Used Car for Daughter

Needing to replace our old car for our daughter who is graduating and heading off to college this fall. We don’t have a new car budget. Around $12K or less. Small/compact SUV or crossover. 25mpg to 30mpg highway and all wheel (4-wheel) drive because she’s going to Duluth.

Cars we’re looking at online right now are as follows:

Ford Escape
Jeep Cherokee
Mazda CX 5
Nissan Rogue

Would include RAV4 but there isn’t anything in that budget range worth viewing. Some cars we’re leaving out based on comments from a couple mechanics we’ve been in communication with.

Thoughts/comments would be appreciated.

Thanks!

My son survived the record snowfall of last winter in Duluth with a front wheel drive VW Passat. If the roads are bad you want them to stay home and not venture out in bad weather. He has done fine the last 3 years and will be a senior. I think you will get more for your money.

Mazda.

Live up here in Cloquet. Bought our son a 2015 Subaru Legacy 2.5 years ago as a HS senior. AWD and been a good driver so far.
That said he has been in school down at UW Stout the last 2 years so hasn’t done full
“Up north” winters with it. Gets great mileage, like 35+ highway. Good experience so far as a non SUV option.

Honda civic with 2 wheel drive with and good snow tires hasn’t let me down yet

Older Honda CRV or Toyota Rav4 and thank me later. Get one with 150k on it and it will fit into your budget easily and she will still be able to put 100k on it. Those things are bulletproof.

EDIT – just saw you can’t find a RAV4…which surprises me in that range. I’ve seen quite a few down here in the Omaha area for $9-10k

Honda CR-V.
We have 2 of them in the family, 2014 and 2010, both around 200K currently. Only parts replaced are brakes, tires and batteries.
My middle daughter has the 2014 and she went to St. Scholastica. Put good tires on it and she won’t have any trouble with the hills and snow around Duluth.
I’m not a fan of backup cameras myself, but if a newer driver is taught to use them in addition to mirrors, they can be a tremendous help, I recommend finding a model with the backup camera for your daughter.

Subaru forester or outback all day.

My wife has had 2 Rogues, one for 180,000 mi the other for 160,000. Both only had scheduled maintenance with no mechanical problems. The 2nd one with lower miles was totaled when it was T-boned on the passenger side. I was alone in the car, it was tipped on it’s side and I was able to crawl out the back of the car with my only injury being a lump on my right arm where a stainless coffee mug hit it. I’d rate them high for dependability and protecting the driver. She replaced it with another Rogue.

Of that list I guess I would vote for the Mazda. Or see to it I could find a Toyota or Honda that would work.

On the list: Mazda

Off: Nissan Altima

One thing to mention about Nissan/Subaru – certain years in the models that have been mentioned do have problems with the CVT, with many of those years being covered in class action suits to extend factory warranties.

We bought a 2016 Rogue last spring with 78XXX miles on it and the tranny crapped out by September. We were lucky enough to still be within the factory warranty (under 84K per class action) but it was close on the milage. Have known friends/family that have dealt with the same on Subarus.

We do like our Rogue now that it’s fixed but would not purchase another, just to avoid CVT issues. Good luck with what you decide.

Stay away from the Rogue. The CX5 would be my choice off that list.

If it were me (and I’ll be in the same shoes here in 11 years or so), I’d feel just fine with a reliable FWD car and a high quality set of snow tires (Blizzaks, Hakkapeliitta, etc.). AWD is absolutely nice to have, but I wouldn’t let that limit your search. Could potentially find something newer and/or lower miles that is FWD but very reliable.

My wife’s Pacifica with a set of Blizzaks leaves little to be desired in terms of snowy road performance.

If you can find a Toyota Matrix AWD and put a set of winter or hybrid tires on that they are little animals in the snow. Not a lot out there but at there age should easily be in the price range. I have rocked one of those for my shooter car for years now. Honestly if mine were in better shape, rusty underneath, I would consider the lift kit they sell for it and use it for early ice.

Many years of Subaru have head gasket issues.
My wife’s Civic has been extremely reliable and does very well in the snow, not sure what tire we put on but the tread is a bit aggresive & I have no regrets even though we gave up some MPG.

John Rasmussen wrote:

If you can find a Toyota Matrix AWD and put a set of winter or hybrid tires on that they are little animals in the snow.

100% my son has a Pontiac Vibe which is the same car and its crazy good in snow and he also has snow tires. The tires are loud though LOL

TH wrote:

My son survived the record snowfall of last winter in Duluth with a front wheel drive VW Passat. If the roads are bad you want them to stay home and not venture out in bad weather. He has done fine the last 3 years and will be a senior. I think you will get more for your money.

My Daughter did fine in Duluth with a VW Passat as well. Not Ideal but she got around and survived. This is the 4th year she’s had it and other than some breaks and a small heater blower issue its been a great car for her. She did say she wants a newer all wheel drive one before next winter though. Keep us posted of what you end up with and your thoughts on it.

CaptainMusky wrote:

100% my son has a Pontiac Vibe which is the same car and its crazy good in snow and he also has snow tires. The tires are loud though LOL

Yep I have a set of snows for mine, its awesome.

He got it for dirt cheap too. Its an ’04 with now just over 100k and not a spec of rust on it. Perfect little car just a little hot inside since the windows are not tinted.

Our 2014 Altima has run flawlessly so far. I have driven through some pretty rough snowy conditions.

Agree on tires.

Any AWD will struggle if the tires are not adequate … stretch those tires on mileage if you will in the other 3 seasons, but not as winter approaches.

I see plenty of pickups in the ditch in the winter … driving too fast for prevailing conditions or pushing tires too far.

Before the Rogues my wife had an Altima. Starting in 2009 she’s had 3 vehicles with Nissan CVT transmissions that she put over 500,000 total miles on without a hiccup from any of the trannies

Avoid the Rogue unless it’s a new enough model that has had the CVT issues resolved.

Full disclosure my kid has a Ford escape AWD but that’s because it just worked out for us to give it to him when we got a different vehicle but is now looking at FWD cars to replace it. He is also 16. I don’t understand all the “my kid needs AWD” comments. A lot of us here including myself didn’t have the option of AWD for the most part when we started driving and have all made it this far. FWD with GOOD tires will due just fine.

Just a comment on the rouge. My parents have a 18 rouge(bought new) and the tranny just went out with about 40k miles on it. Luckily they bought from a dealer with the lifetime warranty so it was no cost to them. Like I said my son is looking at cars now and I told him Honda or Toyota.

I’m in the old school camp that a kids first car should be a manual transmission. That skill set will stay with them for life.

jwellsy yeah that is true, but there are very few cars with manual transmissions these days.

jwellsy wrote:

I’m in the old school camp that a kids first car should be a manual transmission. That skill set will stay with them for life.

I think they should learn how to harness up horses before that though.

When I first read the title, I thought “that’s a fair trade”

And I have a 16yo daughter…

Some days…

Baitwaster wrote:

When I first read the title, I thought “that’s a fair trade”

And I have a 16yo daughter…

Some days…

Baitwaster wrote:

When I first read the title, I thought “that’s a fair trade”

And I have a 16yo daughter…

Some days…

The new guys strong coming out the gate!