Safe, reliable, inexpensive, first car

I would stay away from anything European because of cost to maintain. We have had Toyotas and a couple of Pontiacs for our children. They have been good used vehicles. I stay with scheduled maintence and fix anything that breaks. Both of these have run well into the 150K range without issue other than a few sensors. Just make sure you meet and work with an honest mechanic that will check out the vehicle before you purchase to insure nothing major is wrong. Even cars you buy from a dealer....have had several friends that 3 weeks after purchase the car needed struts/shocks, which could have been checked by a reliable mechanic before hand and been part of the negotiation. Focus on brakes, tires, suspension, and check for any leaks. Good luck in your search.

From experience I wouldnt go with anything but American due to initial cost & maintenance costs. As with everything its a gamble & that goes with cars. I like the Pontiacs & the Chevy cars but the Ford Taurus is a very reliable & cheap car with tons of parts available. It seems the bigger cars are a bit more reliable but I havnt owned the smaller cars except for Ford Fiesta. Good luck

For an initially inexpensive car that's reasonably reliable I tend to recomment the Ford Focus. Safety isn't the best, though. For better safety you can try to find a Ford Fusion in your price range or perhaps a Suzuki Kizashi.

The Accord and Camry are both solid choices, but you'll have to get a much older one to spend only $8,000.