Surprise surprise: import cars and crossovers browbeat a list of affordable and protected rides for new drivers.
A teenager’s initial automobile is a sermon of passage. It’s an early doctrine in both leisure and responsibility. Statistically, it’s also expected to get dinged up. According to a American Automobile Association, 16–17 year olds are roughly 4.5 times some-more expected to get into a pile-up than people their parents’ age. Needless to say, reserve is a tip priority, generally as a automobile is expected to be bought used, for limit affordability.
To make a preference routine easier, Consumer Reports and a Insurance Institute for Highway Safety have teamed adult to furnish a brief list. It’s a initial time a dual organizations have finished so, and they’ve taken into comment a accumulation of criteria to establish a best of a bunch. The list also facilities a cost tip of $20,000, per Kelley Blue Book values for a lowest trim level.
Every automobile on a list facilities above-average trustworthiness in CR’s member surveys for a infancy of a indication years listed, normal or improved scores in CR’s puncture doing tests, and a dry braking stretch of reduction than 145 feet from 60 mph in CR’s stop tests. On a IIHS side, a cars contingency underline a Good rating in 4 of a organizations pile-up tests: assuage overlie front, side, roof strength and conduct restraints. They also contingency measure a Good or Acceptable in a driver-side tiny overlie front test, and during slightest 4 stars from a NHTSA. Finally, each one of these models underline customary fortitude control.
The list is damaged down by distance and shape: tiny car, midsize SUVs, etc. A sole vast automobile creates a list in a figure of a Hyundai Genesis (before it was spun off into a possess brand). We’ve total all. Let’s take a demeanour during a full list then, shall we?
Best Small Cars for Teens
Mazda 3
Years: 2014 or newer, built after Oct 2013
Price: $7,000
The Mazda 3 is a many affordable choice of any of a categories. It’s not surprising, as it’s a smaller automobile and one of a oldest. That doesn’t meant it isn’t protected though. The 3 stays a good-looking, unsentimental automobile in sedan or hatchback form, with adequate energy from a four-cylinder engines to get adult to highway speeds quickly, yet being too many to means trouble. Plus it’s a plain handler.
Subaru Impreza
Years: 2014 or newer
Price: $8,700
Like a Mazda3, a Subaru Impreza is accessible in dual physique styles: sedan or wagon. It’s a small dearer, yet a combined cost does embody customary all-wheel drive, that is singular in this category. If you’re in a snowier clime, a additional assent of mind competence be value it.
Hyundai Elantra GT
Years: 2018 or newer
Price: $14,000
We’re jumping approach adult in price, yet a Hyundai Elantra GT also facilities some-more complicated quadruped comforts. Its unsentimental induce physique figure is a useful and too. A naturally-aspirated 2.0-liter engine is standard, with a 1.6-liter turbocharged engine in a higher, enthusiast-oriented models.
Kia Forte
Years: 2019 or newer
Price: $14,600
The Kia Forte perceived a whole indication change in 2019, so this automobile offers all you’d find uninformed on a lot. This includes an 8.0-inch infotainment screen, customary smartphone integration, and motorist assists like lane-keep assist, line depart warning, and programmed puncture braking. Perfect for a new motorist behind a wheel.
Kia Niro
Years: 2018
Price: $15,400
Kia earns a second coming in a tip 5 here, interjection to a Niro. Sitting somewhere between crossover and hatchback, a Niro comes in dual flavors: array or plug-in hybrid. Not usually is it a unsentimental shape, yet that also creates it a fuel-sipping choice of a pack.
You might also wish to consider:
- Toyota Corolla Hatchback (2019 or newer): $15,800
- Honda Insight (2019 or newer): $17,900
- Subaru Crosstrek (2018 or newer): $18,700
- Toyota Prius Prime (2017 or newer): $18,700
Best Mid-Size Cars for Teens
Subaru Legacy
Years: 2013 or newer, built after Aug 2012
Price: $7,600
It’s not startling to see a Subaru Legacy commanding a list here. The Japanese brand’s mid-size sedan is a sturdy, arguable four-door with customary all-wheel drive. The age operation here includes a final years of a fifth-generation model, yet we’d advise sport for a some-more handsome, higher-tech sixth-gen.
Subaru Outback
Years: 2013 or newer, built after Aug 2012
Price: $8,500
Before Subaru spun it off into a possess model, a Outback was a trim choice of a Legacy wagon. So it’s distinct it shows adult right alongside a three-box sibling. That crossover styling does authority an additional premium, though.
Honda Accord
Years: 2013 or newer
Price: $9,200
The Honda Accord stays one of a best mainstream mid-size sedans out there. It gets so many things right: a size, a power, a reliability, and a pushing knowledge that isn’t totally anodyne. The perfect series of examples out there means we should be means to find a good one for a new motorist in a family.
Volkswagen Jetta
Years: 2016–2018
Price: $9,800
The Volkswagen Jetta is smaller than many of a other models on this list, yet that’s no bad thing. That creates it easier to park, and a smaller 1.4-liter turbocharged engine sips fuel.
Mazda 6
Years: 2015 or newer
Price: $10,500
Who says a teen’s initial set of wheels need to demeanour dull? Even in a twilight years, a Mazda 6 stays one of a best-looking complicated sedans. The understated looks censor a atmospheric interior, while a four-cylinder engine line adult keeps gas prices in check.
