What would be a decent used car under 8 to 10 grand for my son's first car? If looking at Toyota or Honda how many miles are too many miles? The prices of used cars around me are ridiculous and it seems like it's almost cheaper to buy new... Thanks!
In my area 2015-2017 Toyota Corolla go for around 9000-10000 w/ less than 100k miles and that could be a good first car.
Also, less expensive, 2010-2011 Honda Civic.
Should be "cool" enough lol
Keep in mind price I said is California prices, one of the highest in the nation.
If you need an SUV like mentioned below 2010-2012 Toyota RAV4, but I wouldn't recommend SUVs in general because normal cars are generally safer. As in, SUVs are known to better protect occupents in a crash, BUT, this goes for same generations, A new Corolla would be much safer than a 10 year old RAV4 by a large margin, and cars are better at not getting into a crash in a first place, while SUVs have longer breaking distances and have higher rollover risks. But if you do want an SUV, that would be my choice.
In general a well cared-for Toyota will have plenty of life left in it at the 200,000 mile mark. Be sure to look for Scotty's videos on what models to avoid (some have oil burning or transmission problems), and have a mechanic check out any contenders with a dealer-level scan tool.
Right now prices on alllll used cars is ridiculous. How much driving will your son be doing? If he's highschool/college age and local commuting then you can consider something with higher mileage. It takes time to find a good privately owned well cared for vehicle. I usually look for 2-3 montths. When you star looking you can get a good persepctive on how good or bad a car is by comparing what youve seen. I bought my daughter a Mazda Protege with 100k on it and that baby was great and lasted her until she got out of high school/college and working. Bought it from a Yale student heading back home. Father always had her maintain it with records.
I am a teen that is looking for his first car as well. I could give you a list of some of my choices.
1.) Toyota Rav4 2009-2012 (about 8 grand for a good used one)
2.) Toyota Camry: 2012-2014 (about 8 grand for a good used one)
3.) Toyota Corolla: 2014-2017 (about 10 grand for a gently used one)
Over 130,000 miles would be too much. I suggest buying them with lower miles and more expensive because they will have less problems and will ride better. The trick is to get one with more highway miles because that makes the engine lubricated better at higher speeds. 100,000 highway miles is equivalent to 10,000 city miles. City mileage puts a ton of wear on tear on brakes, calipers, suspension components because of potholes and cracks on the cities, and worst of all, engine. A highway mileage vehicle can cruise at a more consistent rpm and your engine doesn't have to shift gears as often, which gives your transmission a much-needed break. Speaking of brakes, highway driving mileage puts less stress on your brakes because they're not as often used. I wish you luck with your car buying process!
Agree especially the Corolla 2015-2017 would be a great first car but not the Camry because those years had transmission issues (you could find out about it in the used car faq page toyota bulletins)
You’d probably not like me saying this but a crown Victoria would be a nice reliable used car for way under 8 grand, it’s a big car sure but it doesn’t go fast even though it has a v8 engine so racing wouldn’t be fun, it’s okay on gas not the greatest very simple to work on and cheap to get repaired, good reliable engine and transmission, I’m not kidding you, you could buy a decent one for as little as 1800$ and put 500$ in repair and it’ll run you for years, I bought my 2011 crown Vic in 2015 with 102k miles on it and only put 700$ in repairs since then it has now over 210k miles on right now
