First car for son: 3800 Buick vs Crown Vic vs Camry 2.2L....need advice

I'm a huge fan of the panther Ford vehicles. However, for a first vehicle I would prioritize safety, reliability, and some level of efficiency. The panthers are great at everything, except efficiency! I would go with something like a Camry or 03-13(especially 03-08) Corolla personally. I still own an '03 Corolla with 254k and am always amazed at how it just does the job without asking for much at all. Grand Marquis or Vic would be fine if he doesn't drive too much.

And I share the sentiment of going private party on these older cars. I'm sure he's excited, nothing quite like that 1st car feeling.
 
A TWELVE GRAND MARQUIS!

All of these cars are kind of grim to me. What does the kid want to drive - you said he's going to be paying for it, eventually..?
 
Of those 3 you posted the Buick hands down. Camry has too many miles and the Marquis is priced too high even with the low miles. Assuming of course there are no major issues with any of them, such as rust. Always the first thing I check on any vehicle I'm looking at, especially in my area. Can't tell you the number of times I've looked under a vehicle and found a rusted mess while everything else looks great.

All 3 are reliable vehicles under normal circumstances but they are all 15-30 year old vehicles at this point. On something like this its always a balancing act between cost and reliability.
 
My father gave me a 2006 Ranger for my kids to use. It's perfect. Poor gas mileage means not too many unnecessary trips, two-seater means (probably) only one distracting passenger, and the kids think it's awesome. It's a win-win-win.
 
Thank you gentlemen! I appreciate all the wonderful and thoughtful replies! I'm reading over all of them and wish I had time to replay to each and every one! You guys changed my mind and I'm going to keep looking for better options. I thought all of these were safe based on their crash test ratings but they are all very old so it seems those ratings are not nearly as good by todays standards. I want him to lean manual shifting and still have a truck in the family with a manual tranny. I also want him to learn how to handle RWD because we are in snow often. I think the AWD is probably better at first and then have him learn to others a little later. Mom drive a 2004 Volvo XC70(when they were made well) and I drive a 2012 Honda Accord V6 that got very high crash test ratings. We could give him one of those but we both love our cars haha!
Again I appreciate all the advice!
 
supton said:
I vote Camry but it was the only one on the list that I owned. Hard to get in trouble with one (but doable!), easy to work on, etc. RWD in snow? fun for me, but my kids have less desire than I have for them in snow driving (something did not pass down to them).
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Camry says two owners then the write up says one?
 
I always vote for the lesser known cars. Not many people think of them so they sit on the market longer, better pricing IMO.

Lexus ES300 or ES330. It’s a V6 Camry with a facelift. Often times old people owned.
 
I’m with the others here in that all 3 are overpriced options that aren’t the best for your son.

If you’re willing to look at Camry’s that old, I’d say try and find a Maxima (1996-2004/05 were all solid vehicles). They’ll cheaper and imo were well built vehicles. Rust was their Achilles heels. The Infiniti i30 (I think) of that era were also really good.

Also consider:
1. 2005-08 Corolla / Matrix / Vibe. Try and find one with side airbags - if you can find one that’s not abused and has around 150k ish miles, those models typically have a lot of life in them. Several of these are running around with their odometers maxed out at 299,999.
2. Mk2 Focus (‘08-‘11) can also be had really and are very reliable. Rocker rust is their achilles heels but might not be a problem where you are.
3. Volvo P80 triplets (S70/V70/C70) - very stout and reliable drivetrains and excellent to drive. Very very safe for their age and can usually be picked up cheap. I had a C70 that I sold at well past 300k miles running perfectly fine.
3. Mitsubishi Lancer (pre 08/09) / Suzuki SX4 (pre 2010) - both before they switched over to CVTs.
4. Mitsubishi Galant - body parts are pretty rare to come by these days.
 
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I would not get a first-time driver something with that much power. Re: Buick and Vic. Underpowered four-cylinders are the way to go. I am less worried about reliability and ease of maintenance and more worried about my kid not wrapping the car around the tree. First cars should be doodle bugs IMO.
 
Chris B. said:
Thank you gentlemen! I appreciate all the wonderful and thoughtful replies! I'm reading over all of them and wish I had time to replay to each and every one! You guys changed my mind and I'm going to keep looking for better options. I thought all of these were safe based on their crash test ratings but they are all very old so it seems those ratings are not nearly as good by todays standards. I want him to lean manual shifting and still have a truck in the family with a manual tranny. I also want him to learn how to handle RWD because we are in snow often. I think the AWD is probably better at first and then have him learn to others a little later. Mom drive a 2004 Volvo XC70(when they were made well) and I drive a 2012 Honda Accord V6 that got very high crash test ratings. We could give him one of those but we both love our cars haha!
Again I appreciate all the advice!
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If you want him to learn in manual RWD, there's the smart car. Yes, the later ones were available with a manual transmission :D

otherwise, there's the Mercedes C230 Sport Coupe from the early 2000s, and of course, small pickup trucks like you mentioned.
 
