She has purchased a nice simple no frills (fewer things to go wrong) '03 Toyota with about 45K on the clock from my cousin which is the General Sales Manager at Torrence Toyota. Her first time car buying experience was made just about as easy as it could be by the dealership. She is happy with the car and so far it is working perfectly. I told her to take it back to the dealer for service when needed since they will take care of her because she is family... She did get the extended warranty due to her brown thumb with vehicles. She will be riding her bike to work at the school which is only a mile as the crow flies, and either riding the bike or walking most other places. She is only about a mile from the beach also and other stores etc she needs are within walking distance. The car will generally just be used on weekends. Her apartment is TINY but it is sufficient and she has good neighbors.

The smog out there is terrible but near the coast it is not so bad. The weather and temps near the coast seem to be moderate also. Traffic is horrible out there. I can't imagine trying to commute to work, -what a waste of time and fuel...

Thanks for all of the info and advice!

 

Glad we could be of service .. happy things worked out so well... and yes its a little bit over crowded.
I live in Hollywood and it can some times take 1hr to drive 10 miles.. this is the place that created road rage.

Traded in the Ford
2006 Dodge SRT10 Stock 427 RWHP 458 RWTQ

 

I did notice that during non-rush times the CA drivers seemed to be very polite and let people change lanes and get in and out of traffic. I tried to stay off the freeways during rush hours so I can't say how it was then. It would seem that aggression and impolite driving would just foul up traffic worse. Around KC if you use your signal to try to change lanes people will speed up and try to block you out. The 10 and 405 were nightmares to drive, 15 was ridiculous, and 210 was a racetrack but easy to negotiate. My father will not drive 80MPH so I told him to stay off 210! The only problem drivers I saw were people pulling watercraft along 15 that were holding up traffic and not using the right lane. With improved public transportation in Vegas maybe it is time for a high speed train between LA and LV.