Kid car: 2016 LC125k mi vs newer 4Runner

[777Gage]

My parents did the same thing as above - met me half way.

I tweaked it a bit when I met my wife, she works for various non profits. The deal I made with my boys is - 100 hours of community service and they get the title

(to us old guys that's one week at work - to teenagers it's a lifetime ) But my older son already has 80hrs so far so he's doing well.

 

[ryanCA]

My parents did the same thing as above - met me half way.

I tweaked it a bit when I met my wife, she works for various non profits. The deal I made with my boys is - 100 hours of community service and they get the title

(to us old guys that's one week at work - to teenagers it's a lifetime ) But my older son already has 80hrs so far so he's doing well.

thats an excellent idea!! i will implement it as as well . We are 3 years from driving for oldest. I was thinking of “matching half,” but i like your idea more. i have worked at non profits for 3 years …. and i really appreciate it

 

[04UZJ100]

So I debate this as well is bigger heavier better than 8yrs of safety improvements and slightly smaller.

8 years of safety improvements in what? The current 2023 4Runner is on a 20 year old platform with essentially no mechanical changes,

Further, weight IS an advantage in an accident. The general population doesn’t realize that all crash ratings are based on vehicles of identical weight. Newton’s law of motion states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. A 6500# cruiser has a significant momentum advantage which will reduce deceleration rates when impacting vehicles that weight less.

A five star crash rated 2 series BMW DOES NOT EQUAL a five star crash rated SUV since the impact energy absorbed and rated against is from the subject vehicle……

 

[cboyd]

Check the insurance rates for both. at least where I live, giving a teenager a high value car, or one with expensive repair cost meant the insurance rates were crazy!

it was even high to have her listed as a covered driver. So she got moms subaru and doesnt touch the 200

 

[Gr8Daneger]

Hear me out…

I plan on buying my boys 2 Door, Manual Taco’s.

2 Door- least amount of distracting friends in the truck.

Manual- won’t be able to text and drive until VERY proficient. Friends also won’t be able to drive it.

Taco- aside from the reliability and build ability, they have a truck to move when a where as they please.


My Daughter on the other hand will probably get an Abrams Tank or something similar.

 

[krice118]

Keep the 200. 4Runners are too common.

I’m also a guy who prefers an old 150k mileage 200 to a newer 4Runner.

 

[stonepa]

Honestly I would do neither. I have a lot of kids. Everyone of them made mistakes driving that caused some form of damage to the car. None serious, but still damage. I bought each of my kids an inexpensive but reliable and safe car to learn how to drive, maintain, and be responsible with. Toyota Corollas, old Lexus Hybrids, Subarus. All under $10k. They could afford the gas, the cars were reliable, and they were easy to repair if needed.

They also were not targets for car thieves or car jackers.

I would never have given my kids a gas guzzling, poor handling and braking vehicle like a Land Cruiser or 4 Runner. But that is just me.

 

[TimCFJ40]

Honestly I would do neither. I have a lot of kids. Everyone of them made mistakes driving that caused some form of damage to the car. None serious, but still damage. I bought each of my kids an inexpensive but reliable and safe car to learn how to drive, maintain, and be responsible with. Toyota Corollas, old Lexus Hybrids, Subarus. All under $10k. They could afford the gas, the cars were reliable, and they were easy to repair if needed.

They also were not targets for car thieves or car jackers.

I would never have given my kids a gas guzzling, poor handling and braking vehicle like a Land Cruiser or 4 Runner. But that is just me.

Was about to type almost exactly this. There are lots of reliable "appliance" cars out there for $10-15k that would be more appropriate for a first car.

 

[Heckraiser]

Both cars way too nice for a teenager. I'd also avoid SUV as a first vehicle for the potential to pack full of teenagers and roll.

Tell her you're making her buy her own car, then if she's good (grades, trouble, not a brat, etc), match her spend to double her savings. You'll be the last minute hero and she'll get some useful life experience.

We did this when my daughter was 16. She ended up with my mom's old Mazda Millennia (mazdarati, lol), which she paid market value for. She then put some dents in it and ran it into the ground.

I do like the idea of the regular cab manual pickup posted above! Enforce minimal distractions by vehicle selection.

