WTB car for my 15 yr old daughter

[L.R.S.]

Looking for a reliable car for my 15 yr old who just got her permit.  Grandma's Honda she ain't driving anymore, Aunt's Toyota she bought new in 2007 and it's been sitting for a few years, wife's car about to get traded in cause you're awesome and are getting her something newer... I'm looking.  Trying to stay around $5000, cause let's face it, she's gonna crash, but it won't be her fault cuz that other car came out of nowhere and slammed on their brakes and I didn't see it and Becky was talking soooo loud and Jennifer was playing Tic Tocs on her phone and we were laughing really hard... you get the idea.  We live 2 blocks from her high school so it's not getting driven much. 

Super bonus if it's an E85 car cause I like those. 

So, hit me with a deal I can't pass up.  Almost bought her a 04 BMW 535i that was posted here on GD but couldn't make the deal happen.  Prefer to give my cash to a board member or friend of a friend of a board member. 

[BaBaBouy]

For the love of God, Allah, Buddha and Chuck Norris no friggen Beemers. The Consumer Safety Commission has consistently rated the 1972 PricFor as the best all-around vehicle for safety.

[URCLEVER]

was thinking of selling my daily commuter 2013 chevy volt for $6500 (plug in & gas)  but I am sure I can get a $1500 credit with LRS transports to make up the difference. Send me a text bro

[MWB]

As Chummin once said buy her a car with a manual transmission. Cut's down on her being on her phone while she drives and makes it so she can drive anything if the need arrives. 

 

[ChasingSand]

23 minutes ago, MWB said:

As Chummin once said buy her a car with a manual transmission. Cut's down on her being on her phone while she drives and makes it so she can drive anything if the need arrives. 

 

That is awesome!

[Crusty]

Another dude here has a 2006 Dodge 4 door sedan for $2700.....perfect IMHO for a first car, kid still in HS.

[Cookie]

1 hour ago, MWB said:

As Chummin once said buy her a car with a manual transmission. Cut's down on her being on her phone while she drives and makes it so she can drive anything if the need arrives. 

 

I did that with both of my boys.....................

[richard h]

4 minutes ago, Cookie said:

As Chummin once said buy her a car with a manual transmission

I did this also. Then bought an automatic shortly after we almost took out a mail box while she was looking at the gear shift knob to see what direction to mover the lever thingy to go to third. Scared me enough. She is now 38 and as far as I know never has driven a Manual.

[L.R.S.]

On 8/25/2021 at 7:35 AM, URCLEVER said:

was thinking of selling my daily commuter 2013 chevy volt for $6500 (plug in & gas)  but I am sure I can get a $1500 credit with LRS transports to make up the difference. Send me a text bro

The search is over! Thank you @URCLEVER this is a great first car for my daughter. She loves it!

 

 

[Crusty]

That's awesome @L.R.S. congrats to her.

Those CHEVY Volts are cool.

[L.R.S.]

2 hours ago, Crusty said:

That's awesome @L.R.S. congrats to her.

Those CHEVY Volts are cool.

Thanks man.  Now she finds any excuse to need to go somewhere and drive it.  Problem is she only has her permit so I have to go too.  She HATED driving my 3500HD Duramax crew cab long bed but it's that or her brothers 06 Duramax crew cab long bed with a 6" lift and 35's. 

My son and I went to Joe Rogan at the Forum Saturday night and took the Volt.  It does 30-40 miles on a full charge but AC on high and crap traffic changes that because it's only 20ish miles and on our way home it switched to the gas engine.  So we figured a little testing was in order and flat pedaled it up the 2 frwy through Glendale.  Got it up to 88mph and then a warning message popped up saying "Propulsion Power is Reduced" and we dropped down to 75mph.  Thought we broke it but my son and daughter went to their grandma's in Altadena today and the car drove fine on a full electric charge.  I drove it to work tonight, which I will be doing every night cause she doesn't need it from 9pm to 6am, and I was told we have free electric vehicle charging stations here at the hospital.  Little did I know the charging stations are in a parking structure not close to the power plant I work in and the structure is on the corner of Rape Ave and Murder St.  I'll just buy an extension cord and charge it near my office. 

[Lord of the Dunes]

Congrats to you and your daughter!

[tjZ06]

Right on, great car for her! 

 

-TJ

[ANGRYBUTTCRACK]

Good choice… my brother-in-law just got this for his 15 year old, she’ll be 16 in April 22 and my daughter is 3 weeks younger May 22.

