I have like 15-20k and I’m thinking about something that would be really cool in college but not trucks or sports cars.My parents won’t allow me to do that. Used cars are totally fine. Any ideas?
SUVs are always a good choice.
I disagree. You could get better gas mileage, performance, handling, and just as much space out of a station wagon.
@MacKid997 What sorts of things do you want from a car?
Do you want a stickshift, automatic?
Do you need a car that’s off-road capable at all?
Do you want something with 2 rows? 3 rows?
Keep in mind that in college, nobody really cares about what you have. With a 15-20k budget, either a newer compact or a used sedan or SUV is never a bad choice.
Can never go wrong with a used Honda Civic, extremely reliable, never had any issues for the 4 years I had mine. They have great gas mileage and in my opinion look great as well.
Do you need the car for commuting to college or an off-campus job or some other regular use?
If you will be going to a residential college and living on or near campus, you may want to look into the parking situation before bringing any car with you. Also consider the cost of insurance for each possible car that you may want.
Consumer Reports just recently published their annual new and used car review edition or you can subscribe online. OI would think something that’s reliable and cheap to maintain would make most sense for a college student. Something along the lines of a Toyota/Lexus, Honda/Acura, etc. CR will give you a rundown on what, if any, model years of a particular car may have been trouble and what their trouble spots were/are.
Ex police Crown Vic. Beige. Headers and straight pipes. Looks like grandma’s church sled, sounds like Thor’s own indigestion, goes like an angry bat on a mission.
Cheap to insure, cheap to repair, nobody’s going to try and steal it.
…because even in the 21st century, it’s a hundred and six miles to Chicago.
I hate people who drive those. Always makes me nervous until I can see whether or not it has “CA Exempt” plates 
The newest Crown Victorias are from 2011, so relatively few of these are still in police service. A black Explorer in your rear view mirror may be more of a concern if you are driving faster than the speed limit.
@philbegas- What station wagons are you thinking of? There really aren’t many on the market, and the majority of them (Volvo, Mercedes, BMW, Audi, VW) are not going to be in great shape used, nor do they fulfill any of the metrics you laid out.
Subarus are supposed to be good.
Well nobody had mentioned specific brands, and OP was rather vague, so I was thinking of subaru or bmw wagons for example. They definitely handle better than their SUV equivalents, which is why I asked what OP cared about.
I’m not sure how you can say that they meet “none of the metrics” I outlined? Better handling? Yes. Lower center of gravity means less body roll. Just as much space? If you’re comparing a 2 row SUV and a 2 row Wagon you could definitely get similar space out of them. For the MPG I was thinking if you took a wagon and a suv from the same brand you’d get better mpg from the wagon. Especially since you’re way more likely to get a stickshift wagon than SUV! Also, whether or not they are in great shape used depends entirely on what OP wants to spend money on. For 15-20k you can get a relatively low mileage car that’s around 10 years old.
@philbegas- We have a Subaru wagon in the family stable. It handles similarly to a midsize SUV and gets the same gas millage as our full-size Audi SUV. It also has the same ground clearance as our Chevy Tahoe. Honestly any midsize SUV/large sedan/wagon/minivan is going to get similar millage in the real world. The perceived advantage of wagons is not really so great in the real world. Not to mention a ten year old car with low millage is not necessarily a good thing, being that old with low millage would indicate it was mostly driven in town which is much harder on it than highway miles.
Toyota. Whatever model floats your boat. Reliable, boring. Everyone will love you because you can drive them everywhere.
@Mandalorian I don’t think you can lump minivans in there in terms of mpg, but I’ll agree that the other 3 are all relatively similar. I can also agree that a mid-size suv can be similar in terms of handling. For example, my parents have an Infiniti fx35 and a lexus gx470. The lexus handles awfully and the fx handles wonderfully because it has a wide, relatively low center of gravity. The Mazda CX series are supposed to be great when it comes to midsize suvs and you can get one with a stickshift ;). At the end of the day a lot of handling is down to FWD vs AWD vs RWD. IMO anything FWD that is not a small light hatchback handles poorly - but I just prefer oversteer to understeer.
However. A wagon definitely beats a full size suv like a tahoe unless you have a huge family or if you want to be the designated driver for all of your friends’ outings lol.
@MacKid997 can you please come back and outline some more parameters for us to contemplate?
Most reliable new car I ever bought: Saab. LEAST reliable new car I ever bought: Honda Accord.
Most reliable used car I ever bought: Mini Cooper. LEAST: Toyota Tacoma.
Oddly the Honda and Tacoma each slurped more unscheduled maintenance time and money than the 51 Willys and 71 Camaro combined.
Consumer Reports is written by the housebound for the housebound. Life is too short for either dogs or personal transport without personality.
So that kind of leaves Subaru or maybe VW - betcha can get some decent deals on recent V dubs.
As a college student, I would think that you would want something that is reliable, not too uncool, cheap to repair, cheap to insure, and not attract too much attention from thieves. May I suggest a used Scion xB. I have a 2008 xB and it’s coming up on 140000 miles. It’s had a few minor issues, and Toyota has been great about doing repairs under warranty. If you know how to drive a manual, that’s even better for theft deterrent. The car is pretty bullet proof and can carry a large amout of cargo.
@50N40W My girlfriend has had 2 minis (first was rear ended) and they have been stellar. My parents and myself both have had infinitis and they’ve been very reliable (albeit a little bit expensive for routine maintenance)
Also seriously. Ditto to your point about housbound. Mini coopers get great mileage and have such a perky personality. Although if you’re going for the “s” model I hear it’s better to get the supercharged than the turbocharged.
Completely disagree with @50N40W .
The Saab and Mini Cooper being the most reliable and the Toyota’s being least reliable would be a contrarian viewpoint. I belong to multiple car forums, including being a long time BMW owner. One forum has a “support group” for BMW and Mini owners with all the problems they have.
Personally, I love the Mini’s, yes they’re “cute”, but I would not own a BMW/Mini Cooper, if cost and reliability are important. They’ve got one of the worst reputations for reliability and maintenance.
Now, my daily driver Toyota SUV has 258,000 miles. We have 2 other Toyota’s in the family, different models, but same result. Cheap maintenance (by local dealer) and virtually indestructible.