008 Chevrolet Malibu offers stability control and is recommended by Consumer Reports.
Mal;ibu
Family Sedans
The best vehicles for teens, as far as safety experts are concerned, are midsize family sedans. Four-cylinder midsize cars in this class represent the Goldilocks solution -- economical but not too powerful.
Good choices in this class include four-cylinder versions of the 2004-06 Toyota Camry, ideally those that have the optional electronic-stability-control system. This feature, which helps prevent vehicles from skidding out of control, can greatly improve a young driver's chances of avoiding an accident, Mr. Champion says.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says stability control -- sometimes called ESC or VSC (for "vehicle stability control") -- is highly recommended for sedans acquired for young drivers, and essential if you plan to give a young driver a crossover vehicle such as a Toyota RAV 4 or a Ford Edge.
The 2005-07 Honda Accord has good safety scores and better-than-average reliability ratings. But Accords of that vintage don't come with stability control. Two Detroit-brand vehicles in this class that deserve a look are the 2008-09 Chevrolet Malibu, which has stability control available and is recommended by Consumer Reports, and the Ford Fusion, though older models of the latter don't come with stability control.
Another car that fares well in my matrix is the 2006-09 Subaru Legacy. Mr. Champion of Consumer Reports says he likes the Hyundai Sonata, a midsize, moderately priced car that comes with stability control. I include it with an asterisk because the Insurance Institute gives it an "average" mark for side-impact protection, though it's rated "good" for frontal crashes, and the NHTSA gives it five stars for both front- and side-impact protection.
A larger car that your teen may sneer at, but which has excellent safety scores and is a domestic brand, is the 2008 Ford Taurus. Look for one with optional stability control.
Sometimes the best blend of safety and affordability comes in a luxury car that's three or four years old. Used luxury cars are more likely to have electronic stability control and other safety features.
[No SUV]
Used Luxury Cars
Cars worth a look in this category include the 2003-06 Lexus ES and the 2006 Audi A4. Mr. Champion says he bought one of his children an Acura TSX, a four-cylinder car with good quality ratings. It fell off my list of used luxury cars because the IIHS rates 2005-08 models only "average" for side-impact protection. (The 2009 Acura TSX earns "good" ratings for both front and side impacts.)
Crossover vehicles, which are built on the same underpinnings as sedans, are less likely to roll over than truck-based SUVs. They may be practical choices for college graduates who want a wagon to facilitate a nomadic lifestyle. Among those that have good crash-test scores and reliability ratings are the Ford Edge, Honda Element and Toyota RAV 4. You should be sure a vehicle of that class has stability control, says Anne Fleming of the Insurance Institute.
Finally, if your graduate demands a "green" car, a used Toyota Prius makes the cut. It scored "good" on the IIHS front and side crash tests, though the NHTSA rated it four stars out of five on its front and side crash tests. The Prius has much better-than-average reliability ratings from Consumer Reports. Stability control was an option on 2004-09 models.
Of course, if your son or daughter is truly ecology-minded, he or she will be satisfied with a nice bike -- and maybe a cut of the thousands you saved by not buying a car.
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