New car for college ?

[msomnipotent]

The 4 Runner doesn't have the safety features I would look for, namely no auto braking or lane departure warning. I would buy him new tires and gallon of Scotchguard for the puke, maybe a trailer hitch, and wait until graduation for the new car. College is no place for a nice vehicle. You never see a mob of college kids celebrating a playoff win by flipping over a junker. It is always a nice car. And college kids drive like idiots. This is known.

I plan on helping my daughter buy a car, but I"m not buying one for her. She is already saving for one and I have told her than we will pitch in if she does most of the work for the car herself. If she doesn't save for it, neither do we. Slackers drive crappers!

But if she worked hard at school, doesn't drive like she is evading the police all the time, and we happened to have the money, I don't see anything wrong with a nice car as a graduation gift.

[tripods68]

NOt sure, I want to buy my daughter a 37K SUV at 18 years old.

I remember when I was 18, my parents got me a $1000 78 Ford Fiesta. I learned to take care of it really well. Yes, my Navy's buddies puke once after a long night of partying. It also brings negative emotions like SPOILED BRAT! Your son now becomes the FRIEND that anyone one can call for a ride, one that can be taken advantage of. I'd stick to Tacoma, they are very reliable and can last for decades as long it is maintained well.

Just my 2 cents.

[myrdale]

For most of the first two years of college, I went with out a vehicle because my truck had too many maintenance issues to make it worth it. If i was going somewhere, it was on foot or I was riding with a friend. Then my father bought be a new 2002 Nissan Frontier. Over the life of the loan, I ended up paying about half of it.

While in school I did do some dumb stuff, but I never crashed the truck and I never got a DUI. I had several friends who were not so fortunate.

I am still driving the Frontier, only now it has 261k miles on it.

If his 2005 works well and you're not having maintenance issues, personally I would hold off. I'd consider new car purchases his senior year.

[Davlarabee]

If you can really afford a new vehicle, and you really want to please your son that bad, then go ahead, get the car. However, consider that for the people we love, we have to show some restraint towards giving them everything, especially kids. Kids that have it all and are showered with gifts from parents tend to become spoilt. I will suggest you challenge him to achieve a huge milestone in managing his finance and promise him the new car if he can achieve it. As for new vs used, at that price new is best.