Wife and I are looking. 

They only made 2000 of this Isuzu  VehiCROSS…. For this year, ‘99 I think.

I like it. 6 cylinder on 33’s.

Not sure what we’ll get ‘the baby,’ but it’s not a great time to buy IMO.

We might just get an Elantra like I got my 22 year old when she was 16.

Abc

Edited September 13, 2021 by ANGRYBUTTCRACK

[raspadoo]

11 minutes ago, ANGRYBUTTCRACK said:

Good choice… my brother-in-law just got this for his 15 year old, she’ll be 16 in April 22 and my daughter is 3 weeks younger May 22.

Wife and I are looking. 

They only made 2000 of this Isuzu  VStrong?….

I like it. 6 cylinder on 33’s.

Not sure what we’ll get ‘the baby,’ but it’s not a great time to buy IMO.

We might just get an Elantra like I got my 22 year old when she was 16.

Abc

Tell him to step and buy high end rotors and pads. I put 31's on my daughters first car (1998 XJ) and it would not stop for 💩. 

[ANGRYBUTTCRACK]

Werd... My Suburban 2005 doesn't stop that quick.. my (then 16 year old),.. who is 22.. slammed into the back of a non-moving compact car and crushed it.. she was looking at her phone.. light turned green and all the 6 cars ahead started to go except the guy in front of her.. looking down out her phone, she made the trunk disappear.. I only had to replace the front plastic valance.. Burb had zero damage... 

.. That's the quandary.. .get them a tank.. or something easy to park with fuel economy?

abc

[tjZ06]

3 hours ago, ANGRYBUTTCRACK said:

Good choice… my brother-in-law just got this for his 15 year old, she’ll be 16 in April 22 and my daughter is 3 weeks younger May 22.

Wife and I are looking. 

They only made 2000 of this Isuzu  VehiCROSS…. For this year, ‘99 I think.

I like it. 6 cylinder on 33’s.

Not sure what we’ll get ‘the baby,’ but it’s not a great time to buy IMO.

We might just get an Elantra like I got my 22 year old when she was 16.

Abc

I love weird, unique cars so I actually really like the VEHIcross.  They're body on frame and share a lot of mechanicals with the Trooper.  The 3.5L isn't too underpowered either. 

 

3 hours ago, raspadoo said:

Tell him to step and buy high end rotors and pads. I put 31's on my daughters first car (1998 XJ) and it would not stop for 💩. 

Well, to be fair XJs don't stop good bone stock. 

 

 

 

As some of you prob know I got the WJ that I've now built up a ton for my wife's younger brother's first car.  It was a great DD for him, and I'd highly recommend one - you just need to know a few things about them (anybody actually considering one feel free to PM me).  A clean WJ is generally cheaper than a clean XJ now, but is much, much, much nicer as a vehicle.  Mine is a fully-loaded Overland so it has stuff like auto headlights, auto wipers, dual zone climate, leather/suede interior, nice factory Alpine stereo w/ a real factory amp, etc. etc.  They're also solid axle, coil-sprung, multi-link front and rear and wheel incredibly well stock.  They look great with just a 2" budget boost and about a 30.5" tire on the right wheel too.  A "nice" one should be ~$5k these days.  The catch is you really should get a 4.7 V8 model (many reasons, the much better 545RFE being one, and the ole 4.0L I6 is just particularly under-powered for a WJ and got paired with a shite 42RE trans), but the 4.7 V8 absolutely will drop valve seats eventually.  IMHO, I'd spring for one that's had the heads (or whole engine) replaced, OR budget the head job in with the purchase.  It's not a lot of $ in parts, but the labor can be a bit. 

 

-TJ

[L.R.S.]

Well, second day with this Volt and still trying to figure it out.  It runs and drives fine but it's the little stuff like the Bluetooth not synching unless I go into settings and pair my device (annoying AF) every time and the battery takes FOREVER to charge on 110v.  I plugged it in last night at work to the only 110v plug nearest my office at around 1 am.  By 5:45 am it said it was charged enough for me to drive 18 miles.  Perfect I'm 15 miles one way, but it's mostly uphill.  I was about 3 miles from home when it switched to the gas engine which was fine.  Plugged it in to a regular 110v source at my house at 6 am and checked it at 2pm and it said 20 miles of driving on the battery, full charge at 10:15 pm.  Huh?  6 am to 10 pm was 16 hours for a full charge?  Can't be correct.

