My kid just finished the classroom part of driver’s ed but there’s a wait to get behind the wheel before he can get his level 1 permit.
He’s not a car person at all and doesn’t really care from what I can tell. I’ll definitely get him a new car when he can drive to school (so he has all the newest safety features) but I go back and forth between getting something like an Accord/CR-V/Camry/Rav4, some vault-like Volvo, or leasing something like an ID4 or Ioniq 5 (which I had).
Fortunately I have time to figure it out. The only problem is unless he learns on my wife’s Odyssey, the options I have to teach him are in an iX or a G63 .
Not into cars = Don’t get a new car. A couple of years old CPO should be fine since it will probably get dinged up.
Latest safety features - These go by generation (or mid-cycle updates), not model year. Depending on the car, a five or six year old one may have the exact same safety features as a brand new one. Again, skip a new one.
If a kid is into cars, like I was, then having a new one might work as they will take care of it, wash and wax it, park it carefully, etc. Basically, appreciate it. If a new driver doesn’t care about cars, I would just buy a used one. I addressed the safety features as well in my post, as those are important.
Came here to say that, many cars a few years old have a sleuth of safety feature, just sold my one year old 330e a teenager won’t get her hands on it, looking at Mazda3 sedan which 2023 seems to be down to invoice or close to it.
Just find a cheap lease on a safe car with the newest safety features (BSM, AEB, and rearview camera). With a lease, you don’t have to worry about diminished value if they get into an accident.
I don’t like automated driving features so I’m not going to even open the door for my kid to use them. Surround view will be important. Fortunately they won’t need to parallel park anywhere.
I think I’ll end up leasing something because the mileage needs will be low and after it gets dinged up in a few years send it back in. Repeat with the next kid.
I use drive assist features as much as possible, but my wife hates them. She complains that it beeps at all the time when she drives in the bike lane. Told her to not drive in the bike lane, and she says that everyone else does. They took all these two lane roads and added a bike lane so all the lanes are narrower. If you have and use lka, it actually works out nicely, but a lot of cars can’t stay in their lane.
We’ll teach our kids to drive with and without the assist features
I know what he’s saying. Our kids will be using their cars for school and practice. They won’t be driving anywhere that requires parallel parking. It won’t be like when we grew up where we drove wherever we wanted.
I’m also coming to the conclusion that leasing is a better option. A new car offers safety and reliability. Diminished value is another significant consideration.
A lot of my customers get the double cab Tacoma for their children. With msds they can be under $350/mo and usually have equity at lease end effectively making it even cheaper. Just under $400 with $0das. $37k msrp.
Might be a little long for a first car but def safe. I learned to drive in a minivan and I think that made me a better driver bc I had to parallel park something so big, so other vehicles were easier to drive after learning in that.
No, but every scratch, dint and dent above a certain threshold will be itemized.
Now someone will say you can prepay for those charges to be waived in the end. I call that moral hazard, ie you don’t face any consequences for your lack of caution because you’ve paid to insure against preventable occurrences. TBH it’s taking away accountability at the first instance of giving a kid a large responsibility.
You buy lease end coverage up to $7,500 for $699. Problem solved. You buy your own piece of mind. No one scratches their car or intentionaly goes over curbs to get curb rash. It’s just new drivers that can’t drive properly.
.