I agree with the Ford Taurus, but my Attorney friend recommends every kid should drive an old F-250. In a crash they are safer than a car, and gas mileage is so bad the kids don't do a lot of driving.
I had a little different outlook for my son's first vehicle. A car just would not cut it. Since we live in North Pole, Alaska. And our son would be driving into Fairbanks everyday to school, a 45 mile round trip. He needed 4 Wheel drive, and studded snow tires. Here is what happened, and a side affect of the vehicle I got for him. Some food for thought.
We looked at a KIA Sportage for him. He was OK with it, his mother liked it because it had 4 wheel drive. We bought it with the understanding I would pay half he would pay the other half. We had promised that if he maintained A's and B's in school we would help him with his first car. We bought it 6 months before he got his license. His Mom drove it back and forth to work during that time. She had been driving an F-150 4X4 extended cab/ long bed. She had hit every curb she got near, several trees, mailboxes, and had gone into the ditch so many times she had Mike's towing on speed dial. Don't know how many mirrors I had replaced on the passengers side.
Sky got his license, and drove the KIA to school one day. All the girls heard Sky was driving and went out at lunch time for a ride to Sam's Club. (Nearest place for Pizza, only two blocks from the school) The girls only had one thing to say, "It's cute". Last time Sky drove the KIA. He went back to riding the school bus. Plus the wife was happy, she had not hit anything like curbs, trees, mailboxes, or gone into the ditch with the little SUV. She could park it without running over the bumper blocks and getting stuck in parking lots. She wanted to keep the KIA. So I decided a young boy living in Alaska needed a 4X4 pickup truck. Now here is where it got interesting.
I had looked at a 4X4 Chevy S-10 with the ZR-2 package. Larger wheels and tires from the factory, and lifted to fit the bigger wheels and tires. Black fender flairs, and a bright Electric Yellow color. Sky was so thrilled with that truck, because it looked so sharp. All the girls thought it was sharp as well. For two weeks every thing was cool as far as I knew. Then Sky came to me one night and said, "Dad the worst thing you ever did was get me that yellow truck". "Every North Pole police officer, Fairbanks police officer, MP on Ft Wainwright, and every Alaska State Trooper in the Fairbanks area, feels that truck needs to be pulled over". I don't dare speed, run a stop sign, drive erratic, or park anywhere near a bar". "They pull me over two to three times a night after a hockey game as I drive home". "I don't have to do anything to get pulled over, it's that yellow truck". He drove it for his last two years to high school, and transfered from the Catholic school in Fairbanks to North Pole so he would not have to face the Fairbanks police and the State Troopers on the highway from town. Then he started driving it to UAF, back on the highway to town and through Fairbanks. Same thing as for being stopped by the police and troopers. Only now he was driving at night due to late classes and labs at the University, and the fact it gets dark here at 4 PM during the winter. Everytime he got stopped now the first thing they asked is "What you been drinking"? They never let him get away without blowing into the little device to check his breath. Sky does not drink.
I bought a Mitsubishi Eclipse for myself, I like high performance cars. When I went on vacation that year, Sky had trouble with the transfer case on the Chevy and had to put it in the shop. His Mother told him to drive my car to school. When I returned Sky came to me saying, " Mom said if I pay you the difference between your Eclipse and my Chevy I can keep the Eclipse". I became the owner of a yellow Chevy S-10.
The first week I drove it I was stopped five times. Every time the cop was shocked when they saw an old fat man with a gray beard in the drivers seat. One cop even said, "This truck belongs to a teenager, what are you doing driving it"? I had a talk with Jerry Cleworth, the Mayor of Fairbanks over that one. Jerry and I are old friends.
A side note, the wife drove the KIA for nine years. She went into the ditch a few times but she was able to lock it into 4 wheel drive and drive out. She no longer hit trees, curbs, or bumper blocks. She could park it since it was so small, it fit her well. But alas the little SUV needed to go away, 160K and it had developed issues. I bought her a Jeep Wrangler, made a mistake, did not have her drive it first. When snow hit and she parked her sports car for the winter, she got into the Jeep and discovered she can not reach the peddles. She can not push the clutch far enough to start the engine. The clutch has to be pushed to the floor before the engine will start, and her legs are too short, she is only 4'11". She is the new driver of the S-10, I now drive the Jeep. She is OK with it, she likes looking down on all the cars.
