Best Used Vehicles for Teen Drivers

Buying your teen’s first car is a big decision. After all, it will be carrying your most precious cargo out into the world. Driving is a huge responsibility, but no matter how many times you tell your teen this fact, they still might make mistakes and drive irresponsibly at times.

As a result, when choosing a first car for your high school aged driver, you probably want to start with a used vehicle that’s affordable and safe. Even though your teen might not understand, a brand’s reliability and safety record stretching back at least 10 years is more important than how “cool” the vehicle looks.

While foreign imported cars might be what comes to mind when it comes to safety and affordability, many American-based brands have made tremendous strides in both areas. While Honda, Subaru and Toyota have traditionally topped the list for affordable and safe used vehicles, manufacturers like Chrysler, Chevrolet and Ford have also upped their game when it comes to reliability and safety. And we would be remiss if we didn’t mention Kia and Hyundai‘s recent reliability ratings.

Most “Best Cars for Teen Drivers” lists have recommendations about how much horsepower a vehicle should have (not much). These lists also say that the bigger, heavier cars and trucks are safer (traditionally they are) and that the vehicle should have electronic stability control (or ESC — and yes, most vehicles built in the last 10 years will have some form of ESC and your teen should use it).

Below we’ve provided a list of used vehicles that our experts have picked out as perfect first cars for new drivers, categorized by the size of the vehicle. Used car prices start at just under $4,000 and increase based on the vehicle and year.