Which Toyotas are the best cars for teens in 2023?

Is your new teen driver headed for the highway? Scary thought, we know. However, the best way to send them off into the world without you in the passenger’s seat is to ensure they have a safe ride to get them from point A to point B every time they drive.

That’s where we come in! Consumer Reports and the IIHS – the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety – join forces every year to compose a list of the best cars for teens. Toyota snagged multiple spots on the list for both new and used vehicles and great news – you can BUY one of the best cars for teens right here at Toyota of Clermont.

What makes a used vehicle qualify as one of the best cars for teens?

To make the cut on the Consumer Reports and IIHS best cars for teens list, a car has to have one main feature: safety. To get more granular about it, here are the specific features or criteria that the cars have to offer to make the list:

• Good IIHS safety ratings (especially in the moderate overlap front, original side, head restraints, and roof strength tests)
• Features that discourage dangerous driving or risk-taking (for example, sports cars, cars with curb weights under 2,750 lbs, and large vehicles with long braking distances are not considered for the list)
• Four or five stars from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration
• Above-average reliability
• Above-average handling
• A standard electronic stability system
• A dry braking distance of fewer than 145 feet at 60 mph

The Safest Cars for Teens: Best Choices list

So to kick things off, here are the used Toyotas that made the cut for the Safest Cars for Teens: Best Choices list in 2023:

• Toyota Prius (2014), Small Cars
• Toyota Prius v (2015-2017), Mid-Size Cars
• Toyota Avalon (2015 or newer), Large Cars
• Toyota RAV4 (2015 or newer), Small SUVs
• Toyota Highlander (2014 or newer), Mid-Size SUVs
• Toyota Sienna (2015-2018), Minivans
• Toyota Tacoma (2016 or newer), Pickup Trucks

The Safest Cars for Teens: Good Choices list

Next, here are the used Toyotas that made the cut for the Safest Cars for Teens: Good list in 2023:

• Toyota Corolla (2013 or newer), Small Cars
• Toyota Prius (2013), Small Cars
• Toyota Camry (2013 or newer), Mid-Size Cars
• Toyota Prius v (2013), Mid-Size Cars
• Toyota Avalon (2013-2014), Large Cars
• Toyota RAV4 (2013-2014), Small SUVs
• Toyota Highlander (2013), Mid-Size SUVs

What makes a new vehicle qualify as one of the best cars for teens?

Now let’s talk about new cars. Here are the marks that new Toyotas have to hit to ensure they make the list:

• They need to be a 2023 IIHA Top Safety Pick or Top Safety Pick Plus.
• They have to come with standard vehicle-to-vehicle automatic emergency braking.
• They must have average or better scores in the Consumer Reports’ reliability rankings.
• They need to get good scores in handling and dry braking tests (like the used cars criteria)

And it’s important to note that any cars with above-average insurance claims are automatically excluded from the list.

The Safest New Cars for Teens list

To round things out, here are the cars that made the Safest New Cars for Teens list:

• Toyota RAV4, Small SUVs
• Toyota Highlander, Mid-Size SUVs

However, we’ve got more safe options waiting on the lot for you at Toyota of Clermont. Here are our IIHS Top Safety Picks for 2023:

• Corolla
• RAV4
• RAV4 Prime
• Venza

And here are our IIHS Top Safety Pick + models for 2023:

• Camry
• Highlander
• Sienna
• Tacoma
• Tundra

Shop for the best cars for teens at Toyota of Clermont

Ready to take your new driver shopping for one of the best cars for teens? Come down to Toyota of Clermont today. We’re open seven days a week at 16851 State Road 50, just west of the Florida Turnpike. You can also call us at (352) 404-7000 today.

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