Originally Posted by Nightshade

1st gen Hyundai Excel
Ford Pinto
Ford Festiva
Renault Le Car

It's her first car, she is bound to destroy it so get something cheap and reliable (nothing off my list please). Unless you have money to burn I would cap the purchase to $4k absolute max, there are plenty of good cars in this range (at least out here) that should last the next 4 years, by that time she will probably want to ditch whatever she has anyways or has already totaled it.