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  #1  
Old 06-29-2020, 11:43 PM
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Best $10k car for a 17 year old?

How time flies. Let 'er rip. Biases and everything. Opinions on a best car for $10k for a 17 year old?
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  #2  
Old 06-30-2020, 12:09 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kuan View Post
How time flies. Let 'er rip. Biases and everything. Opinions on a best car for $10k for a 17 year old?
That would depend on the individual. Some seventeen year olds would do well with a 10K car, some would destroy it quickly. Just my .02
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  #3  
Old 06-30-2020, 12:16 AM
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What will be the main type of use? Commuting or???
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  #4  
Old 06-30-2020, 01:29 AM
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Post First Car

Wow ~ to be 17 again .

I'm torn between saying any old Ford Mercury Panther platform because they're well engineered and built, of a pickup truck but pickups roll over easily and are not actually very safe in any collision .

I had this same dilemma 30 years ago and wound up making my son save up and pay for his own car and insurance .

He bought a 1963 VW Beetle and never wrecked it in spite of making it _very_ fast .

After it was stolen he bought a Acura Integra and wrecked it several times in his 20's....

Consider paying for him to have professional driver training .

I wish you the very best .
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  #5  
Old 06-30-2020, 12:09 PM
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Originally Posted by sloride View Post
That would depend on the individual. Some seventeen year olds would do well with a 10K car, some would destroy it quickly. Just my .02
X2

The best 10K car for a new driver may be two 5K cars...….
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  #6  
Old 06-30-2020, 02:45 PM
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Post That First Vehicle

I realize times have changed a lot but having some sweat or pocket book equity in your first vehicle is a simple way to ensure he learns the cause and effect....

I gave my son a Motocycle when he was 14 and beginning the 9th grade so he didn't have to ride the Ghetto bus across town to the good high school I'd managed to get him transferred to .

I explained it simply : if you ride fully geared up and with a book bag and make no stops / short cuts / etc. you'll be the one cool kid on campus with your own Motocycle and the cops won't hassle / stop you because it's got current tags and lights etc. all work .

If, OTOH, you give your buddies rides or ride it on the grass etc. it will be impounded and I won't get it out, you'll have to ride the dangerous Ghetto bus across town for four years .

I trust you to make the right decision, here's the keys .

Kids these days have it tough, make no mistake .

You are his PARENT not his friend .

My very first vehicle was a less than ten year old 1959 Ford F-100 pickup truck with the 223CID i6 engine and three on the tree manual tranny, the cab floor was completely rusted out and the generator was kaputi .

I didn't give a care what anyone else thought, it was mine to get running and drive so I had at it, used parts from God knows how many other junked farm vehicles ~ I remember i used generator parts from a 1937 John Deere tractor...

I hope your son has fun with his first car whatever it may be .
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  #7  
Old 06-30-2020, 04:41 PM
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Originally Posted by vwnate1 View Post

You are his PARENT not his friend .
Yes I am. Looking at cars I find myself wanting the car for myself.
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  #8  
Old 06-30-2020, 04:39 PM
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Originally Posted by ILUVMILS View Post
X2

The best 10K car for a new driver may be two 5K cars...….
The wisdom in here humbles me. This must be the most brilliant thing I've heard in the last year. Not kidding.
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  #9  
Old 06-30-2020, 12:15 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kuan View Post
How time flies. Let 'er rip. Biases and everything. Opinions on a best car for $10k for a 17 year old?
I’m a big subscriber to the surround a new driver with as much sheetmetal as possible approach. Mercury Grand Marquis/Ford Crown Vic/2011 and newer Ford Taurus (except the SHO). Yes, the new driver will occasionally try to peel away a fender while attempting to parallel-park such tanks, but we live in a land chock-full of Ford F250s...
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  #10  
Old 07-26-2020, 10:06 PM
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Originally Posted by P.C. View Post
I’m a big subscriber to the surround a new driver with as much sheetmetal as possible approach. Mercury Grand Marquis/Ford Crown Vic/2011 and newer Ford Taurus (except the SHO). Yes, the new driver will occasionally try to peel away a fender while attempting to parallel-park such tanks, but we live in a land chock-full of Ford F250s...
I drove me a lot of Crown Vics in SF in '97 during my brief cab stint there - my last in that biz. Surprisingly good cars. Handling and braking superb for a car that size. Have considered finding a used one, never did. I think the police model has a shorter wheelbase, probably not by much. I bet those suckers were screamers. I saw some of them - police interceptor I think they were called at an auction once for about $5K, maybe 120K miles.

Yellow Cab of SF used to buy Crown Vics new, the cab model is the longer wheelbase (only know this from reading about it). Only cab co I ever saw that bought their cars new. I drove one once with 2k miles.

Was curious, looked again, the police model had a 114" wb, the longer wb - 121 - sold only for cab fleet use, who knows if every cab had that wb. Wiki claims that the police interceptor did the quarter in about 17 seconds. I recall the ones I drove were not slow.
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  #11  
Old 06-30-2020, 02:06 AM
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Seats fold into the floor to make extra room for the high school orgy. Plenty of condom storage cubbies.
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  #12  
Old 06-30-2020, 02:53 AM
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Crown Vic cop car
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  #13  
Old 03-31-2021, 04:14 PM
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Originally Posted by speednjay View Post
Crown Vic cop car
Those things are fast. I drove the cab version many times in SF, slightly longer wheelbase, I think, and those suckers surprised me at the speed and power from a large Detroit sedan. I just read that they had 4 wheel discs, I recall excellent braking.

The engine was SOHC, the cop version not significantly more powerful but enhanced, oil cooler added, other small upgrades. I've often thought I could be happy with a police Crown Vic.

For a teenager I would go with the slowest Honda or Toyota I could find, manual tranny. Kids can get weird with speed. One of my clients bought a Tesla a few years back, they were talking about letting their daughter have it when she got her license at age 16. I went onto thin ice when I advised him to think twice about that. He said he had been reconsidering that, was thinking some kind of Toyota. I don't think a 4 second 0 to 60 car would be good for a teenager. I recall the 17 year old girl who piled her father's Porsche up at a road toll booth.
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  #14  
Old 06-30-2020, 05:31 AM
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I'm going to go against the grain and suggest a VW TDI of some sort made in this decade versus a Crown Vic. Crown Vics were never safe in side impacts and from owning two, I'm not a huge fan. The culture around them is often toxic wannabe cops and the cars themselves aren't anything special as they're either plagued with timing chain issues or intake manifold issues. Very numb cars and they get decent MPG for the size but other options may be better in that regard. Other options would be probably any Honda, most Toyotas, or a minivan, preferably made in this century. There's a few early 00s Mercedes that would be relatively affordable but I have a feeling insurance will be higher. The M111,M112, and M113 engines are pretty good and the 722.6 transmission is probably the most robust Mercedes auto transmission ever. The Korean brands are also worth checking out.

In short, I would prioritize safety, then reliability/cost of ownership, cool factor, power in that order. Let the kid have some input.
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  #15  
Old 06-30-2020, 06:00 AM
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bought cars under $800. here. always wreck them once. To heck what their friends say.
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