My daughter's car was my "old" car. I told her that she could borrow the money from me to buy a newer, used car - or she could use our old one, and i would get it painted, etc. She chose the latter. She drove the car for one year in HS (we didn't allow her to drive until her senior year) and when she was home from college. We had money in her college fund, and used it to purchase a new car in her JR year - she had a scholarship, which meant we didn't have to pay as much.
My son didn't get car until he graduated from college - he really doesn't like to drive, so didn't want one. So, again, he had money left in his fund because he got a scholarship.
But most of their HS classmates had cars given to them by their parents, so we were considered pretty hard-nosed.
Overheard in an ER (after the teen had wrecked his car) "Don't worry - we know you didn't like that (expensive) car anyways, so we'll get you a better one." That was NOT our attitude!