Your first car doesn’t need to be exciting. It needs to run, be safe, and not cost your whole pay to fix. Look for good fuel economy, cheap parts, and decent safety ratings.

Skip heavily modified cars. If someone slammed it or stuck a loud exhaust on it, they did not treat it gently. You’re looking for boring in the best way. Corolla, Civic, Mazda 3. Cars that mind their business.

Think realistically about what you’ll use it for. Don’t buy for the idea of who you could be. Buy for how you actually live. Then you get a car that helps you, not stresses you.