My daughter found a reason to drive it so we went to the grocery store and were back home within an hour.  I plugged it back in as soon as we parked and at 9:15 pm I unplugged it to go to work.  The car said it had 28 miles of battery availability.  Good enough for me.  While driving, mostly downhill the battery climbed to 31 miles of driving.  OK.  Got to work and it had dropped back down to 27 miles of driving.  Odd, I just drove 15 miles.  I plugged it into the same 110v at work and will let it sit until 5:45 am tomorrow when I'm ready to head home.  

I already put a call in to my electrical buddy about pulling a 220v source out to the RV parking specifically for the Volt.  I already have 50amp RV service but it's on the opposite side and 50' away.  While he's there I'll have him look at adding a generator plug for my house for all these dumb azz CA power outages.

 

[HTElectrical]

From ChargePoint

• Level 1 chargers: These are the 120-volt charging cords that come with your vehicle. You can connect the three-prong plug into any standard wall socket and the other end into your car's standard charging port. Level 1 charging provides the slowest charge.
• Level 2 chargers: These are 240-volt charging systems with cables that connect to the standard charging port in your car. Most public charging stations have Level 2 chargers. Many electric vehicle owners also upgrade their dedicated home charging system to a Level 2 charger. Level 2 charging systems are at least twice as fast as Level 1 chargers and allow you to fully recharge your battery in less time.

Charging a plug-in hybrid at home is not much different from charging your cell phone or laptop. Just plug the cord that comes with the car into a regular wall outlet to add about 4 miles of Range Per Hour. It will take about 12 hours to recharge your Chevy Volt this way.

One difference to note is that many plug-in hybrids like the Volt have a slower onboard charger (what converts AC power from an outlet to DC power for the battery) than battery electric vehicles, meaning these hybrids can add only about 12 miles of Range Per Hour with even a 32-amp Level 2 charger (that’s compared with the 25 miles of Range Per Hour most battery electric vehicles can add). Still, getting a faster Level 2 charger will prepare you get an all-electric vehicle eventually, like I did.

[zilla68]

1 hour ago, HTElectrical said:

From ChargePoint

• Level 1 chargers: These are the 120-volt charging cords that come with your vehicle. You can connect the three-prong plug into any standard wall socket and the other end into your car's standard charging port. Level 1 charging provides the slowest charge.
• Level 2 chargers: These are 240-volt charging systems with cables that connect to the standard charging port in your car. Most public charging stations have Level 2 chargers. Many electric vehicle owners also upgrade their dedicated home charging system to a Level 2 charger. Level 2 charging systems are at least twice as fast as Level 1 chargers and allow you to fully recharge your battery in less time.

Charging a plug-in hybrid at home is not much different from charging your cell phone or laptop. Just plug the cord that comes with the car into a regular wall outlet to add about 4 miles of Range Per Hour. It will take about 12 hours to recharge your Chevy Volt this way.

One difference to note is that many plug-in hybrids like the Volt have a slower onboard charger (what converts AC power from an outlet to DC power for the battery) than battery electric vehicles, meaning these hybrids can add only about 12 miles of Range Per Hour with even a 32-amp Level 2 charger (that’s compared with the 25 miles of Range Per Hour most battery electric vehicles can add). Still, getting a faster Level 2 charger will prepare you get an all-electric vehicle eventually, like I did.

my old neighbor that just moved had a volt, he had the 220v plug in his garage also, never had issues with charging overnite, I think he told me he could drive a month on a tank of gas/charging daily, as the base was just out of range daily for his charge.

[tjZ06]

10 hours ago, L.R.S. said:

Well, second day with this Volt and still trying to figure it out.  It runs and drives fine but it's the little stuff like the Bluetooth not synching unless I go into settings and pair my device (annoying AF) every time and the battery takes FOREVER to charge on 110v.  I plugged it in last night at work to the only 110v plug nearest my office at around 1 am.  By 5:45 am it said it was charged enough for me to drive 18 miles.  Perfect I'm 15 miles one way, but it's mostly uphill.  I was about 3 miles from home when it switched to the gas engine which was fine.  Plugged it in to a regular 110v source at my house at 6 am and checked it at 2pm and it said 20 miles of driving on the battery, full charge at 10:15 pm.  Huh?  6 am to 10 pm was 16 hours for a full charge?  Can't be correct.

