Buying a car for teen

[BiggJoe4181]

Originally Posted by Merc63

BAD idea. If the kid hates the car, they will drive it into things ON PURPOSE to make it damaged enough to have to get rid of it. they simply won't CARE enough about it to maintain it properly or treat it with respect. In the last 40 years, I've seen WAY more kids crash hated beaters than souped up sports cars. Seriously. And as kid, I'd have hated my parents if they bought me something like that because it shows that the parent has ZERO respect for the child they've raised. It doesn't show concern for their safety at ALL.

I have to respectfully disagree with this entire statement. My first vehicle:

was a complete and total piece of junk. It had 200k+ miles, no AC, and was a manual transmission. It was covered in dents, rust and I do believe there was even some duct tape holding it together. Regardless I never once crashed it into stuff for fun with the hopes of getting a new vehicle. My father would have just told me "Want a new car? Better start saving."

I never ONCE felt that my parents had zero respect for me. Quite the opposite. I feel now that my parents were teaching me a very valuable lesson. If you want something, you have to work for it. If you have something, while it might not be the best thing in the world, you take care of it.

I think these values and lessons have been lost on many teenagers today as I see them smoking the tires in their brand new $50,000 BMW's that their folks bought them on their 16th birthday.

[Merc63]

Oh, giving a kid an expensive new car isn't a good idea either, as there is no respect for it. But from personal experience both in school and over the last 40 years, it's WAY more common that a kid given a slow car they hate will have no respect for it. Read car message boards to back that up. In most threads asking about "your first car" people chime in with some POS that their parents gave them that they hated and pretty much destroyed. I see it in my stepson's friends, as well. And I hear it from their parents "oh, we only gave him that because he doesn't treat anything nice." Oh, yeah, Why might that be? YOU raised them...

[Merc63]

Originally Posted by hoffdano

Its so easy to say your teenager should learn all the techniques required to avoid accidents, drive safely, etc. without the help of stability control.

But it is unreasonable to think that by the age of 18 or 20 they will instinctly know what to do all the time. I doubt if the posters here were perfect counter-steerers during a RWD skid in the rain.

by the time I was 18, I was. Sorry, don't use you're inability to say that it's impossible. If you spent even one day on the autocross track, you'd undestand how quickly you pick up the concepts. And if you practice them (i.e hit the track every month, go to a go kart track, or go to a large parking lot in the snow) those skills stay there.

Another thing to remember is that no matter what - a driver doesn't have complete control of their destiny on the road. There are many other drivers - some good, some not. They make mistakes. Weather happens.

Actually, you have a LOT more control than you think. Paying attention can mitigate ANY circumstance. You can't avoid all accidetns, but if you CAN'T be part of the 97% of drivers that don't have accidents each year, you can at least be part of the 1.5% that have only slight property damage. Just by paying attention to what's going on around you. And you can teach that/learn that easily. It's not that hard, even for a kid.

For example, in over 30 years of driving, the only accidents i've been in as a driver have been a couple rear end accidents, where someone hit me from behind. In each case, by paying attention to my mirrores as i was stopping and leaving myself some room ahead of me, I've been able to mitigate the results to only having a couple scratches on the rear bumper. In 30 years of driving, that's it. A couple scratches on my rear bumper.

I've avoided a lot of situations that might have been offset frontal crashes and T bone crashes by paying attention and using the skills that high performance drivng has taught me. I've even been a passenger in my kid's truck when he used those same skills I taught HIM to avoid a side impact from some idiot. At not quite 18, he already has them as instincts DUE TO TRAINING and the fact that I'm not scared enough to sit back and say, "well, you can't avoid everything so why bother." The MOMENT you decide it's impossible, you give up that little bit of paying attention and try to rely on some of the car's safety to protect you. And pretty soon, youre not paying attention at all and something happens. it's a self fulfilling prophesy, and society is heading full speed down that path. And it's doing so by repeating the mantra that "we're all just innocent victims and we can't do anything about it."

My father is proof that it works, I'm proof that it works, and now my stepson is proof that it works. None of us are special in any way, and if we can do it, any of you can.

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by Merc63

Oh, giving a kid an expensive new car isn't a good idea either, as there is no respect for it. But from personal experience both in school and over the last 40 years, it's WAY more common that a kid given a slow car they hate will have no respect for it. Read car message boards to back that up. In most threads asking about "your first car" people chime in with some POS that their parents gave them that they hated and pretty much destroyed. I see it in my stepson's friends, as well. And I hear it from their parents "oh, we only gave him that because he doesn't treat anything nice." Oh, yeah, Why might that be? YOU raised them...

That is because weak parents will go out and buy them another car when they screw up the car they are given.

When they are told UPFRONT that if the car is trashed, they'll get to choose between walking, the bicycle or a city bus, they might catch on.

[f_m]

Originally Posted by Merc63

Back to this. SUVs are not "prone to roll over." Only .002% of SUVs roll over. Half as many SUVs roll over per year as cars. In both cases, the issue is ussually a tripping event, i.e sliding sideways into a curb or sliding sideways off into the median where the wheels catch and flip the car/minivan/pickup/SUV. But it's actually rather rare. Even low slung sports cars can flip over (and by percentages more of them flip than SUVs, but you dont hear about a big sports car rollover scare).

Have you looked at the government crash testing (http://www.safercar.gov/)? (http://www.safercar.gov/%29? - broken link) They list rollover probability, given the same type of event, SUV vehicles have a greater probability of roll over. Four door cars are around 9% and SUV closer to 16-24%, based on the same event.

Originally Posted by Merc63

Avoiding one category of vehicle because you're afraid of rollovers is simply fearmongering and false logic. SUVs are taller, but they are also wider, and usually have larger, wider tires and larger anti-sway bars that help keep them from rolling. My stepson learned to drive in my Range Rover before he got his first vehicle. Was never an issue.

You assume everyone knows how to drive the same way. I've had to drive someone's CR-V and RX300, and both had a noticeable "roll" to me when I drove on highway curves. I normally drive a 4 door and take turns somewhat tightly, so it's very apparent to me the weight of the vehicle is moving sideways on a higher SUV even when going slower.

I was actually a passenger in a car that, at highway speed (~60mpg+) had to swerve off the highway onto the dirt side of the road. One side of the car lifted but dropped back down, most definitely an SUV would have flipped many times, this is just basic physics. The thing is, most people don't have an understanding or feel for the real world physics, and many people just don't have a true interest in learning to improve their driving skill year after year.

[f_m]

To the OP, I would recommend a used car, and get an extended warranty if you are worried about it. Most definitely check the insurance rates. Cars without security systems (especially in urban areas) will likely have higher rates, especially popular cars without chip key security.

[Hestiamil]

Hi: Do you know if this truck is for sale still? It is exactly what I am looking for! Please send me contact info of owner, if you can. Or where when you saw this? Thanks.
Brenda

Originally Posted by GTOlover

If I had kids I would drop them in a 87-96 2WD ford F150 with a stick shift it's cheap easy to fix can only hold 2 friends with the bench seat so no hauling others around and the 5.0 EFI only make 185 HP and it being a V8 means they won't be able to afford to drive around for no reason. plus in college owning a truck had advantages and is great for summer jobs
pretty much this:

[mychael]

Metric used car would be my first choice. To get reliability and some style.... civic. affordable price