It’s the time of year when dealers offer deep discounts (sometimes) on new cars. As a result, thousands of families decide to sell off their older vehicles rather than trade them in. With that in mind, what’s the best car you can find for a teen that’s priced at $5k or less?
Initially, it might be easy to lean heavily into what cars can be found with the best safety features for this kind of cash. Dig in though and you’ll likely find that much of the modern safety tech found in cars made today is well out of reach for $5k. To that end, we think the right strategy might be to focus on cars that are reliable.
Something like a used Honda Civic is probably an easy go-to choice. It’s not too tough to find one from the mid to late 2000s under our budget. The later models from that group also have the benefit of side-curtain airbags. In fact, most Hondas are going to be worthy of consideration thanks to their robust nature.
Read: Overconfident Teen Drives Honda CR-V Directly Into Light Pole
We expect similar votes for cars from Lexus, Acura, and Toyota. They mostly seem to bridge the gap between both reliability and about as much safety equipment as anyone can ask for at our budget. It’s possible that you might want your kid to have a little more space. You’d have to probably look for something from Chevrolet, Ford, or Dodge to achieve that goal.
As a non-parent, I’m highly qualified to choose without bias and I think the right way to go is this 2004 Jeep Wrangler over on eBay. It’s got a buy-it-now price of just $5,000 and it’s got a manual transmission and the legendary 4.0-liter straight-six engine. It’s more than capable enough in the snow, it’ll be easy to fix when it breaks, and who knows? It might retain its value for years to come.
What do you think though? What’s the best car under $5k that you can find for a teen? Tell us what it is and why it’s the best in the comments below!