My daughter found a reason to drive it so we went to the grocery store and were back home within an hour.  I plugged it back in as soon as we parked and at 9:15 pm I unplugged it to go to work.  The car said it had 28 miles of battery availability.  Good enough for me.  While driving, mostly downhill the battery climbed to 31 miles of driving.  OK.  Got to work and it had dropped back down to 27 miles of driving.  Odd, I just drove 15 miles.  I plugged it into the same 110v at work and will let it sit until 5:45 am tomorrow when I'm ready to head home.  

I already put a call in to my electrical buddy about pulling a 220v source out to the RV parking specifically for the Volt.  I already have 50amp RV service but it's on the opposite side and 50' away.  While he's there I'll have him look at adding a generator plug for my house for all these dumb azz CA power outages.

 

Pretty normal for an electric car on regular home 110V.  If you want semi-fast charging, you need the right 220V setup.  A quick g00gle tells me a Volt will take about 12hrs to achieve a full charge on 110V.  Once Fallon is driving on her own, if you're not borrowing it to get to work that will be great... but if she uses it during the day and then you take it to work it's never fully going to catch up unless you have the right charger at work and/or home.

 

-TJ

[CHRIS J]

21 hours ago, L.R.S. said:

Well, second day with this Volt and still trying to figure it out.  It runs and drives fine but it's the little stuff like the Bluetooth not synching unless I go into settings and pair my device (annoying AF) every time and the battery takes FOREVER to charge on 110v.  I plugged it in last night at work to the only 110v plug nearest my office at around 1 am.  By 5:45 am it said it was charged enough for me to drive 18 miles.  Perfect I'm 15 miles one way, but it's mostly uphill.  I was about 3 miles from home when it switched to the gas engine which was fine.  Plugged it in to a regular 110v source at my house at 6 am and checked it at 2pm and it said 20 miles of driving on the battery, full charge at 10:15 pm.  Huh?  6 am to 10 pm was 16 hours for a full charge?  Can't be correct.

My daughter found a reason to drive it so we went to the grocery store and were back home within an hour.  I plugged it back in as soon as we parked and at 9:15 pm I unplugged it to go to work.  The car said it had 28 miles of battery availability.  Good enough for me.  While driving, mostly downhill the battery climbed to 31 miles of driving.  OK.  Got to work and it had dropped back down to 27 miles of driving.  Odd, I just drove 15 miles.  I plugged it into the same 110v at work and will let it sit until 5:45 am tomorrow when I'm ready to head home.  

I already put a call in to my electrical buddy about pulling a 220v source out to the RV parking specifically for the Volt.  I already have 50amp RV service but it's on the opposite side and 50' away.  While he's there I'll have him look at adding a generator plug for my house for all these dumb azz CA power outages.

 

Down hill bro, regenerative braking charging the battery it’s Bitchin, making energy

[L.R.S.]

13 hours ago, tjZ06 said:

Pretty normal for an electric car on regular home 110V.  If you want semi-fast charging, you need the right 220V setup.  A quick g00gle tells me a Volt will take about 12hrs to achieve a full charge on 110V.  Once Fallon is driving on her own, if you're not borrowing it to get to work that will be great... but if she uses it during the day and then you take it to work it's never fully going to catch up unless you have the right charger at work and/or home.

 

-TJ

Need to do some research on a 'better' charging cord of there is such a thing. Regardless I need a spare cord to leave at home and one to keep in the car. 

At 5:45 am the Volt was at full charge. I unplugged and headed home.

 

 

My drive is 15 miles and mostly uphill, doing around 70mph. 

 

 

This is what I had when I got home.

Not complaining about the car whatsoever. I really like it, just want to maximize the benefits of owning it. 

 

 

[tjZ06]

I assume the batteries are original?  I think I might have mentioned looking into that... 

 

-TJ

[L.R.S.]

5 hours ago, tjZ06 said:

I assume the batteries are original?  I think I might have mentioned looking into that... 

 

-TJ

Yes you did and I'm sure the battery is original. I can't 'TJ' this car and rip it apart and replace errythang though. It is what it is. I've never owned an EV, never had one on my radar and did zero research on them until Tony offered it up. 

The charger cord that came with it will do 120v/240v via a NEMA6-20 plug (it has a NEMA5-15 adapter for 120v now) so just need to get that socket wired up at the house. A few articles claimed 4 hour charging on 240v power. 

I'll check out the free charging station in the off-site parking structure at work, which is a 10 minute walk from my office each way. Not bad, but it's Boyle Heights in East LA and not a place for a guy like me to be on the streets at 9:30 pm and again at 5:30 am. The things I'll do to live green and save the planet...