I got my license early this year and I'm in my early 30's. Never really needed to drive until I recently moved to Hawaii (Oahu) for a new job. So I'm a real rookie driver and I still become anxious by the thought of driving.

Now I need to buy a car and I've been looking at compact, fuel efficient cars. And Honda Fit looks perfect to me - except the supply of it is limited in this island and so they are pricey both used and new.

Now, since I'm a rookie driver, I'm hesitant to buy a brand new Fit, but used ones with low mileage are not much cheaper than new ones.

So I don't know what would be the wisest thing to do. I really like Fit and I hear nothing but good things about them.

On a side note, I see that Nissan Versas from 2011 are selling for 11K+ and I wonder whether as a Rookie, Honda Fit is too luxurious and maybe I should just go with Versa? But I've also heard negative comments about Nissan's performance/quality... Are they that bad??

My budget for my first car is about a little over 10K. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

1992 Toyota Corolla 5 speed. Sell it in a year after you've had more seat time and get a Fit.

 

Repairs and fuel are costly in the islands. What counts is reliability and fuel efficiency. The Fit scores high in both areas and includes the added benefit of high resale value. If you remain in the islands, you may never require another vehicle and if you move, you'll get a good price.

Aloha!

 

I second the Corolla, although maybe not that old. Comfy, reliable, totally boring to drive, which should be just what you want in this case. And yes, it'll hold its value pretty much indefinitely, or as much as a car can. As you've seen, the Fit is also pretty good at that. But the Fit is a bit sporty for someone who self-selects as being afraid of cars

Good luck and enjoy the island life

*ahem* convertible

 

I also recommend the idea of the Corolla. or a 91 accord, im enjoyed driving our old accord and miss it when i scraped it.

 

I bought my fit brand new just because I couldn't find a good deal on a used one, they were only a couple thousand lower then a brand new one so that's why I decided on new. These cars have some serious resale value. The only ones that were around a decent price were high milage GD models and those were 10-11k. So far I love my GE, it's small, noisy, not so luxurious (compared to my past cars) but it gets he job done well and it's much more fun to drive then a run of the mill Camry, Corolla or Yaris.

 

Dear Wanderer - Thanks for your comment. My concern with that option though is that a car that old may break down soon after I bought it and it maybe stressful to go through hassle of repairing it, especially if the repair becomes costly...

 

Thanks, mrnoyb. So, would you recommend buying a used Fit (with 50K+ miles) or a new Fit if the price difference is about $6-7K?

 

Hi fujisawa - Thanks for responding. So, what year and mileage would you recommend for a used corolla?

 

Hi SieGunso... Thanks. Another vote for a Corolla. It must be a very reliable car...

 

Mini_Odyssey: Thanks for sharing. I totally agree about the price of the used ones. If I were to buy a Honda Fit as my first car, it I might as well just get a new one for that reason.

 

I think a Toyota Yaris would be a better choice than a later Corolla. Don't know how a Yaris is priced in Hawaii, but here in NC you can find a 1 year old Yaris for less than $10k.

Yaris has reliabiliy and owner cost ratings equal to the Corolla, based on Consumer Reports car ratings. You may also want to consider getting a car with an automatic transmission for use in Hawaii. I understand they have some rather heavy stop and go traffic during their rush hours.

Clifton

 

LOL The Versa doesn't even get a mention or comment. Nuff said on that.

 

Corolla is a good used car with as many that has been sold over the years probably could get a high mileage one drive for one year and still be able to sell it for about what you paid for it.

Nissan Note

 

Re auto trans, islands never have "fun to drive" roads. That's because there's inevitably one main road around the outside and you have to share it with people driving toyota corollas.

If I were looking at buying a corolla, I'd look at the 2003-8 models. They're new enough to be safe and reliable. They may seem expensive vs other used cars, and that's because they have a remaining useful life similar to other NEW cars. I don't want to single out the Corolla- there's a spectrum of longevity and some cars just work for longer than others.

You might buy a brand new Chevy and think "ah ha, I now don't need to worry about mechanical trouble at all!" but ... you still do. Sorry. Yes, as a general rule, new will be more reliable than used. But any car can break. Think about it this way, each component has some % likelihood to break in a year. The % goes up each year. Even if the % is <1% in the first year, you have 1000+ components in the car. So a new car is not likely to break, but it is possible to break.

You will need to buy whatever is within your price range, and with a limited selection I assume. Buy the most reliable thing in your range and accept mentally that you will at some point have car trouble and you will just deal with it like the rest of us mortals .. and at least you'll be in Hawaii when it happens rather than VT in December

 

Hi Clifton: Thanks for sharing. After your mention of Yaris, I actually started looking and found something like 2007 Yaris with about 30K miles on it and the owner was asking about $8000. If the miles are low, does the year matter much? BTW, I think Yaris 2-door hatchback is very cute.

 

GTRPLYR - Haha! You're right. I think I'm definitely losing interest in Versa.

 

cjecpa- I've never heard of Nissan Note until now! Interesting!

 

fujisawa: Thanks for breaking it down for me. It makes sense. I'm shockingly ignorant about having a car and your explanation is quite helpful. Especially the last paragraph. This might sound funny but because I've lived without a car for my entire life until this year and it's hard to imagine myself with a car to repair. Just the thought of it is scary. But yes, I should be mentally prepared.

 

I just came across it I thought it was a fit at first not sold in USA . I see hertz sells a lot of use cars for around $11k where you are located including the Fiesta. Go on AutoTrader.