One of my sons is looking for his first car in the 4 to 6 thousand range!
Any opinions on safe and reliable cheap first cars.
Also does anyone know of one to buy?
Looking at mini's, Subaru and the like.
Any suggestions would be great.

 

E30 318is or E30 325 E; E39 528 or E28 528 e; Army Tank...

 

I have a friend who is a cop, and he says the VW's always fare well when they crash. You should look at a 4 door Jetta or Passat. Not sure what they go for on the used market, but that's what I am thinking for my son in 2 years.

 

Does your son drive stick shift? How old is he?

Such info. could help with the recommendations.

My general take is a car with side air-bags (that means newer models), decent gas mileage (likely a 4-banger), and simple to fix (newer BMWs and MBs have way too many electrical parts that break). My son had been driving a 4-cylinder Highlander and I will buy that again in a heart-beat.

GL with your choice.

CP

 

Honda Civic/Ford Focus.

My first car was a 1977 Chevette, which I paid $1250.00 for in 1985. Reliable and great gas milage.

 

Mercedes 300 diesel, especially the earlier (80-85) W123 body style. They are tanks, simple mechanically, and won't get anyone into trouble with too much power. Also there are a million of them on Ebay well within your price range. I've had two of these cars and they routinely go over 200,000 miles with no engine work.

Be careful of older Jettas, a good friend bought one for his daughter and it had major electrical problems after about 50,000 miles.

 

'02-'05 Subaru Impreza RS (not turbo). Solid and vaguely sporty without being in any way fast. Far safer than VWs or Hondas. There's a pdf floating around the web for fire/rescue workers talking about how to cut through the Subaru's roll cage. Pretty compelling stuff. There's also a great old thread with pictures on NASIOC where a tractor trailer rear ended then ran up and over an Impreza.

Of course they're reliable, easy to work on, etc.

 

Early 911. Oh, damn, none of those anymore in that price range. My second car was a '68 when I was 18. That car absolutely set my life pattern to this day, nearly 30 years later.

Seriously, though, if he does have an interest in cars a 4 cyl E30 BMW isn't that complex, is cheap, and can teach him a lot of basics. 924s and 944s, too.

 

If you wait another year or so you can pick up a 996 for that much

 

Honda Accord and Subaru Legacy (AWD) too. I like AWD because of adverse conditions living in UT and I play in the mountains.

I would probably go with something late 90's, early 2000's, good gas mileage. One ones to look 1/2 way modern.

 

That made me spit my coffee out!!!!

 

Put my daughter in a clean n/a 944, it's a solid, good handling car and good on gas. We work on it together and she has learned how to shift a stick.

 

You should be able to get a really nice 1998-early 2000 model Mustang for that price.

 

All good suggestions and I would have to second the E30 318is idea as the most compelling. I had one several years ago and loved it.

Then again, what are winter condtions like in Ashland? Does he see snow? I've driven through the Shasta range in the winter and it wasn't fun. The Impreza will work much better if you see snow...RWD BMWs are useless in the white stuff.

 

Used Volvo Wagon