If you have a teen, you may have to teach them to drive. That’s a natural part of growing up. While not every teen will want to get their driver’s license, many will.

Once you have their license, or if you think it’s likely that they’ll get it soon, you will need to think about whether you’re going to get them a car. Maybe you have an older vehicle you plan to give to your teen, and you will buy a new one. If you can’t afford that, though, perhaps they can just borrow the family car when there’s no one else using it.

If you plan to buy a vehicle for your young one once they get their license, though, then you will probably want to look into the safest cars for teens. You can certainly look into the various individual brands and models on the market. Presumably, though, if you’ve been a licensed driver for a long time, then you will already know at least somewhat about the kinds of vehicles on the market.

Let’s take a moment to talk about a few of the different kinds of vehicles you can procure and which one you might buy for your teen, if you decide that you’re in a financial position to do so.

A Sedan

You might start by thinking about sedans. Sedans usually have a status in the minds of most individuals as one of the safest kinds of cars you can purchase. Because of that, you may put this option at the top of the list of vehicles that you might potentially buy your teen when they become a licensed driver.

A sedan typically has four doors and trunk space. It can usually sit either or four or five adults comfortably.

Sedans don’t have the size of something like an SUV or a minivan, so your teen driver can probably learn to park it easier. Since they might not show excellent parking skills yet, you may want to avoid buying them a very large vehicle because of that.

Also, modern sedans usually get good gas mileage, certainly better than the larger vehicles on this list. This should probably emerge as a top contender for that reason as well. 

A Hatchback
 

You may also want to consider buying your new teen driver a hatchback. Hatchbacks look very much like sedans in most ways. Instead of a separate trunk, though, there’s a hatch that opens vertically in the rear of the vehicle.

Hatchbacks make a lot of sense for a new driver because they’re about the same size as the average sedan, or perhaps they’re a little smaller. Aside from ease of parking, you get good gas mileage.

However, the hatchback-style trunk space might also serve your teen driver well. That’s because they can easily fit supplies in there.

If your teen likes to go camping or needs to load up some clothing and some pieces of small furniture if they’re going off to college, the hatchback should do fine. They can probably even fit a mini-fridge in there that can go in their dorm room.

A Sports Car

You might consider some sports cars. However, in most instances, you probably don’t want to buy one for your new teen driver.

If you look at sports cars, you will instantly see that they cost more than something like a sedan or a hatchback. You probably don’t want to spend that much on your teen.

You should also realize, though, that they go a lot faster than the average sedan or hatchback. Because of this, you may also want to shy away from getting this model for a young driver.

Even if you have a teenager who behaves unusually well and with a lot of restraint, they’re still young, and they may have the urge to test out this car’s capabilities if they get out on the highway in it. That might cause them to accrue some speeding tickets or to cause a devastating accident.

A Muscle Car

You can put muscle cars in the same category. You probably don’t want to get one for your teen driver because they cost more, and they also don’t usually get very good gas mileage.

In addition, they typically have a much more powerful engine under the hood than something like a hatchback or sedan. Just like a car that can reach blazing top speeds, one that has a ton of horsepower under the hood probably won’t suit a brand-new driver, especially one with a brain that’s not even finished developing yet.

A Truck

You might buy a truck for your teen driver. They have some of the same problems that you’ll see with muscle cars and sports cars, though.

They seldom get very good gas mileage. They are also large, so your teen might not have the skill set to maneuver something of that size into a narrow parking space.

If you taught your teen to drive using your old truck, that is probably the one occasion where it makes the most sense to gift it to them. Presumably, you watched them learn how to drive using this vehicle, so you can accurately judge whether they can handle it or not.

A Minivan

You might also consider getting your teen driver a minivan. Minivans do not have the small, compact size that you will get with a sedan or hatchback. Most of them don’t get the best gas mileage, either.

Still, you may consider this one a little more seriously because your teen driver might have a lot of friends who they like to drive around all the time. If you know that they have five or six friends who they will want to bring with them to engage in frequent activities, then this becomes a somewhat more sensible option.

Consider each of these factors and make the choice that seems to fit your teen best.