As great as it would be for teenagers to walk or cycle everywhere they want to go, that is not really possible in most places throughout the country. Apart from the bicycle haters who fight tooth and nail to stop the construction of a separate bicycle infrastructure, you must also worry that the police will appear if you let your teenager walk somewhere. So, outside of a few cities where it is possible, if you don’t want your teenager to be stuck at home when you are not available to control them, you must ensure that they have a car.
But which cars are actually good choices for teenagers? As a teenager I would have said a Subaru WRX STI, but as an adult I would not have an inexperienced driver calling a car that could call you soon. Do you know how fast I went just before I got my first speed ticket? At least 90 mph. In a 55. Behind the wheel of a Mazda Protege that made as a 90 hp when it was new (and before Mazda it went to a power-sucking automatic transmission Kieve). Teenagers are idiots who will accelerate everything in everything they get in their hands, and the last thing they need is a car that actually encourages that.
Also yes, I know we have asked this question earlier, but it is a few years ago and the car market changes over time, so the best suggestions for teenagers also change. Especially since used cars that may have been priceless for a teenage driver in the past, now that better options can be thanks to the magic of continuous depreciation.
My choice
The way I see it, you generally want something as small as possible, because teenagers are idiots and their friends are. The fewer friends they can fit into their car, the less bad influences they will whisper in their ear and tell them that they should do something stupid. You probably also want so little power if you can reasonably get away, so it’s more difficult to get a ridiculous speed card. Moreover, you want basic safety functions such as anti -block brakes, because teenagers from subordinating other drivers keep.
Of course you might be tempted with a manual transmission to make it harder for your teenager to play with their phone while driving, but as long as they have a place to charge it, I actually think that the better move might be electric. Even without speed -limits, EVs encourage more responsible driving, because you can see your reach fall every time you do something aggressive or irresponsible. And they need that reach if they later want to hang out with their idiot friends.
In theory I would say that a first-gen Fiat 500E would be perfect, because they are small, cheap and not too fast, but they charge so slowly that you probably don’t want to deal with the headache. Instead, I say, go with a first-gen Chevrolet Bolt. They have back doors and space for several bad influences, while they are also faster than I would like, but you get more reach and faster charging, which should make less headache for you, the responsible adult in the room she has to pick up if they no longer have juice. They also have many of the safety functions that you probably want and can be found for around $ 10,000. If it survives high school, they might even be able to bring it to university.
However, what about you? What do you think is the perfect car for a new teenage driver?
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