Car for new driver

[georgiegirl]

I feel the same way. While all the new safety features are really nice, I believe kids need to learn to back up and park without relying on the camera. I don't like the thought of the camera going out and my kid not knowing how to back up safely

I hate backing up without a backup camera. I really worry about hitting something or someone. Especially when you have a SUV or other car with limited visibility out the back. And if you have small kids or potentially bikes in the driveway. I REALLY want my child to have a backup camera. I think it’s so much safer for everyone.


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[legaleagle]

I hate backing up without a backup camera. I really worry about hitting something or someone. Especially when you have a SUV or other car with limited visibility out the back. And if you have small kids or potentially bikes in the driveway. I REALLY want my child to have a backup camera. I think it’s so much safer for everyone.

Agreed - newer cars have much larger pillars and generally much worse visibility than older cars. And the savings on avoiding parking lot accidents would be enough in itself.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Back up cam plus the cross traffic alerts are so incredibly helpful!

[smilequeen]

Back up camera is an absolute must have to me. But they do have to take the driver's test without using it.

Mine will be 15 soon and can get his permit that day. He can't wait.

I would love to get him a car off the list posted. I am losing the battle to my DH. He wants to pass down his car (2012 Mercedes GL). It's paid off, low mileage, has plenty of safety features, and he does need something that can carry his hockey stuff and not a small sedan. I'm not 100% on board, but I'm also not sure my arguments against are all that strong. So that is probably where we'll end up depending on how well he does learning to drive it over the next 14 months.

[*myfoursons]

I’m deep in the car buying research now. I’m looking at the Subaru Crosstrek and the Mazda CX-5.

My non-negotiables:
Front pedestrian alert
Rear cross traffic alert
Blind spot monitoring
Rear camera (obviously)

My sister died in a car accident because side impact airbags weren’t developed yet. So if there’s any safety feature on the market, my kid will have that in his car. If it means I’ll have to pay for the top trim level, so be it.

Personally, I can’t imagine putting my kid in an old junker car with no safety features if I could afford even the most basic newer car.

[Kindra178]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nyt...-cars.amp.html


Interesting article. The last paragraph super interesting.

Most older cars these days have side airbags and cameras!

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[LBW]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nyt...-cars.amp.html


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Love this! We're teaching our oldest to drive manual on a very low tech car. He's also doing this Street Survival school this month (before he tests for his license). I've encouraged all of his friends to take this course or a similar one.

http://streetsurvival.org/

[*myfoursons]

The pertinent part of that article for me is this quote:

“Between 2008 and 2011, the percentage of new cars sold with backup cameras doubled, but the backup fatality rate declined by less than a third while backup injuries dropped only 8 percent.”

Despite how the author worded this, the backup fatality rate declined by almost a third. That’s really effing huge. And rental cars are going to have these safety features, too.

I’m buying a car with all of the safety features I can get. I’m going to enroll my teen in an advanced driving course. IM going to put his phone on lockdown while driving. God forbid he gets into an accident, I want that feeling that I did everything possible to protect him.

[gatorsmom]

Our DS1 just got his license this summer. Dh and I kicked around the idea of getting him a car over a year ago versus letting him work to buy his own versus letting him use one of our old ones and us getting a new one. We never completely agreed but we both had some strong thoughts about it. We didn’t want him to have a car that couldn’t be dependable. Both Dh and I had some experiences in our teens with old clunker cars that broke down at times and places that weren’t safe. We wanted to avoid that. Also, we really wanted all our children to be able to drive a manual transmission. We also wanted him to drive a manual to make it impossible for him to text while driving. We agreed it would be practical and helpful to have a third driver for our family taking kids to activities. And we wanted as many safety features as we could get.

So dh did a bunch if research and got him a new Volkswagen Golf Alltrack. It’s a station wagon and it’s a manual shift. It’s not “his” car, it’s ours and we let him drive it. It has been a great car for him and us. He takes our 4 kids to school (they all attend the same school) and brings them home after school (none of them have after school activities this year). He will pick up my groceries for me, he’ll run to the store if I am out of something, he drives the kids to all their extracurricular activities. It’s got amazing safety features and should handle the snow (and our steep driveway) fine this winter. When he leaves for college, we will give it to him with the hope that it lasts him all through college. We love that it fits all his and siblings downhill ski gear too. We are really pleased with it.

[3isEnough]

I’m deep in the car buying research now. I’m looking at the Subaru Crosstrek and the Mazda CX-5.

My non-negotiables:
Front pedestrian alert
Rear cross traffic alert
Blind spot monitoring
Rear camera (obviously)

My sister died in a car accident because side impact airbags weren’t developed yet. So if there’s any safety feature on the market, my kid will have that in his car. If it means I’ll have to pay for the top trim level, so be it.

Personally, I can’t imagine putting my kid in an old junker car with no safety features if I could afford even the most basic newer car.

I’m the PP who said we just bought our DS a Mazda CX-5. We started out intending to buy a Crosstrek, but after looking everywhere couldn’t find one with low enough mileage in our price range ($16k). Seems people who own Crosstreks really like to drive them . Mileage was typically in the 80k+ range. Also, I was surprised how small it was once I drove it, I felt exposed, but that’s likely bc I drive an SUV.

We’re really, really happy with the CX-5. It’s the perfect size and feels safe.

For those looking for cars, check out the Avis and Hertz car sales websites. They sell their rental cars after about 12-18 months of rental use, and they’re typically in great shape mechanically and aesthetically, and yet are marked down considerably due to the depreciation of ownership and rental use. We couldn’t afford a used rental CX-5 since at 1 year old, it was still priced in the $20k range, but had I wanted a CX-3 I could have bought a really nice, fully loaded 1 year old CX-3 for $15k. And all of their cars come with a 1 year warranty regardless of the status of the manufacturer warranty.