What is a good first car? - 1

Ok so recently I've been looking into cars and trying to figure out which ones are best to get as a first car. I'm 19 and have been driving since I was 14 so I'm not that inexperienced. I looked into mpg, price of maintenance, reliability, style ( I care a lot about this one seeing as how I'm going to finance and I want to make sure it's something slick if I'm paying 300-400 dollars a month lol). I have narrowed it down to these cars: Ford Mustang v6, Honda Accord coupe v6, and Nissan Altima coupe 3.5. Any detailed comparison between these cars, personal opinions/experiences, or other cars to consider would be much help!

All good choices. Consumer Reports says the Mustang V6 and Accord have about average reliability but the Altima is much worse than average. I think the Honda would be better from a reliability perspective, but the Mustang has better styling.

The BIGGEST single expense for a 19-year-old driver is going to be the cost of car insurance. Especially since you're going to need full-coverage on a car that's financed. If you buy the WRONG vehicle, you could be paying more for insurance than for your monthly car payment. You can keep the cost down by selecting the proper vehicle. Mustangs or sports cars of ANY sort or style are out! A basic 4-door sedan will cost less to insure than a "sporty" 2-door coupe.

I suggest that before you commit to buying anything, you sit down and have a nice chat with your local insurance agent to see what you can Really afford to drive.

As someone mentioned before, insurance is going to be the biggest cost for a new driver unless you are going to be finance something. Do not finance a car. If depreciation isn't bad enough, paying interest on a depreciating asset is even worse.

I'm 16 and I just got my license and first car this month (yay!). I got an automatic 4 cylinder 2015 chevy spark 1LT model. The sticker said it was $16,700 but we got a lot of rebates/discounts which brought it down to about $14,000. It's small and easy to drive, and gets good gas mileage (sticker says 39 mpg on the highway, but I actually get about 42). It has a usb port and auxiliary port for music which I love. The car is very comfortable and I love it. Another good one is the chevy sonic, it's a little bigger and has the same options, my brother has one.

the insurance isn't too bad for it because I'm on my dad's insurance and he's been with the same company for 23 years with no tickets or accidents. I pay about $400 every six months for it.