I am looking for a first car for my son. He is graduating high school this year and I am looking to buy him a car which gets good fuel economy. He is very interested in this forum and would like to get the Honda Insight. He will be probably be driving long distances daily (50 miles a day on our car!) because we live some distance away from any stores or other places. I agree with him about the insight because it is the most fuel efficient and is a little bit nicer on the inside. However we have heard of so many battery failures with the insight and we would like to know how the car drives if you disable the battery and the efficiency. We have done some research about this car and we would be able to unplug some cables in the back to enable the 12V charging system. We were looking at the metro and those appear to be a little harder to get and all of the models before 95?? seem to have very poor safety ratings. On the other hand these cars seem to be much much cheaper to buy outright and also much easier to work on. Our last idea was a civic because they are so easy to find. The only problem is that they are extremely unsafe and I would like my sons first car to be safe. We were considering buying him an old Cadillac DeVille/Lincoln Towncar/Buick for safety, cheapness, and reliability but we have decided to try something more efficient. We are somewhat mechanically inclined so we can do some minor repairs. What car do you guys think is best for a new driver?
