Tag Archives: faces

10 Cars That Are Perfect for Teen Drivers

As a parent, finding the perfect car for your inexperienced teen driver can be a challenge. You want a car that is safe, fuel-efficient, and affordable. To help you in your search, we have compiled a list of 10 cars that are perfect for teen drivers. These cars have various features that make them ideal for new drivers.

Here are the top 10 cars:

10 Honda Civic

Average Price: $7,100

The Honda Civic is a highly recommended choice for teen drivers. It has excellent safety features, impressive fuel mileage, and a sport mode for added fun.

  • Pros: Excellent safety features, fuel efficient, sport mode
  • Cons: Lacks cargo room, cramped rear seats, finicky sound system controls

The Honda Civic offers a comfortable and composed ride. It has an advanced voice command system, which can help young drivers avoid distractions while driving. It is a popular choice in the compact car segment, making it easy to find a good model at a reasonable price.

9 Subaru Legacy

Average Price: $8,300

The Subaru Legacy is a good car for young drivers, especially with its standard all-wheel drive (AWD) feature. It offers impressive safety features and the added control of Symmetrical AWD.

  • Pro: Standard AWD, excellent outward visibility, spacious cabin
  • Cons: Base audio system could be better, six-cylinder models lack fuel economy and acceleration, no touchscreen infotainment system

The Subaru Legacy provides a comfortable and safe ride, with a seating position that offers great visibility. It is a good option for new drivers who want the added security of AWD.

8 Toyota Camry

Average Price: $9,400

The Toyota Camry is known for its excellent safety features and high safety ratings. It has a smooth ride, spacious cabin, and good fuel mileage.

  • Pros: Smooth ride and spacious cabin, good fuel mileage, excellent reliability rating
  • Cons: Lackluster handling, no available manual transmission, numb steering

The Toyota Camry is a popular midsize sedan that offers a comfortable and reliable driving experience. It is a great choice for parents who want their teen to have a safe and practical car.

7 Honda Accord

Average Price: $9,900

The Honda Accord is a sporty-looking midsize sedan that is a good option for teen drivers. It offers a roomy cabin and stylish design.

  • Pros: Roomy cabin with stylish soft-touch materials, comfortable ride, fun sporty handling
  • Cons: Optional touchscreen can be frustrating, driver aids can be overly sensitive, fewer available luxury features than other models in the class

The Honda Accord strikes a good balance between safety and style. It is a practical and safe choice for new drivers.

6 Volkswagen Jetta

Average Price: $10,900

The Volkswagen Jetta offers a quality ride and excellent safety features. It has a spacious rear seat and trunk, and energetic turbocharged engine.

  • Pros: Large rear seat and trunk, energetic turbocharged engine, fuel-efficient
  • Cons: Handling and steering could be better, lower trims have subpar cabin materials, GLI sport model isn’t actually sporty

The VW Jetta improved with its newer models, offering a better engine and improved features. It is a solid choice for new drivers.

5 Kia Soul

Average Price: $11,000

The Kia Soul is a fun and funky car that is also highly rated for safety. It comes with a long list of standard and optional features.

  • Pros: Lots of standard and optional features, attractive cabin with user-friendly controls, more passenger space than most small SUVs
  • Cons: Unimpressive fuel mileage, no AWD offered, harsh ride quality with bigger wheels

The Kia Soul is a good first car for teens who want a stylish and practical vehicle. It offers advanced safety features to help new drivers stay safe on the road.

4 Ford Fusion

Average Price: $12,200

The Ford Fusion is a midsize sedan that offers a comfortable and safe ride. It has excellent handling and a quiet interior.

  • Pros: Excellent combination of handling and ride quality, quiet interior with high-quality materials, abundance of advanced safety equipment
  • Cons: Standard tech can be frustrating, lacks acceleration, not as fuel-efficient as smaller cars

The Ford Fusion provides a spacious cabin and a large trunk for carrying gear. It is a good first car for new drivers to get used to their time behind the wheel.

3 Chevrolet Cruze

Average Price: $13,500

The Chevrolet Cruze is a compact sedan that offers a long list of great features. It has impressive handling and a handsome interior design.

  • Pros: Two high-efficient powertrains, impressive handling, handsome interior design
  • Cons: Mediocre seating comfort, unresponsive six-speed automatic transmission, lacks some of the latest tech

The Chevy Cruze may not be the most dominant car in its class, but it offers great qualities and features. It is a solid choice for new drivers.

