Cars for Teens

Choosing the Best Car for Your Teen Driver: Practical and Safe Options

In this episode of Women Buying Cars, Meredith Reynolds, co-owner of Reynolds Automotive, provides comprehensive advice for parents looking to purchase a car for their teenage drivers. Topics covered include the importance of safety, practicality, and affordability when selecting a vehicle. Meredith discusses the risks associated with teenage driving due to inexperience and incomplete brain development, which heightens the likelihood of accidents. She also warns against choosing tiny cars, sports cars, muscle cars, and large SUVs, advising instead on mid-sized cars or small SUVs. Key recommendations include specific models from Subaru, Mazda, Honda, Toyota, and Kia. Meredith emphasizes checking safety ratings from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and opting for vehicles with modern safety features like forward collision warning and anti-lock brakes. Practical tips on balancing luxury features versus safety in different car models are also provided. The episode concludes with a call for parents to make informed and cautious decisions while preparing their kids for the road.

00:00 Introduction: Preparing for Your Teen's First Car
01:08 Understanding Teen Driving Challenges
01:52 Key Factors in Choosing a Teen's Car
06:42 Safety Features to Look For
08:12 Cars to Avoid for Teen Drivers
15:00 Recommended Cars for Teens
19:07 Luxury vs. Safety: Making the Right Choice
21:11 Conclusion: Recap and Final Advice

