It would be wise to only buy a roadworthy and registered vehicle, that has had an RACV, NMRA or similar inspection done on it. The money spent on the inspection could be a very good way to minimise the possibility of buying a dud. For about $200 you will also get a 30 day mechanical guarantee if you are a member.

in your situation id definatly ask for a road worthie, if they dont want to with a legitimate enough reason then ask to borrow the car for 2 hours and get one done yourself, costs 60 or 70 bucks but it is a good gaurantee

I had to mow laws at $10 each to make up the $400 to buy my EH in 1988, and then mow more and spent about another $800 fixing and getting registered by 1991. I still have that car.

I just paid $800 for a 94 VR wagon that has a bad leak from the power steering, and needs tidying.
even if I paid for the steering to be fixed it would cost about $500.
but we don't have roadworthies in WA.
go to Gumtree and see what the values in your area are.
And yes this car will kill you if you aren't careful, the motor has every bit much as power as the average V8.
buy him a hyundai or swift.

What Mick said. Just because a Hyundai has half the power doesn't mean his chances of crashing it halve as well. The financial resposibility is the big one. If you have to, buy him the car but make sure he knows that this is the only one. Any damage done to it is his responsibility.

Plenty of workshops will perform a pre purchase check for you. The benefit of the VT is that there are plenty of spares around so even a major problem doesn't cost you twice what the car is worth to fix.

defintely don't buy without full rego and roadworthy. that way any hassles are not yours.
And I agree the Commodore stuff is cheap and easily available new or used and most mechanics have half an idea how to fix them.
blow a head gasket on a hyundai/swift/mazda/mitsubishi and it will cost nearly as much as the car, but the same could be said for the Commodore.
However I do concede the commodore will always have some resale value. as for safety the size only matters if you hit a smaller car. if you hit a road train or power pole/tree the results will be much the same.
Running costs for petrol on the commodore are not that bad. I just did a round trip of about 550k in the VR at 100kmh (gotta love cruise control first time I've had one that actually works) and used about 47 litres. My Subaru and Kia both use at least 60 litres.

most of the time the inlet manifold let water into the end cylinders on the early one, and vt on water can leak into any intake port, and as dr said the head gaskets are tough in the twenty years i have been doing it i have seen one vp v6 blew a piece of the head gasket out near the spark plug, thay are a tough reliable engine, they are noisy and leak oil like a seive.

A VT is a reasonable car for a first car. They can cost between $1000 and $10,000 to buy depending heavily on mechanical and body condition. !2 months registration and a roadworthy will usually add $1000 to the price. It is what needs to be done to get the roadworthy that is unknown without a mechanical report.

A VT Berlina in good nick should last him a few years if he doesn`t thrash it with his mates showing off(most young guys do).
As a Vt owner they are robust and reasonable on fuel and general servicing can be done at home , 177,000ks is good, mine has 243,000ks and still goes pretty good.
Make sure the air con works climate control can be a little pricey to fix and leaks in the a/c system will cost $ also. I had 2 leaks in the main pipe from firewall to radiator the complete job was about $400 but worth it now blows at -4C.