Any car can be a bad first car without a good check-up. If the owner has been good to it, and any owners prior to that, then you should be all right--but never take word-of-mouth as fact, even from a friend. If they haven't had it checked out by a professional (and no, 'Dad' or 'Cousin Jim' are not professionals, no matter how much they tinker), I suggest you either have them do so in your presence, or both of you take it down to the nearest reliable auto-shop and get them to run a diagnostic on it. On average, that will cost you about ninety dollars...but it's better to spend that and find out if the car is a lemon than to be cheap and have it die on you.
Even if the car has no history of problems that anyone is aware of, the longer it runs without any negative events, the more chance there is that problems will develop. Any car can be a good first car, and any car can seem like a good first car and turn into a problem. Any time you get a used car, get it checked before you buy. It's a good rule of thumb to live by, and you won't regret it if you find out something you didn't know about it.