My kids drove around a lot in my manual Ranger. At least it is incredibly slow, but maybe not a real safe vehicle. Safer than what I learned on, I'm sure.

Ironically, I had to replace the clutch this last winter, at 315k miles... They didn't kill the clutch; the slave cylinder started leaking!
 
harbor said:
Of your 3 contestants, I’d go with the Buick. I like having my kids in big tanks.
Merc is too high priced and too many miles on the Camry.
Good luck and you kid will love the sunroof!
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Buick 100%. Tanks save lives and keep kids out of trouble.

My cousins had a 1976 T-bird (I think with a 460?) as their first car. Tank and a half. Probably the heaviest doors ever fit to an american car.
 
b_b said:
a hard no on a grand marquis being too nice. good lord. its not 1980 any longer and grand marquis no longer considered nice in any respect. they are tank that's last and that's about it. its like and old Toyota, yeah it last but that's about all it has going for it. in five minutes of searching i found a 2009 camry with 78k miles for 5500 dollars. a 2009 vehicle is still 16 years old and your talking about 1997 vehicle.
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Bingo, a lower mileage more recent year Camry. Reliable, safe, economical, and easy to fix if something does go wrong.

Find one that has a clean carfax with history of regular oil changes. Change any fluids that are old, brake fluid, Trany fluid, coolant, and throw on a set of factory wiper inserts, and splurge for 4 Michelin CC2 and have it aligned with a hunter alignment macheine, and you really will have a top notch safe economical vehicle that's good for a lot more safe miles. With all of that done to it, it will actually be better than half of the new vehicles they are selling now days.

In the rust belt, when looking, bring along a powerfull flashlight and a big sheet of cardboard to use as a creaper to look under it well to be sure it's not ready for the bone-yard because of rust.
 
One to consider might be an 11-14 Dodge Avenger/200 with the 2.4 world engine and the 41TES. This version of the World Engine is pretty reliable, the 41TES is reliable as long as the maintenance has been done, they did pretty well in crash tests, they get okay mileage, they have enough power to get up to speed but not enough power to show off, these are usually a bargain.

I don't know if I would give a teenager a truck. One of my friends as a teenager went through two S-10s both destroyed via hydroplaning (One an old lady according to him slammed on the brakes and he attempted to drive off the road to avoid hitting her but the truck slid into her vehicle the second he was driving down the road and he claimed the truck just lost control and it crashed and over end but he survived that one thankfully) and he drove like a maniac in them. His later vehicles a 3000GT and a G6 GXP he also drove like a maniac in them but the inherent advantages of cars allowed him to get away with his crazy behavior. Another example recently happened with my cousin's teenage son who wrecked their Wrangler from hydroplaning (noticing a trend?) and it flipped over (thankfully he wasn't seriously injured). Trucks are Not an entry level vehicle In my opinion. It's better to pick a car that's as idiot proof, slow, and uncool as possible.
 
Enthusiast said:
One to consider might be an 11-14 Dodge Avenger/200 with the 2.4 world engine and the 41TES. This version of the World Engine is pretty reliable, the 41TES is reliable as long as the maintenance has been done, they did pretty well in crash tests, they get okay mileage, they have enough power to get up to speed but not enough power to show off, these are usually a bargain.

I don't know if I would give a teenager a truck. One of my friends as a teenager went through two S-10s both destroyed via hydroplaning (One an old lady according to him slammed on the brakes and he attempted to drive off the road to avoid hitting her but the truck slid into her vehicle the second he was driving down the road and he claimed the truck just lost control and it crashed and over end but he survived that one thankfully) and he drove like a maniac in them. His later vehicles a 3000GT and a G6 GXP he also drove like a maniac in them but the inherent advantages of cars allowed him to get away with his crazy behavior. Another example recently happened with my cousin's teenage son who wrecked their Wrangler from hydroplaning (noticing a trend?) and it flipped over (thankfully he wasn't seriously injured). Trucks are Not an entry level vehicle In my opinion. It's better to pick a car that's as idiot proof, slow, and uncool as possible.
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Billy pierced his ears, drove a pickup like a lunatic...young hearts be free tonight!
 
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