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It's easy to say buy a $20k car when you can afford to. The reality is that the money simply isn't there for us to buy a "decent" car. For us, a $4k car is a lot better than a $2k car. I know a lot of people look down their nose at the "poors" driving old cars, but it just is what it is for us.$4000 don't buy $hit these days as far as a decent car. Also, if it were my kid, I'm putting her in a something that's safe, has 2nd gen airbags, including side and head, and has some mass to it. Perhaps small SUV from Hyunday/Kia/Honda at least, or a full size sedan like Camry/Accord.
As to buying from a Russian/Chinese/Indian/ (plug in your stereotype here). Americans are naïve. Don't be. Buy the car, not the story. Pre purchase inspection exist for a reason.
We haven't had car payments in 20 years and there's absolutely no room in the budget to add them. I'm raising four kids on a single blue-collar income, and paying off a decade's worth of medical bills for my wife. 4-5k on a teenager's car is a financial sacrifice for us, so if that makes us bad parents then I guess we are.