 

[psuchaz]

Umm neither. Have her work and save up enough money to buy a $3,000 Toyota Corolla with you matching half.

Agree with this in principle. Grades/sports/ summer work are the requirements. Paying her own insurance will likely be about all that’s gonna be feasible. I’m being told it’s about 2k a year with my coverages

 

[krice118]

RAV4 hybrid. This will be a car she could have for 15 years and be cheap to maintain.

 

[lx200inAR]

Wasn’t the current 4Runner designed at the same time as the 200. Does it really have any safety tech advantage?

 

[ryanCA]

RAV4 hybrid. This will be a car she could have for 15 years and be cheap to maintain.

Aren't those like 50K+?

 

[eatSleepWoof]

A kid-card is whatever the kid can afford from the money they earned.

 

[stonepa]

A kid-card is whatever the kid can afford from the money they earned.

Dad, is that you?

 

[04UZJ100]

Wasn’t the current 4Runner designed at the same time as the 200. Does it really have any safety tech advantage?

No. It was designed in 2000/010/02

 

[linuxgod]

Safety wise between the two, the LC is generally better in an accident, and since you're talking about a 2016 LC I don't think the safety tech is much improved in the new 4R.

Practically I wouldn't give my kid either. I know how I drove as a kid. My daughter has had her license for about 18 months and my older son has his learner's permit now. My daughter is pretty careful but even still I fully expect my kids will dent up and at least light abuse whatever they drive. We bought a used Mini Cooper as our second car which the kids learned on and which they drive regularly. It was 1/3 the cost of the LC and if they bang it up it's easily replaced. Granted we live in the city so the top speed around here is 30 mph... if I lived somewhere rural where my kids were routinely following 75mph speed limits I might feel differently about the vehicle choice, but not about going used.

My kids will have to buy their own car. I've seen how they treat my stuff. They take much better care of their own stuff than mine. I made my kids buy their first iPhones. They all saved up allowance $ and birthday checks and bought used phones to start with. My daughter cracked her screen 30 days in and came to me in tears. I told her she had to buy a new screen but I'd do the labor to replace it. She went 6 years without damaging another one.

My daughter wants to buy a car when she turns 18 and has been saving up. She was looking for something reasonably nice ($12-15k) but I pointed out she just needs something basic and reliable to get her through college, at which point once she graduates she's going to want to trade in whatever she has and get something newer and nicer once she has a full-time job. Better to dent up a $5k Corolla and not be concerned in 5 years about the condition when she can afford something new. We might help her buy something when the time comes ($-for-$ match), but even still she's going to know she worked hard and earned it.

BTW I like @Gr8Daneger's idea of a manual Taco, though I have to admit I learned on a 5 speed and could drive and shift while eating a burger with a soda between my legs, or steer with my knees while I shifted with my left hand so I could have my right arm around my GF. Don't think for a moment that a manual will stop kids from texting or doing other dump things...

 

[MCtree]

My last vehicle before this LC was a GX460.
I like the LC more in almost every way except size when driving on tight streets or parking in tight spots.
The GX is about the same size as the 4Runner, right?

That size could be something to consider for a newly minted driver.

 

[coleAK]

Umm neither. Have her work and save up enough money to buy a $3,000 Toyota Corolla with you matching half.

This is what I’m doing with my 16 YO (but a slightly used one) She has mostly decided on a Subaru cross trek, Hyundai Santa Cruz, or mini countryman.

 

[linuxgod]

This is what I’m doing with my 16 YO (but a slightly used one) She has mostly decided on a Subaru cross trek, Hyundai Santa Cruz, or mini countryman.

Avoid the Mini like the plague. I bought the car with 32k miles. It's got 45k miles now and in that 13k I've had to do lower control arms, lower engine mount, timing chain gasket (not yet done but it's leaking like a sieve), upper engine mount, front struts, front and rear brakes, and front sway bar end links. Oh and the little spring in the shifter broke (common on Mini and BMW) and that's $2100 to replace the shifter. (I bought a spring off ebay, took the shifter apart, bent the spring, then reassembled, but most normal people wouldn't do that). Carvana covered the LCAs, I did the shifter myself, and for the moment I'm ignoring the engine oil leak, but that's $10k in repairs.