When teenagers pass their driving test they look up to their parents for their first car. New year, birthday and graduation are good occasions to have your favourite ride, isn’t it. As a parent, you probably have tonnes of insecurities regarding safety, that’s natural. The problem is, there are multitudes of brands, so you have to be careful and research thoroughly before deciding the best car for your darlings.
There are a few pieces of advice that you may find handy. First off, let’s put aside safety for a minute (but it will be priority) and ponder on the issue, what exactly your boy/girl wants. Your selection of car should reflect nature and needs of your teen. If they are going to use it to stroll around neighborhood, you should prefer a small car like Kia Soul or Chevrolet Spark for sharp turns and narrow lanes. Likewise mileage should be considered if they outback long distances for business or study purpose. For this, you should certainly consider buying a Toyota Camry or Tesla Model S.
In Arab States, people love sauntering through desert, so an SUV like Toyota Highlander, Subaru Outback or Nexus NX is more suitable for your kid. Some boys can’t live without their company, they like being surrounded, thus a 2-door coupe would be useless here. However, a comparatively spacious Ford Fusion or Toyota Sienna will earn them more grateful eyes in response.
Here are a few significant points you should keep in mind before buying safest cars for teenagers:
- Teenagers tend to pick stunt cars and test their limits, so it would be wise to choose a vehicle under 1000 cc displacement
- Larger, heavier vehicles better absorb the impact of crashes compared to smaller cars
- The car must feature the Electronic Stability Control system to assist maintaining control on curves and slippery roads
- The vehicle should have received good combined safety ratings from IIHS and NHTSA
Returning to your safety reservations, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has issued an extended list of 2015 top safety picks for various categories of vehicles. Follow the link to read the complete report.
We will try to balance our focus on cars trending among the teens these days while staying within the list of safe-to-drive vehicles provided by IIHS. Keep in mind we are prioritising safety over money. Below, car titles have been hyperlinked to their respective safety features. Once your satisfaction is locked on, you can further search for the other specs.
- Chevrolet Spark
- Kia Soul
- Volkswagen Jetta
- Ford Focus Sedan
- Honda Fit
- Ford Fusion
- Audi A3 Sedan
- Honda Accord 2-door Coupe
- Mazda 3
- BMW 2-Series
- Toyota Camry
- Toyota Prius V
- Lexus Rc
- Toyota RAV4
- Toyota Highlander
- Lexus NX
- Subaru XV Crosstrek
- Subaru Outback
- Volvo V60
- Toyota Sienna
So there you have it, our top 20 safest cars for teenagers that are in vogue. Use your best discretion before finally making up your mind, but do take our recommendations into account. It is mention-worthy that most people prefer used rides as gift but they may offer low performance and reliability compared to new ones. You cannot even claim anything on the company including safety faults because you are not a direct buyer and warranty might have been already expired. All the facts are open to you, so good luck and have a happy Eid ul Azha.