Help buy car for 19 yr old college student?

My 19 yr old nephew will be off to first year of college next fall.

He desperately needs reliable and economical transportation as he will
be in college abt 4 hrs away.

What vehicle.... model and brand....would be a good bet for him to
buy? We are thinking brand new vs used....so that he will have a
warranty and can fully concentrate on his studies at school (he wants
to become dentist) ... and not have to worry abt a used car and
breakdowns. But we are on a budget.

he has worked hard and has a good savings.... plus his family (uncles,
parents) will help him with cost a new car as well.

We need something that will help keep his insurance costs low as he is
in that high risk "bracket" at his age level.

Advice?

Thanks in advance!

 

A low mileage 3 to 4 yr old Civic would give excellent service except that
prices are extremely high due to their popularity among young fellows
turning them into rice rockets. You could probably do as well buying a new
Toyota Echo for low cost transportation. For that matter if resale value is
not a consideration go with the Kia Rio with its long warranty and low buy
in price.
All is my opinion only.
Thanks for asking.
Mike

 

A low mileage 3 to 4 yr old Civic would give excellent service except that

Yep.... what little looking at used cars we've done.... it seems
almost as economical to go ahead and buy new....as the 3 year old
vehicles are only a thousand or so dollar less than new. Do you find
that the case as well?

He is NOT against going used..... and neither is his family..... but
just wondering how cost effective that will be since we don't want to
go any older than a few years if going used.

Also.... what "factors" will help keep his insurance costs down? I
mean will 4 doors be less risky than say a TWO door Civic? Does the
amt of doors count in any way?

Also.... will insur costs be lower if he sticks with manual vs
automatic?

Bottom line.... maybe I should ask the question in reverse.... what
car "factors" will INCREASE his insurance costs? Sport car styling?
Turbo charger, blah, blah, blah?

I really wan to help this boy as much as possible. hence all the
research and questions. Hope I don't drive you all nuts. LOL

 

Call the insurance company. They should be willing to answer these
questions.

Eric

 

Hi,
It's not the car. Insurance. My 20 year old, 3rd year university kid
costs a lot on insurance. he's been driving since he was 14.
Premium is higher on cetain model of cars.
Tony

 

I would recommend a Hyundai or a certified used Honda or Toyota to get the
best warrantee coverage and value for your dollar. I do not expect a lot of
work will have to be done on even a 5 year old Accord or Civic. Most new
cars are not worth the cost. They lose something like 1/3 of their value as
soon as you drive them off the lot. They are now used. Keep in mind all
machines will fail given time. Hondas and Toyotas are very reliable,
however. A young Honda or Toyota is typically no different from a new one
except for how strong the new car scent is. Older cars tend to have lower
insurance costs because of their lower value. Part prices go down as the
car gets older until the parts get rare.

I bought my 1988 Accord in 1995 for $5190 out the door including DMV fees
and tax. It had 101,822mi. on it. Now it has 227,6?? mi. The purchase
price has worked out to about 4 cents per mile. It runs great except for
some vibration at idle when in gear. Over the years I have done work on it
to keep it in good shape, which has cost me about 5 cents per mile. This is
about the same as the cost to fuel it. Over the past 9 years I have gotten
stuck 3 times - 2 times because of faulty AutoZone parts, one time because I
didn't change the timing belt. It survived the belt letting go. In short,
this car is costing 15 cents per mile including fuel and purchase price and
excluding fees and insurance. Most college students are probably looking
for cheapest per mile. Fees and tax are a negligible percentage of the
operating cost of most automobiles. The biggest additional cost is
insurance.

Insurance is a big variable. Insuring a 19 year old on any car will
probably cost at least $1000/year (or there abouts), $2000/year for a sporty
car, and $4000/year with any moving violations. There are a lot of factors
to the insurance cost that vary from state to state. These may include your
credit rating, the value of the car, the safety rating of the car, the age
of the drivers, the number of drivers in the household (weather or not they
drive the car), the number of household members (weather or not they are
licensed), the age of household members, the driving records of other
insured drivers on the policy, your neighborhood, miles driven to/from
work/school, yearly mileage, anti-theft devices, driver training, and other
public records obtained in secret.

In my opinion, the best priced cars on the road are Hondas and Toyotas.
From my experience they will save you money over an American made vehicle,
even if the American made vehicle is thousands of dollars less to purchase.
I am wary of American made Japanese cars, but they are still good. In my
opinion it is better to buy a car from an individual than a dealer. Dealers
have great resources to cover up defects and are looking to maximize profit.
An individual is just trying to sell it for more than the
pennies-on -the-dollar that the dealer offered them for the car as a
trade-in. Good luck with your search.


Aron

 

Is it fuel injected? If so, then the valves may have been adjusted to the
wrong specs (although there could be other causes). There are revised valve
clearances for '85-'89 Accords and '85-'87 Preludes with fuel injection.
Adjust the intake valves to 0.20 mm and the exhaust valves to 0.32 mm.
These specs are a little looser than the specs on the underhood sticker and
eliminate the excessive valve over lap which causes a rough idle if the
underhood sticker specs are used. For reference, this information is from a
Vital Link TSB.

Eric

 

I bought a 1994 Civic in 1999 for $5000 cash with 89,000 miles on it
with one owner. The nice thing about this mileage range for a Civic
(or any car for that matter) is that you can be pretty certain that a
one owner car at around 100k miles didn't have major problems or they
would have dumped it right after the warrenty ran out. The other thing
with Civics is that it hasn't even been broken in at 100k. My total
maintenance from 89,000 to today at about 168,0000 has been: Three CV
axles, a bunch of oil changes, two sets of plugs (not needed, just
preventative), a set of plug wires, a set of new brake pads and shoes,
a timing belt, and a clutch master cylinder. I think my total
maintenance cost excluding oil changes would be about $800, so I've
done pretty well, and I'm still on my original clutch which is going
strong. I'd look at one owner medium mileage vehicles for the best
bang for your buck with the Civics and Corollas. I would warn against
the Tercels, though. I has one for two years. They aren't fun to
drive, they're loud, and they are very maintenance intensive.

Nate

 

When I was a high school junior in 1994 with no moving violations, no
tickets, and a good grades discount, I paid $1600 a year to drive a
1979 Toyota Celica and a 1981 Datsun 510. I love it that I can't get a
good grade discount now, because I'm over 25, even with a 3.96 college
GPA. Oh well....

Nate

 

I don't know if you'll still see this thread if I reply this late, but no it
is not fuel injected. I tried replacing the idle boost diaphragm (for A/C
and auto) to no avail. The idle is too low sometimes when the car is hot
but acts up less when it is hot out than when it is cool.