These Are The Five Cheapest Cars The IIHS And Consumer Reports Recommend For Teen Drivers

Getting your first car is a seminal moment in any car enthusiast’s life; pivotal, even. After years of watching other people enjoy the privilege of owning a car, you finally get to take part. And in the case of many teenage car enthusiasts, that means they finally get a chance to have four-wheeled freedom. It’s natural to want something cool, fun to drive, and maybe even fast. But parents probably have some other concerns that are top of mind. If they’re making the purchase, parents might be looking for something affordable, but above all else, something safe. In an ideal scenario, they’d get a car that’s both cheap and safe. 

For the safety bit to be covered, it’s a wise choice to look at the IIHS’ overall safety ratings, but they also partner with Consumer Reports to put together a list of cheap, safe, used cars. These are the five cheapest cars on the list of safest cars for teens from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and CR. The best part? There are more enthusiast-oriented options than last year’s list!

IIHS is an independent entity that subjects most new cars to rigorous safety evaluations and crash tests to arm consumers with knowledge in their car-buying process. The study ranks vehicles in two tiers: best choices and good choices with even lower price points, but our focus is on the cheapest vehicles specifically in the ‘best choices’ category. The prices used to make this list were obtained from Black Book in April 2026 and are rounded to the nearest $100. They represent the median retail price for all trims of each model for the earliest applicable model year.

Rounding out the top five cheapest used models on IIHS’s ‘best choices’ list is the 2020 to 2023 Nissan Maxima sedan. According to Black Book data, the median retail price for Maximas of those model years is $15,200. The 2020 Maxima earned a Top Safety Pick+ award from IIHS crash test results, so it will not only keep a teen driver safe should they get into an accident; its crash prevention systems received top ratings as well, so it could help prevent an accident from occurring in the first place.

The Maxima is the Nissan Altima’s cooler cousin; it’s also a front-wheel-drive midsize sedan, but the Maxima puts more focus on luxurious features, style, and power. This might be a good choice for a young car enthusiast who’s trying to convince their parents to approve a first car that’s at least slightly enthusiast-oriented. These sedans are powered by Nissan’s 3.5-liter V6, which sends 300 horsepower and 261 lb-ft of torque to the front wheels through a CVT. 

If an SUV is more your teen’s style, or if your budget has to stay below $14,000, then these are two other enthusiast-friendly subcompact crossovers that are affordable and safe: the 2020 and 2021 Mazda CX-3, and the 2019 to 2023 Subaru Crosstrek PHEV. According to Black Book data, the median retail price for all trims of the earliest model year of each vehicle is $13,600.

The Mazda CX-3 was a diminutive crossover that actually had less interior space than Mazda’s subcompact car, the Mazda3, but it still offered engaging driving dynamics and hatchback versatility to go along with its high safety ratings. It earned a Top Safety Pick+ rating, so like the other cars on this list, its accident avoidance tech performed well, and it kept occupants safe in crash tests.

The Subaru Crosstrek is arguably the most off-road oriented car on this list, with 8.7-inches of ground clearance and Subaru’s legendary Symmetrical AWD as standard. Interestingly, the only Crosstrek that made the list is the PHEV model, which could deliver up to 17 miles of EV-only driving, too. It earned exceptional ratings in all IIHS evaluation areas, and it’s the first car on this list to achieve the top ‘good’ rating for its headlight performance, so consider this if your teen wants to go outdoors or if they often drive on dark roads. 

Mazda dominates this list, with three of the top five spots. And the two cheapest cars on the ‘best choices’ list are the 2019 to 2025 Mazda3 (in both sedan and hatchback body styles), and the 2018 to 2025 Mazda CX-5 compact crossover. The CX-5 narrowly takes the top spot as the cheapest car on the ‘best choices list’ with an average price of $13,100, but the Mazda3 isn’t far off at $13,200.

Again, it’s encouraging to see that both of these safe vehicles can also offer an engaging driving experience, and both of these models were also sold with optional turbocharged engines that made them even more fun to drive. Also, both of these models perform well in most of the IIHS’s new, more challenging crash evaluations, so they make excellent choices for young drivers. A note: the CX-5 got a refresh in 2023 that bumped its rating in the updated moderate overlap crash test, bringing it up from the lowest rating of poor to the highest rating of good. Keep an eye out for newer models if the CX-5 on your shopping list, and if you want a bit more safety. 

If you’re a budding car enthusiast, I say it’s worth trying to use this as leverage to convince your parents to approve you getting a turbocharged Mazda. And you can pick your flavor. Do you prefer a taller CX-5 with more ground clearance, or do you prefer a lower, sleeker Mazda3 that was also sold with all-wheel-drive? At certain points in their history, they’ve both been Top Safety Pick+ award winners, so they’ll keep you safe in an accident or potentially prevent an accident from occurring altogether.