As a local, family-owned dealership for 60 years now, we have provided our fair share of teenagers with their first car. It’s an interesting purchasing decision for the family: generally, the parents want the safest vehicle possible while the teen wants something stylish and preferably fast. Then there’s the cost factor. Buying a brand-new vehicle doesn’t make sense when you consider that statistically speaking, there is about a 1 in 4 chance the vehicle will be in at least a fender-bender.
By combining all of these factors, the ideal first car for a teen driver is pre-owned, a few years old, reliable, safe, economical, and (if the teen has any say in the matter) more stylish than the maroon ’93 Taurus station wagon I learned on. The Wall Street Journal recently published an article on The Top Cars for Teens, which gave a list of vehicles based on safety and reliability data compiled from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and Consumer Reports.
And what’s at the top of this list? Both the late model, pre-owned Ford Fusion and pre-owned Toyota Camry were top picks. The combination of superior crash test ratings, excellent reliability, fuel economy, and affordable price make the Ford Fusion and Toyota Camry strong contenders for a first car.
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