want to get one

[ZubrAZ]

make your son happy and get him VX, if he likes it. it is not easy to get to the rear seats, but once the girls hop in there, there is no way out

as far as maintenance: all cars break down, and I wouldnt be distinguishing them by brand, but rather by a previous owner(s). Just find the one in a good condition and keep it that way.

and your son will be super happy. oooh! i wish I had a vx during my teen years.

[vt_maverick]

I'll agree (x4?) with what's been said above, but also throw in that I don't think you want anything for a college kid that requires attention. Our trucks LOVE to drink oil, so most responsible owners end up checking their oil at each fill-up or at least once every two weeks. I don't know about others here, but I can tell you when I was in college preventative vehicle maintenance was the LAST thing on my mind. And btw I also had a Jeep Cherokee in college, an '84 model with the carbureted 2.8 V6, and it was an absolute POS. Broke constantly... the alternator went bad so I had it replaced, the new alternator overcharged the battery and (not joking here) caused the battery to explode under the hood, bowing the hood up and back down again by a good 3 inches. Before that the throttle got stuck wide open, so I was literally at 6000 RPM in park. The final straw was when the intake gasket failed and allowed water into the engine... a nice puff of white smoke and that was it. Never happier to see a vehicle go than I was with that one.

I think Tom's got a good point there, take a hard look at Subaru's, maybe even a WRX (insert WormGod's recommendation here) since they have AWD capability with good space for people and stuff.

make your son happy and get him VX, if he likes it. it is not easy to get to the rear seats, but once the girls hop in there, there is no way out

Lol...