Cars for College Students

Whether the car is used to drive back and forth to college, or a recent graduate needs basic transportation to a new job, finding the best car for a college student (or high school) is all about striking the right balance.

In this publication, we're going to outline a thought process that parents should consider using when shopping for a new car for young drivers.  We'll start by describing the high-level attributes to look for in a car, and finish up with a list of eight new cars that include the balance we're looking for when buying a car for a college graduate.

Best Cars for Students

The easiest way to narrow the field of acceptable cars for a student is to start with a list of requirements.  These are the ideal attributes of the car.  For example, the car must be:

• Reliable - the purpose of a car is to transport the student from Point A to Point B.  Students need a car they can depend on to get them to school or work each day.
• Safe - young drivers are inexperienced, and statistically they have more accidents.  That's the reason their car insurance premiums are so high.  The ideal car needs to be able to protect its young occupants too.
• Stylish - while some college students will be happy just to have a car, others will be concerned about how they look in the car.
• Cheap - from this point forward we're going to substitute the term inexpensive for cheap.  An inexpensive car is a reasonably priced car, a bargain, or a car we'd consider a good value.  A cheap car is a poorly constructed automobile that's going to cost us more in the end.

We're talking about a process here, and this is a good starting point because now we have the requirements of the car.  The next step is going to involve some research.  The best place to start is with cost or price.  There are many makes and models of automobiles on the road today, but we're looking for a good "starter" car.

Affordable Cars for Students

Everything is relative, so affordable to one person might be expensive to another.  Since we're talking about new cars, we thought we'd start with vehicles that are selling for less than $20,000.  We found 92 make / model combinations that sold for less than $20,000, so we narrowed the field even further to less than $16,000.  If you're shopping for a less expensive car, this same approach applies to the used car market.  The cars evaluated in this topic would be a good choice as a used car too.

Our list includes 2011 model years, but with the recent economic pressure on car manufacturers, this list could be a good starting point in 2012 or even 2013.  The table below contains the 34 new cars we've screened for affordability:

Now that we have our list of new cars that cost less than $16,000, we're going to reduce our list by applying filters for safety and reliability.

Safe Cars for Student Drivers

In this step in the process, we're going to screen these same cars for their safety records.  Here we're using information from Safercar.gov, which is published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or NHTSA.

The vehicle safety research conducted by this program uses a Five Star Safety Rating system, where the highest rating a vehicle can receive is the 5-star rating.  The rating is based on the chances a passenger will sustain a serious injury when striking a barrier at 35 miles per hour.  A 5-star rating indicates a 10% or less chance of a serious injury in this test.

We've filtered our list to include cars that achieved a 5-star rating for passengers in the front seats, and those cars that achieved at least a 4-star rating for side impacts.  A 5-star rating in the side impact test indicates a 5% or less chance of a serious injury, while a 4-star rating indicates a 6 to 10% chance of a serious injury.

The table below contains the twelve cars that passed our requirements for safety:

Please note that each of the cars in this list is equipped with Side Air Bags (SAB) and 2010 model years were tested.

Because less experienced drivers are statistically more likely to be involved in an accident, we've eliminated SUVs, ultra-small vehicles, and trucks from our list.  These vehicles are too small, or too easy to rollover to have a young driver behind the wheel.  If budgets were to permit, it's also a good idea to eliminate vehicles with high performance engines.  Fast cars and inexperienced drivers are not a good combination.

The safety filter used above has narrowed our list from 34 affordable cars down to just twelve makes / model lines that meet our safety criteria too.  Let's see how these cars made out in reliability ratings.

New Car Reliability Metrics

Our reliability measures are going to be based on ratings published by Consumer Reports, which operates one of the largest independent automobile testing centers in the world.  The reliability ratings are based on subscriber experiences with 1.4 million vehicles.

Keep in mind that reliability is based on real-world experience, so the ratings will always lag the current model year.  For example, the 2011 ratings will involve experience with older models that have been driven for several years.  Using historical information, Consumer Reports develops a new car reliability prediction.  Example ratings are shown in the table below:

If our requirements state the car must be considered reliable (better than average or much better than average), then we've narrowed our list down to just eight cars.  At this point, we've found a good choice of cars for college students that are inexpensive, safe, and reliable.

This last statement takes us back to something we mentioned earlier.  By all measures, these cars should service the needs of a college student very well.  These are not cheaply made cars.  They're quality vehicles that represent a very good value.  The only step we have left now is to find something with style.

Stylish Cars for Young People

It's often surprising how young people react when they're looking for their first car.  Some teenagers will be grateful for anything with four wheels, while others will insist on driving a car that projects the status they believe they've achieved.

Not every student will be happy selecting from a relatively narrow list of cars chosen by their parents.  But often a middle ground can be found by allowing the student to participate in the final selection process and / or picking the color of the car.

By allowing the student to participate in the decision-making process, they're going to believe you value their opinions.  In turn, they should feel a greater sense of pride in the car, and should treat the car with the respect this investment deserves.

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