Scions are great cars. We have four xB's as loaner vehicles. They offer great gas mileage, very roomy, and lots of utility, but don't know if you can pick one up for $6K. Good luck.

 

the ones for sale within 300 miles are 8k plus. 4 loaners. damn you must be busy busy bees.

 

In High School a friends parents bought him a $1500 MBG with their $3000 budget. They bought him tools for $500 and put $1000 in the bank to buy parts and told him to buy a bus pass. He is now one of the best mechanics in Portland!

 

FYI the new Tata from India is only $2500 plus tariff tax. Cool to be the first to get one and flip for profit.

 

If he likes the Civic SI and Integra GSR I'd let him go for one of those. I personally had a 2000 SI and I can say it was one of the most reliable cars I've ever owned. It was seriously under powered from factory but that is what a young driver needs. It however has a good platform to build on if it is something he takes interest in and wants to modify. I actually built and turboed mine and it was very fun to drive it ended up making a little under 400whp the cars never make any real torque I think I made 29x. Modifications are relatively cheap I did most of the work myself and had a little over 6k in parts and a good tune.

 

Don't let him get aircooled volkswagen. He will go broke. Personally I think Audi would be a best fit for that kind of price range. There are plenty of cool Audi's on craigslist if you search hard enough.

 

Or you could go towards the other end of the pricing spectrum and get him a fake Rolls Royce hearse:

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/01/19/e...rse-means-you/

 

I would not recommend an Audi or VW. Terrible reliability with things like window regulators and coil packs.
For what it's worth, I've owned 3 Honda/Acura cars and never had a problem with them. Very reliable and great gas mileage too.

 

Subaru Imprezas are great, but don't go for the WRX. I've seen too many wrapped around light poles by young guys. If you can get him to go for a non turbo (2.5RS or 2.5i) he'd have a reliable, safe, inexpensive car that has a pretty decent aftermarket. Plus, the AWD is nice in the winter.

<- has owned 4 Imprezas and 8 Subarus.

 

i just passed a STI subaru. it looked cool. are those an impreza as well. awd less expensive? cant look it up driving to portland

 

Yup. The 2.5 variants are non-turbo and less expensive. The older models are still pretty good looking IMO. Fun cars to mod and popular in rally IIRC.

 

Also it helps to have kids pay their own insurance. No insurance, no driving. This way it keeps the car of choice in check a bit and gets them thinking about consequences.

 

I would recommend a 98-02 Honda Accord. I bought mine with about 150k on the clock and have put about 70k miles on it in 2 years. I only paid $3700 for it when I bought it and it was in great shape with a good history. They ONLY maint. that I have done so far is to do two tuneups, 3 sets of tires a set of brakes/rotors and replacing the master and slave cylinder on the tranny. I am going to have to replace the cluch and from brakes here soon, but it will be good for another 50k mile then. A car like this is PERFECT for a first car. I drive it like I stole it too. I am not stupid with it, but I corner hard and am not afraid to redline it more than I should. Get one with a manual tranny like mine and it will not even matter that it only has 150hp. The key items are 2 airbags, ABS, and a car that is large enough to be safe but still manuverable. Those are items that I would consider manditory on a first car. There will be an accident at some point so it is better to buy with safety. Other key points on the Accord is that it will get about 26-27 combined cycle gas mileage and be somewhat 'sporty', but will still blend into the surroundings well enough to avoid being spotted easily by the cops.

When people ask about how reliable it is I just say there is a reason that Honda has the best buyer retention ratings of any manufactuer. I had a friend who bought a 1994 Honda Accord at 190k miles and didn't change the oil or filter the entire time he owned it . For the 30k miles he owned it he only added oil when it got low. Another friend bought the car from the one who didn't change the oil and it now has about 260k miles on it and still doesn't even smoke on start-up. Japanese may not be the coolest, but no having to sink all of you money into maint is better in my book.

Oh and if he wants to sell it down the road the Accord prob won't depreciate at all. Once they hit about 5k they just stay there for the most part. I had someone offer me $3500 the other day for mine... 2 years and 70k miles for $200 dollars in depreciation isn't bad

 

Just read through the thread and figured that I would post again to warn. DO NOT get a Lexus or an Integra. When I was 19 I was looking at an Integra because they are supposed to be fun, but the insurance was higher than insurance for a 01 911TT . It was going to be about 400 a month for full coverage. Then right before I turned 21 I made the mistake of buying a 1996 LS400 and the insurance was almost $500 a MONTH until I turned 21. Was thinking some more too and a 94-98 Mitsu 3000gt would be in his range. That is what I got instead of a Integra and the insurance was reasonable, and the manual trannys were fairly reliable. Just be sure that the timing belt gets replaced on that one. (plus they look cool, but don't have too much HP)

 

Older VW Scirocco!
-mechanically simple, made before VWs became unreliable mexican plastic pieces of crap. (they were built by Karmann)
-fun to drive and plenty of aftermarket stuff available

I tend to agree with the sentiment of just buying him something and telling him to live with it or buy his own car.