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Transcript

Meredith 0:01

So you have a teen in your household who will very soon be driving. You know, you can't logistically share cars for too long, so they are going to need a vehicle of their own. I do not envy you mamas out there who are in that situation. I still have five to six years before I have to worry about that. But I do feel for you. So where do you begin? How do you know what kind of car to get your teenager? Well, I have some advice, so listen up today on women buying Cars. Thank you so much for coming back to women buying Cars. I'm Meredith Reynolds, my husband Todd, and I own Reynolds Automotive in Merriam, Kansas, which is a suburb of Kansas City. Today? We're gonna talk about cars for teenagers. We have parents come in a lot looking for cars for teens, and what I have discovered is there's a very, very wide range of ideas on what a teenager should or will be driving. I'll have, you know, parents come in and. I want a $5,000 car. And I'll say, oh, I'm sorry. You know, the cheapest thing we have is this $10,000 car. And they say, oh, my teenager's gonna be driving it. There's no way I'm gonna spend $10,000 on something. They're just gonna bang up. So that is one perspective. We also have parents who come in and look at very, very expensive vehicles. So there's a very wide range. What do you look for? Okay, so the main things we're gonna look for are safety, practicality, affordability. And a vehicle that you don't mind getting banged up. So let's start with that one. We don't want any car to get banged up because even a cheap car is expensive, right? So we don't take that lightly. And I'm praying that your child never gets seriously injured in a crash, but statistically per mile traveled, teens crash four times as often as drivers who are 20 and over four times. Two reasons teenagers are gonna get in crashes or not just even crashes, just fender benders, little scrapes, little scratches. The reason they're going to have those things is for two reasons. One, inexperience and two brain development. So inexperience is pretty self-explanatory. A car is a complex machine. There's a whole lot of things going on. When you drive, most of that is automatic for you and I, we don't think about it, but there's so many different decisions that have to be made and circumstances under which people drive. And these kids of ours who are teenagers. Even if they've had driving classes and they've been practicing, they're still inexperienced and they will be for quite a while. And the same goes for a 30-year-old who's just now learning to drive. That person is inexperienced and is more likely to get in a crash than someone who's been driving for 30 years. So. Even if you've prepped your kid, you can't prep them for every situation. The second reason is because of brain development. The human brain doesn't fully develop until close to age 25, not 18, not when we declare them an adult, but. Up to seven years after that, the last part of our brains to develop is the frontal lobe, and that's what controls impulses, reactivity decision making. So if you have a kid who's disorganized, impulsive. Doesn't always control themselves. A lot of that has to do with brain development in the frontal lobe, and that doesn't fully form until the mid twenties. So think about when you are driving a car or about to drive a car, when you've been told by your parents to have no more than one passenger with you at all times. You've been told by your parents to always watch the speed limits and never go over them. And then suddenly it's after school and a friend comes up and says, Hey, we have 20 minutes until practice. Let's run over to a QuickTrip and get something to drink beforehand. And your child says, oh, I don't know if we really have time. And your friend says, oh yeah, sure we do. Just, we just gotta hurry. Come on, come on, let's go, let's go, let's go. And then another friend says, oh, you on a quick trip, please let me come. I need to get something. And your child, of course, is still. A kid and so they say, okay, just this one time. And then the friends are in the car fooling around, turning the music up, high horse playing, and all of that's going on while your child's trying to quickly get over to quick tripping back. Those are the type of things that happen in real life, because the kids aren't great at making decisions in an impulse, controlling themselves, telling their friends, no, et cetera. Kids are kids and even if you have done everything you can and you have confidence in your child, maybe your child is very rational and very much a rule follower. And you've spent a lot of time, maybe money on classes and you feel really confident about your kids driving. The other thing to think about is they're driving a car every day to a parking lot at school that's full of other 16 to 18-year-old kids, and some of them have not been prepped. The way your child has been prepped or is not as rational as your child is. A school parking lot is just a recipe for fender benders, right? There's a very high possibility that your kid's first car is going to get dinged up, scratched, curb rash. Spills. Who knows what'll go on in the interior. A sweaty shirt that's left forgotten in the back for two months. My advice is to be careful with your money and put them in a car that you know is probably not going to stay pristine. We want them to do the best they can, but they're just kids. things that would dictate a purchase for a teenager. Let's think about safety. If they're not very good drivers, they're the most inexperienced drivers on the road, probably they're driving around without a fully formed brain. We need that car to be very, very high on safety rating lists. most newish cars are getting five star safety ratings, maybe four star safety ratings. Okay? Cars are safer than they've ever been, but you may not be able to afford a brand new car. We just talked about that, right? I wouldn't put a kid in a brand new car because it's probably going to get beat up, but newish cars still have really high safety ratings Any car. Built in this century has airbags. Airbags became mandatory in the late nineties. Side airbags became mandatory after 2013. Also in 2013, things that became standard anti-lock breaks, traction control, and stability control. Those are things that help you not spin out in the rain or ice. So a lot of safety improvements came 2013 and later. 2018 was when backup cameras became mandatory. A lot of cars had backup cameras before 2018. We sell a lot of 2013 and 20 fifteens, and they always had backup cameras, but for sure 2018. You want it to be a practical car because we don't need our kid distracted. so these are vehicles I would not buy my child. I would avoid very tiny cars like a smart car. Now, a smart car is going to get really great gas mileage, but a tiny car is not gonna farewell in a really big wreck with a very large truck. Some Small cars are fine. I mean, I have a small car. It's a Chevy Bolt. It has a five star safety rating, but I'm talking about cars that are even smaller than that. I would not get them a sports car or a muscle car. They would like one, but I would not do that. Even experienced adults can't always handle a V eight engine, a rear wheel drive., Really high horsepower. That is not something a 16 to 18-year-old kid should be expected to handle. They won't be able to, even if they're not trying to show off. A car like that can get out from under you really quickly. Not only that, the insurance on a sports car, a muscle car would be really high. And please don't ever consider a Dodge Charger. If you've listened to me before, you know I'm very anti Dodge Charger. The fatality rate is high on Dodge Chargers because of the engine, the power and the driver's desire to, show off what that car can do. next thing I would not buy my child is a very large three row SUV. A lot of people come in looking at big three row SUVs for their teenager, and I'm guessing it's because they feel like I was talking about that wreck earlier with the smart car. Who's gonna fare better in that wreck? The smart car or the big honking SUV. So they feel like they're gonna wrap their kid in all this metal and that's going to be safe and protective. And that is true. However, they're hard to park. They're hard to maneuver, and some of them are prone to rolling over. If you've got a high center of gravity. Then a rollover is much more likely. So these large three row SUVs, I'm talking about a Chevy Traverse, I'm talking about a Kia Telluride, a Ford Explorer, a Land Rover a Land Rover is very tall and narrow, and that makes it topple much easier. A fore runner is one of the top vehicles for rollover. So those are very popular. But they're not safe for an inexperienced driver. I would not buy my child a Jeep Wrangler for the same reason. They're very popular Teenagers want them. Maybe some of the parents even think, Ooh, let's just get a Jeep Wrangler for the family, and the kid can drive it, but