[Ryland]

The Honda N600 would not be my first choice for a daily driver, nor would it be a good choice for someone who wants to learn to drive stick as it's a weird stick shift to drive with the stick shift being more of a floppy joystick mounted to the dashboard, my parents have one and my mom who has been driving stick for 40+ years has yet to learn to shift it... reverse is a counter clockwise twist and a counter clockwise rotation till the shift lever points at the floor, learning double clutch on a Honda 600 is a must as well as many of them didn't have synchronized transmissions, some parts are common, like the starter rebuild kit was in stock at the auto part store, ball joints were an Ebay find, oil filters are also Ebay.
Another boxy car is the Subaru Justy, there were a few 2 wheel drive versions built but all of them are hard to find.
I personally like the 1991 and older Honda Civic's, 1980 to 1983 are my favorite with the Civic FE two door hatch back being an awesome car, there was also the 1984 to 1987 Civic 1.3L hatch back (base model I think) that got decent mileage and had a ton of space inside.
If she does long distance driving then a diesel VW rabbit might be the best choice.