What Are the Best New and Used Cars for Teens for 2023?

By Jennifer Geiger
May 22, 2023
teen driver 2022 13 interior driving scaled jpg Cars.com photo by Christian Lantry

Sending your teen driver out on the road can be scary, but the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and Consumer Reports want to help. The agencies partner each year to identify the best new and used cars for teens with the goal of helping shoppers choose a dependable and safe vehicle. The pool of options is getting smaller: This year’s list includes 46 used vehicles and 16 new cars, while last year’s list included 49 used vehicles and 21 new models.

Related: What Are the Best New and Used Cars for Teens?

What Makes a Good Teen Vehicle?

Vehicles are narrowed down by a variety of categories. In addition to good IIHS safety ratings, the recommended vehicles are those that discourage dangerous driving behavior and avoid unnecessary risks; sports cars, small cars with a curb weight under 2,750 pounds and large vehicles with long braking distances are excluded. According to IIHS, moderately sized vehicles provide a better balance of crash avoidance and crash protection.

Recommended new and used vehicles for teens are sorted into three groups: best used-car choices, good used-car choices and best new cars. Vehicle categories are further divided by size and class, including small cars, mid-size cars, large cars, small SUVs, mid-size SUVs, pickup trucks and minivans.

Used-Car Qualifications

Multiple evaluations are used to narrow down the list of good and best vehicle choices for teens, and both categories must meet basic safety and reliability criteria. Each vehicle must earn good ratings in several IIHS crash tests — moderate overlap front, original side, roof strength and head restraints — as well as four or five stars from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (if rated), and above-average reliability and handling scores from Consumer Reports tests and member surveys, respectively. Additionally, each car must offer a standard electronic stability system and have a dry braking distance of fewer than 145 feet from 60 mph.

To jump from good to best, a vehicle must achieve a good or acceptable rating in the IIHS driver-side small overlap front test, and any vehicles with higher than average insurance claims for first-party injury coverage are disqualified.

Safest Used Cars for Teens: Best Choices

Small Cars

Mid-Size Cars

Large Cars

Small SUVs

Mid-Size SUVs

Minivans

Pickup Trucks

Safest Used Cars for Teens: Good Choices

Small Cars

Mid-Size Cars

Large Cars

  • Hyundai Genesis (2013)
  • Audi A6 (2013-15)
  • Toyota Avalon (2013-14)

Small SUVs

Mid-Size SUVs

  • Acura RDX (2013-15)
  • Toyota Highlander (2013)

New-Car Qualifications

To make the list of best new cars for teens, a vehicle must be a 2023 IIHS Top Safety Pick or Top Safety Pick Plus. It must also come with standard vehicle-to-vehicle automatic emergency braking and average or better scores in Consumer Reports’ reliability rankings. As with the used car choices, new vehicles must get good scores in handling and dry braking tests, and all new vehicles with above-average insurance claims are excluded.

Safest New Cars for Teens

Small Cars

  • Mazda3 sedan or hatchback

Mid-Size Cars

  • Subaru Legacy
  • Subaru Outback

Small SUVs

Mid-Size SUVs

Minivans

Why Is This List Important?

Safety continues to be an issue for drivers — of all ages. According to IIHS, overall traffic deaths have been rising in the last few years after decades of declines. Data show that nearly 43,000 people died on the roads in 2021, up 10% over 2020. Teen road deaths have spiked higher, increasing 11% to 3,058 deaths in 2021.

“As parents, we can’t control what happens on the road once our teen driver pulls out of the driveway,” Jennifer Stockburger, director of operations at Consumer Reports’ Auto Test Center, said in a statement. “But we do have some say in the type of vehicle they drive off in, and that can make a huge difference. This list can help parents find vehicles that check all the boxes.”

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Cars.com’s Editorial department is your source for automotive news and reviews. In line with Cars.com’s long-standing ethics policy, editors and reviewers don’t accept gifts or free trips from automakers. The Editorial department is independent of Cars.com’s advertising, sales and sponsored content departments.
News Editor
Jennifer Geiger

News Editor Jennifer Geiger joined the automotive industry in 2003, much to the delight of her Corvette-obsessed dad. Jennifer is an expert reviewer, certified car-seat technician and mom of three. She wears a lot of hats — many of them while driving a minivan.

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