Ask Bark: First Car For A Car Girl

Lichtronamo writes:

Hi Bark,

I’m starting the process of finding a used car for my daughter who turns 16 in September and will (hopefully) get her license afterwards.

She’s 5’3″ and about 90 pounds, so a B- or C-segment car would be right in terms of size. She’s also listened to me go on about how great it is to drive a manual transmission since she was born, and believes this to be a fundamental need of any car purchase. Our budget is upwards of $10,000 with driver safety the other primary criteria. Fuel economy and reliability aren’t negatives. While I should probably zero in on finding a nice Corolla, I’m looking for an out-of-the-box choice with some car-guy (and girl) cred. Golf? Mini? Mazda3?

Oooh, the Ten Thousand Dollar Challenge! This is my favorite game to play. The “Under $10K, Any Make” search is, by far, the most popular search on a certain orange-colored, third-party website, so dealers intentionally price cars that might normally be worth a bit more money at $10,000 to garner the attention of more eyeballs. This can mean an outstanding value for you, if you’re willing to do a bit of work.

You’ve already named all the Usual Suspects, so let’s see what outside-the-box cars might be available in your price range for your daughter (who, sadly, is about seven years too old for my son, but when they’re 34 and 27, nobody will blink an eye).

First up to bat: a very badly photographed, private seller Chrysler Crossfire. If she’s been raised by a car guy, this might be a compelling argument. This ’07 example is one of the last ones to roll off the assembly line. The Crossfire gets a bad rap, but I think it would be a unique car for her to have. It’s reasonably quick, and it only has two seats, which also means that she can’t carry around a whole bunch of friends. Reliability doesn’t seem to be too bad, either. The only issues I’ve heard of with these are that manual transmissions can be a little notchy and the doors sometimes have rust issues.

I don’t know why the Civic Si isn’t on your list, but it should be. Heck, I might buy this example. I would think that a 15-year-old girl would love the looks of this generation of Civic coupe. They handle very well and sip fuel. Plus, Honda reliability, blah, blah, blah. I dig it. Seriously. I’d rock that car.

Call me crazy, but if you’re looking for a car that looks sporty (but isn’t all that sporty) and gets good gas mileage, why not another Honda entry — the CR-Z? I know that the CR-Z isn’t well-loved, but that’s mostly because it’s not a CRX. This example has less than 90,000 miles on the clock and looks gorgeous in that classic Honda white.

I miss the S2000 CR I used to autocross. Sigh.

Where were we? Oh, yes, the CR-Z. She might get some extra cred from her Gen Z friends for having a hybrid, too. The more I think about this choice, the more I like it.

Let’s stay in the Hondaverse for one more idea: the RSX. In fact, I found an RSX-S for under $10K — JDM’d to the gills, but still not a bad idea. Okay, so maybe you wouldn’t want that one, but it’s still a great idea for a young woman who wants to row her own. One of my best female friends daily drives an RSX, and she loves its sporty look. Reliability and gas mileage get top marks for the RSX, as well.

And this really wouldn’t be an Ask Bark if I didn’t mention the Scion tC. I’d bet you my next six months of FiST lease payments that she’ll love the looks of it. Ten grand gets you a lot of tC, too. Here’s a nice lower-mileage example. The tC manages to be a complete hoot to drive while also not having enough power to get her into excessive amounts of trouble. The aftermarket support for them is considerable, too. She can spend all her part-time job cash on accessories. The best thing about the tC, however, from your perspective, is that underneath all the flash, it’s just a Corolla coupe and it’s just as reliable as you’d expect a Corolla to be.

So WWBD? Before I sat down to write this column, I would have said tC, hands down. However, like I said above, I’m really starting to dig the CR-Z idea. Consumer Reports consistently found them to be trouble-free, and users only report whistling windshields and fog lights prone to cracking. Of course, the Mazda3 and Golf would be fine choices, but you already knew that before you wrote in. And “Mini” and “Reliability” are two words that should never be uttered in the same sentence.

Go find a CR-Z, offer $2,000 less than the asking price, and you’ll have a fuel-efficient, attractive little car that should last longer than her affinity for Taylor Swift. And God bless you for raising a girl who insists on a manual transmission.

[Image: Honda]

Questions for Bark can be electronically mailed to barkm302@gmail.com, or sent via this new Twitter thing to @barkm302. I also have Snapchat. I don’t know how to use it.