You might also wish to consider:
- Volkswagen Passat (2016–2018): $11,000
- Toyota Prius v (2015–2017): $12,600
- Lincoln MKZ (2016 or newer): $13,300
- Volvo S60 (2017–2018): $15,300
- Nissan Altima (2019 or newer): $17,000
- Audi A3 (2017, 2020): $18,300
- BMW 3-Series (2017 or newer, built after Nov 2016): $18,600
Best Small SUVs for Teens
Mazda CX-5
Years: 2014 or newer, built after Oct 2013
Price: $8,200
The Mazda CX-5 takes all a good pieces of a 3—great handling, well-spoken engines, appealing styling—and raises them a small serve off a ground. We continue to rate a CX-5 as one of a best models in a class, and a bonus cost solidifies a place during a tip of a raise here.
Buick Encore
Years: 2016 or newer
Price: $10,700
Smaller than anything else here, a Buick Encore is a pint-size cut of near-luxury. It’s good for city-dwellers, interjection to those neat measure and equally petite engine. Teens will also conclude a combined quadruped comforts.
Chevrolet Equinox
Years: 2016 or newer
Price: $12,100
Chevrolet sells some-more Equinox models than anything else in a lineup not named Silverado. That means you’ve got lots to select from, and tools are straightforwardly accessible if anything gets dinged. 2016 models charity a operation of naturally-aspirated four- and six-cylinder models; 2017 and leading are all-turbo, all a time.
Honda CR-V
Years: 2015–2016, 2019 or newer
Price: $12,200
In 2019 a CR-V was a second-best-selling crossover in America. That should tell we usually how renouned Honda’s categorical SUV is. It’s easy to see why: it offers normal Honda values of a well-spoken ride, fuel-efficient engines, and low cost of tenure in a hugely fascinating crossover shape.
Mazda CX-3
Years: 2017 or newer
Price: $12,300
Want something smaller than a Buick for your kids, yet with reduction of a pipe-and-slippers image? The Mazda CX-3 is a answer. Feeling even closer to a automobile than anything else here, a CX-3 is a small hatchback with a few SUV styling cues. That means it’s usually as easy to expostulate as a sub-compact automobile should be, while charity a aloft pushing position to assistance new drivers see some-more of a road.
You might also wish to consider:
- Subaru Forester (2016 or newer): $12,500
- Nissan Rogue (2017 or newer): $13,400
- Toyota RAV4 (2015 or newer, built after Nov 2014): $13,800
- Honda HR-V (2017–2018, built after Mar 2017): $14,000
- Hyundai Kona (2018 or newer): $14,500
- Audi Q3 (2016 or newer): $17,300
Best Mid-Size SUVs for Teens
GMC Terrain
Years: 2014, 2016 or newer
Price: $9,400
The GMC Terrain’s blocky styling helps it mount out in a sea of softer SUV shapes. It offers a lot of space for reduction than anything else in a mid-size segment, so can double as a family hauler too.
Kia Sorento
Years: 2016 or newer
Price: $13,400
Kia’s Sorento offers a reasonable volume of reserve facilities in a vast and affordable package. In a mangle from tradition, we’d suggest a incomparable engine here: while a four-cylinder is marginally some-more fuel efficient, a miss of energy can be a problem when merging onto highways. Stick to a V6.
Nissan Murano
Years: 2015 or newer
Price: $13,800
Nissan has kept a Murano’s swoopy styling as a standout underline given a indication debuted roughly 20 years ago. It’s now utterly large, yet still usually sits five, permitting for a outrageous volume of storage space behind a seats. Make certain a Murano facilities a Technology package, with a common raft of motorist assists like programmed puncture braking, blind-spot monitoring, and back cross-traffic alert.
Hyundai Santa Fe Sport
Years: 2017–2018
Price: $15,800
The Santa Fe Sport was a smaller of a dual Sante Fe models a few years ago. Since then, Hyundai has reverted a Santa Fe to usually one five-seat model; a seven-seat Palisade now sits during a tip of a SUV lineup. Like a Sorento, we suggest removing a V6 instead of a four-pot.
Hyundai Santa Fe
Years: 2017 or newer, built after Mar 2016
Price: $17,800
The latest Santa Fe is a technological powerhouse, with a whole apartment of motorist aids to keep new drivers safe. The prior era offers many of them as well—though some were optional—and we’d suggest sport down a indication with as many as possible.
You might also wish to consider:
- Mazda CX-9 (2017 or newer, built after Nov 2016): $18,400
- Lincoln MKX (2017–2018): $19,600
Best Minivans for Teens
Toyota Sienna
Years: 2015 or newer
Price: $11,900
The Toyota Sienna is a brave of a minivan contingent here. The stream era is a small long-in-tooth, and a new hybrid-only indication is on a setting for 2021. But that’s a good thing for your teen driver! The Sienna offers a studio apartment’s value of interior space for them and their friends, high reserve marks, and a reliable, powerful—but not too powerful—V6 engine.
Honda Odyssey
Years: 2015–2016
Price: $12,400
Maybe you’re some-more of a Honda family. No problem, a Odyssey is a plain people-hauler. It too offers a customary V6, copiousness of reserve features, and of course, tons of room. Practicality is a vast understanding for teens, even if they won’t acknowledge it: a minivan will get some-more of them and their friends where they need to go in comfort than anything else in a market.
Kia Sedona
Years: 2016–2017
Price: $12,600
Kia’s Sedona is an often-overlooked entrance in a minivan segment. Along with a common virtues of a shape, a Sedona also offers a clever infotainment setup. Kia’s pushing support apartment isn’t customary however, so make certain to bill for a indication with it equipped.
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