[Housekeeping]

Just bought my daughter a 2011 Infiniti ex35 Journey, AWD for school in CO, we love it.

[dzvero]

Originally Posted by bucketfoot

I've tired to get her to look at the Prius Two, but she really hasn't seemed interested.

I think it's a bit bigger and bulkier than she prefers.

Look at Prius C, its hatchback , bigger then Fit and more mpg,.

[Red Bread]

Originally Posted by dzvero

Look at Prius C, its hatchback , bigger then Fit and more mpg,.

Bigger in what way? About half the interior volume and none of the clever packaging.

[FaRKle!]

Another vote for the Mazda 3 hatchback here.

[WhatsADSM]

I think you are on the right path. The Fit really is a good car. Assuming the power, or lack thereof, is no real issues it's hard to go wrong with it.

Alternatively the impressa, since its AWD and you are in CO. They also have phenominal resale (which may be moot if you keep it a long time anyways). But in general IMO Subarus are overrated, and cost quite a lot for the content they actually give you.

Why did the civic get crossed off the list?

[Red Bread]

Civic hatch is eye bleedingly ugly. The rest look good though.

Fit really needs a manual not to be a total dog. And being in CO, anything with a turbo would be better.

[Meeni]

The Mazda 3 also get my vote. I liked it a lot when we were shopping for my wife last year. We ended-up with a CX5 because reasons, but we almost got the 3. The 2016+ MY have a much improved interior. Cost of ownership is very reasonable thus far on our cx5 (with the same engine)

[1MOREMOD]

That's what I just bought as commuter car in manual

[bucketfoot]

Originally Posted by WhatsADSM

Why did the civic get crossed off the list?

There was nothing about it that justified the cost differential. That and it has the same problem so many of the current hatchbacks have in having pretty bad rear visibility.

The bang for the buck really ended up being the deal breaker in multiple cases. The Fit is just a phenomenal value and she is very practical.

[bucketfoot]

In the end she ended up getting a great deal on a 2016. I gave her my thoughts on her different options and really can't argue with the Fit or her reasons for choosing it

[Nivarox]

Volvo Station Wagon , a funny chose proposed by Jeremy Eriksson oppps Clarkson
Well, seriously though my vote goes to VW Golf

[blackpear]

Got my daughter a 2 series coupe in white. The 3 pot, 1.5 engine. She loves it

[Dog Face Pony Soldier]

I bought my girlfriend a Fit EX about 2 years ago. Honda reliability and unique Magic Seating is what sold us.
The CVT is rubbery but she doesn't notice. The fuel tank is below the front seats so they don't slide back as far as most vehicles. While no sports car; the car actually handles much better than I expected.
In the end this is a great car for my girlfriend to own. She loves it. It has plenty of room to fit her massage equipment (including her large massage table) as she is a massage therapist; plus it's so small it's very easy for her to park.

[evdok]

Bought my 18 year old a 2014 Seat Mii last year, cracking little car.

[Germanauto]

She's a girl.

VW Jetta or go home

[MalibuBimmer]

Safest and most reliable cars are the Subaru crossovers. I wanted to get one for my daughter but she refused because her mother has one (her second).

[bucketfoot]

She had the same problem with the Subarus as I did, they just feel cheap. She looked at the Impreza and Crosstrek, both of which cost more than the Fit, but felt significantly cheaper than it.

[PandaM3]

Here are two options for completely different reasons
1) get an electric car like a Fiat 500e
- lots of girls like it cause they think its cute
- it's electric so its frugal and really not much to need to maintain
- with an 80 mile range... you know she can't go far and get herself into trouble
2) get her something fun with a manual transmission
- as a manual she will need to pay attention more to her driving
- it will teach her that putting some effort into it will reap great rewards as she goes towards redline in each gear only to shift to the next gear for more rewards... this is a good lesson for millenials
- as a manual it can be used as a tool to filter out her future boyfriends... (if her boyfriend cant drive the manual and heal and toe properly she can move on to the next one)
- as a fun enthusiast car it can be used as a tool to filter out her future boyfriends... (sneak a bad coilpack into the car while she isn't looking and see if her boyfriend can figure out how to fix it)

[wjones14]

The Fiesta ST has almost universal praise as a fun small hot hatch.

[bucketfoot]

Originally Posted by PandaM3

2) get her something fun with a manual transmission

We're not getting her anything, she is doing it herself

[PandaM3]

Originally Posted by bucketfoot

We're not getting her anything, she is doing it herself

Good stuff... forgot to see she's 23

If she's looking for frugal and cheap to maintain... a plug in hybrid would be great. With the federal and state incentives it could be very cost effective. (Federal for plug in hybrids is $5k and state is $1500 (at least for California it is))

The Volt has the most electric range at 50 miles but can run as a hybrid or gas.

However the lower range plug in hybrids have gas engines strong enough to charge the battery back up rather quickly and still have a 30 mile electric range. Like the Kia Niro, Hyundai ioniq, Prius prime... etc.

If she can plug in to charge she could make it so she hardly starts the gas motor.

[1MOREMOD]

My buddy just bought his 14 year old a 30k jeep, I just kept my mouth shut and carried on. I got a 600 dollar car I paid for.