we'll drive it too. Jeep Wranglers, people love them. They topple. I would not put my child in one. Anything that's going to make a bunch of other teenagers want to pile in. If you've got a three row SUV, a lot of kids can pile in, and that's a lot of distraction and that makes everything more dangerous for the driver. So I wouldn't get something that encourages. Your child to be the one driving around. A lot of friends all at the same time. Even if you set parameters, do teens always do what their parents tell them to do? Even the good ones. So what about electric cars? Would I buy my child an electric car? Well, I am a big proponent of electric cars. I love my electric car. One thing about electric cars is that you have all the power, right? When you step on the gas, there is no waiting for it to rev up so you can take off really fast. Is your child able to handle that? Can they still be safe? When it's wet outside my wheels frequently spin out because I guess I apply too much power considering it's slippery conditions. If you're doing that with a combustion engine, you know, you'd really have to slam on the gas to get that kind of power instantly, unlike with an ev. So that's a different way of driving. You have to get used to. Also, if you're gonna plug it in, do you have space for that? They will frequently, be in the garage, plugged in. Is that gonna work for your household? Do you have another electric car that also needs to be plugged in? Now we've come to the part of the show called What does this button do? The button I'm describing today, depending on your car, it often looks like two cars that are about to crash. One car looks like it's about to rear end the car in front of it, so you might just show the back half of the front car and the front half of the second car, and an arrow coming together like they're about to crash into each other. What does that button do? Do you know? That is the forward collision warning. The forward collision warning button is there to keep you from colliding with something in front of you. So if you are approaching something stationary or something slower than you, and you're going pretty fast and not slowing down. Then this will start to alert you. Forward collision warning will give you a visual within your vehicle dashboard, the instrument cluster, you know where you see the speedometer. You're also going to get some beeping. So if someone is not paying attention, they will be alerted that they're about to crash into something in front of you. The forward collision warning by itself is just a warning. It's doesn't mean you're going to have the brakes supplied. Some cars have automatic braking systems, so if the forward collision warning goes off and the person is not braking, the car will start braking for them. So you need to look up on your specific vehicle if you have automatic braking system and forward collision warning, but that button is pretty easy to find. It's possible. Some cars may just say FCW for forward collision warning. Instead of those two cars, the easiest thing to do is just to Google 2018 Toyota Camry, forward collision button, and you could probably find an image of it pretty quickly to see what it looks like. Okay. Same thing with automatic braking system. We're talking about cars for teens, those kind of features on cars after 2013. After 2015. That's the kind of stuff you wanna look for on your teens car to help them stay safe. Alright, let's get back to talking more about teen cars. So what would I recommend? I would recommend something practical, I would call and find out what it's going to cost to get your teen put on your insurance. With a particular car, cause that could really make a difference in what you wanna buy. I would recommend a four door sedan, and I would recommend a two row smallish SUV. Sometimes some of the three row SUVs, they have a three row basically, so they can say it's a three row. There's really only room for like two, four year olds back there maybe. And they're so, they're not huge. That might be okay, but for the most part two row SUVs and sedans, they're easier to handle. They're easier to park they get good gas mileage, and there's a lot that have really high safety ratings. They're less likely to roll over. So for starters, I would look into Subaru, the cross track, the Forester and the Outback. Some call them small SUVs. Some call them wagons. Crossovers, okay? They're not huge, but they have really high safety ratings. Subaru consistently ranks as a five star top safety pick, plus rating. They design those cars with safety as their guide. So when they determine how big the front windshield's going to be, it's not based on looks, it's based on minimizing blind spots for safety. The whole design is wrapped around safety. An exception to Subaru would be the WRX that is their sporty car. We don't buy WR Xs because people beat the heck out of them. Because they are a sporty car that has more power. Then I would want your young person having next. I would look at Mazda. Mazda today is one of, if not the top safety brand. In the most recent vehicle years, it's even beat Subaru. So a Mazda three is a four-door sedan or a four-door hatchback. They're cute. And they have really high safety ratings. A Mazda CX five is a small SUV with also really great ratings. So those I would definitely feel good about, a Honda Civic Accord or CRV. These are practical cars with great gas mileage, great safety ratings, and Honda is very much known for longevity. They are more expensive than Mazdas, but they're very reliable and safe. I would look at Toyota Corollas. Toyotas are expensive, but a Corolla is kind of a basic car. It's great for a teenager. It's not going to have a lot of extra stuff on it. It's going to be cheaper than some of their other cars, and it's still gonna have Toyota reliability. It's not huge. It's a good size. Other vehicles from Toyota, the Camry is a four door and I just don't get one that has a V six A Prius. And then the RAV4, which is a small SUV Kia Sportage is a good option for a small SUV as is Chevy Equinox. So this is not a complete list, but when the things that just come to mind off the top of my head and then I verified it with sources that rate cars on safety and lo and behold. Almost every car I had in mind was on the list of recommended vehicles for safety for teens. If something else comes up, you find a great price on something and you're not sure if it's a a safe car or not. You wanna look up the safety rating from the IIHS. That is the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. As far as engines go, I would look for a four cylinder. I wouldn't want my child in a V six and certainly not a V eight. It's too much power. Okay, so let's talk about a scenario. Let's pretend you have found two vehicles and they are close to the same price, maybe even they're the same make and model. One is older, one is newer, but they're really closer in price because the older one has all the luxury features. It's the top trim level, it's leather, it's heated and cooled. Seats and heated steering wheel, and heated back seats, and on and on and on. The newer one is the base trim level, so it may not have anything heated other than the air vents. No sunroof. It still has a backup camera, of course, but none of the luxury features. Which one should you buy for your team? Remember the newer one possibly has more safety features because every year we get new safety features, so you would want to look into that to see If anything was added that the new one has, that the old one doesn't. If the new one has lane assist, forward collision warning, automatic braking system, any of those things, I would go with that any day of the week. Also, remember, your team doesn't need luxury features. I know they're nice to have, but you want them to work for something later in life. You want them to want things and work for them someday to be so excited when they can go out on their own and buy their own vehicle and finally have heated seats for the first time in their life that's the teacher in me coming out. Don't give them everything in high school. They need to have things to look forward to getting on their own so that they have an incentive to go to college or trade school and work. All right, so to recap, looking for cars for teens, look for safety, practicality, affordability, and something that's probably gonna get a little banged up. Ideally, a mid-sized car or a small SUV, don't even think about getting a sports car or a muscle car. Not gonna happen. Same with rear wheel drive. I don't think you should get a very large SUV because they can roll over. They're hard to park, they're hard to maneuver, and all the friends are gonna think it's just a party on wheels. Everybody can climb in and it's a whole lot of fun. Thank you so much for listening. I hope this helps you as you navigate these teen years on what you think you can safely put your child in and send them down the road. Thanks again and happy driving to you and your teen.