2 Toyota Corolla Hatchback

Average Price: $18,700

The Toyota Corolla Hatchback is a bit pricier than the other options, but it offers reliability and quality. It has lots of standard advanced driving aids.

  • Pros: Lots of standard advanced driving aids, enjoyable handling capability, smooth ride quality
  • Cons: Rivals have more cargo and storage space, rear legroom is lacking, no Android Auto

The Toyota Corolla Hatchback is a stylish and efficient car that is packed with safety features. It is a good choice for parents who want their teen to have a reliable and safe car.

1 Mazda 3

Average Price: $20,900

The Mazda 3 is the top choice for a new first car for teens. It offers a premium interior, comfortable seats, and spirited handling.

  • Pros: Premium interior materials in upper trims, comfortable and supportive seats, spirited handling
  • Cons: Rear seat lacks legroom, less cargo space than other compact sedans, early models weren’t offered with the SkyActiv-X engine

The Mazda 3 is both stylish and safe. It has excellent fuel efficiency and advanced safety features. It is a great choice for new drivers.

These 10 cars are all excellent options for teen drivers. They offer a combination of safety, affordability, and features that make them ideal for new drivers. Consider your teen’s preferences and budget when choosing the perfect car for them.

Russia’s Luna-25 Moon Mission Ends With Crash Landing

The mission’s unfortunate end marks a significant setback for Russia. The country now faces fierce competition not only from NASA, China’s CNSA, and Japan’s JAXA but also from private space exploration companies interested in commercial and government-backed lunar missions. Despite this setback, Russia’s space ambitions continue, with numerous future missions planned.

The Russian space agency was collaborating with the European Space Agency (ESA) on the Luna-27 mission, which aimed to explore the moon’s south-polar region and collect surface samples. However, due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the ESA severed ties with Roscosmos and withdrew from the planned lunar missions in April 2022. In addition, Roscosmos had joined forces with the China National Space Administration (CNSA) in late 2021 for future lunar exploration missions, including moon-based observation and long-term unmanned operations with the potential for human presence. However, this partnership has yet to achieve significant success for Russia.

In contrast, China’s Chang’e 5 probe successfully returned lunar samples to Earth three years ago. China is also planning to establish an operational base on the moon using 3D printing technology and aims to send a human to the lunar surface by 2030. All eyes are now on India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission, which is currently in lunar orbit and is expected to achieve a soft landing on the moon on August 23.

What’s Causing the Delay in New Car Deliveries? It’s a Railway Shortage, Not Semiconductor Delays

The auto industry is facing a new obstacle as a scarcity of railroad cars is resulting in delays in delivering new vehicles. Due to this shortage, approximately 70,000 new vehicles are stranded across the country, unable to reach dealerships. Concerned about this issue, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, the auto industry’s lobbying group, has requested the intervention of the US Surface Transportation Board.

This scarcity of rail cars is particularly troubling because freight rail typically transports nearly 75 percent of new vehicles and handles 1.8 million carloads of auto parts annually. The backlog of finished vehicles is disrupting the automotive supply chain, which is still recovering from the shortage of semiconductor chips. The delays in delivering vehicles are significantly impacting suppliers, employees, and the overall US economy.

The problem revolves around the shortage of autoracks, specialized rail cars that carry vehicles. Rail transport is preferred over carrier trucks due to lower costs and faster delivery times. An autorack rail car can transport 12 to 18 vehicles, compared to a truck hauler that can only carry a maximum of seven to eight vehicles.

The scarcity of rail cars is a complex issue due to the extensive rail network in North America and the complexities of rail shipping. Rail shipping involves multiple destinations and routes, making it a challenging puzzle to coordinate. Autoracks are part of a shared pool administered by a company called TTX. Manufacturing new autoracks takes two to three years, making it a non-quick fix.

The problem originates from a combination of factors. One notable factor is that the rebound in new-vehicle production after the semiconductor chip shortage has exceeded most railroads’ forecasts. Additional issues have arisen due to changes in supply chain patterns, such as redirecting vehicles through west coast ports instead of the east coast, resulting in longer rail car journeys than anticipated.

Meanwhile, several automakers are still dealing with the aftermath of the microchip shortage. Volkswagen stated earlier this year that the chip scarcity will continue to affect car sales in 2023. Automakers like Cadillac, Ford, and Genesis have also mentioned that the shortage has forced them to limit or exclude popular features on certain vehicles.