First car + raging hormones + ego + 911 = spoiled rotten kid in traction if you are lucky.

Ditto...Daniel-son needs to learn how to wax-on wax-off, for a couple of chaperoned years, before he wields the big sharp sword.

For what its worth my first car was a 1971 914 that I restored with my dad. Even though I was an honor student who worked, paid for my own car, gas and insurance, I regularly pushed all 85 horses of screaming fury to redline ( 115 with slight tail wind ). I can guarantee you that with your car the temptation would be WAY too much. Every mustang/import jock will want to prove their manhood against your son and his 911 and sooner or later he will defend his honor. It is simply too much car.

Ditto on the mustang. Had a 95 5.0 in lawschool and couldn't keep rear tires longer than a couple of months.

JP

Moses-I'm sure as a parent you know that there is a fine line between doing something great and doing something terrible. A fast car for a 16 year old is a TERRIBLE idea. It's not a matter of whether he's a good kid or not. It's all of the above that has been mentioned-inexperience, spoiling, self worth, etc. Get him in something safer and slower. My daughter is in a minivan without the third seat! She was thrilled to have it even though she's been raised in BMWs etc.

If you want to take him to autoXs or better yet streetwise where he can learn how to handle a performance car-go for it! I plan on enrolling my daughter.

I hate saying "No". But sometimes you have to.

How are you going to feel when he loses the rear end and goes sideways into a bridge abutment going 55 mph because there was a couple of drops of rain on the ground? On a straight road? I knew someone who is now dead because of a similar circumstance in a brand new 911 back in the '80s. She was letting someone else drive her new car, (not a teenager), and she was in the passenger seat that hit the pole.

It is seriously about the dumbest thought that I have ever heard, and I don't care if he's Harry Potter and you've had him neutered. I know you love your kid, but I'm telling you what you need to hear if I was your best friend. A perfect first car for a 16 y.o. is an old Volvo, slow and safe. Let him really develop his pussy chasing skills w/ a *****box car, he'll thank you later. Much later. But at least he will be alive.

I don't think it's a dumb idea, and people are getting a little irrational with some of the above caveats, but my reason against it would be...Jealousy!

And that it may turn him into a bit of a snob too early. Let him become one naturally! :D

I think that any kid good or bad can learn to drive any car as well as anybody else on the road, it's really a responsibility issue. Kid's WILL drink at some point in their teens and is his judgement going to be impaired enough to risk getting into an accident just to get home on time from a party?

Pretty much my favorite quote of the year so far! :D

Whats weird is, a girl I know who's driving is such I would never ride with her - has had zero accidents. I'm incredibly "safe" in how I do things, and my car was totaled... :confused: I've driven through three spinning race karts, two behind didn't make (one was on my tail), my abilties at avoidance are quite good, in racing, my fastest laps may be .02 slower, but I make sure to pay attention to other vehichles, if something bad happens in front of me, I'm fairly instant on taking evasive action. On public roads, rarely had to use that instinct, but in karts, especialy with newer racers, its come in real handy...

Not having met your son, and the same for most of us on this board, I think we are not qualified to make this decisions - that ultimately lies with you and your boy.

We are all going to die - be it at 16, or 70. A car is not as important as a human being. We only have one life, no second chances. Its scary, but wonderfull. We all learn from our parents lives, as I grow older, I see how parents learned things from their parents. Most often by example, some where bad examples, and the kid realised it - and made an effort when they where aprents, to not treat their kids that way. Being homeschooled, I was not stuck in an "age group". So my interactions spread the entire age spectrum. I think thats neat. Soo any stories from those old than me, and I want to remember them all - pass them down to the next generation.

Get him a 912 ! When he grows up, he can still put a 3.0 in it, following daddy`s steps...

Aurel

That is just my point. Teenagers are the persons who get in more accidents. Why give them a full auto to shoot with when you could give them a SA wheelgun?

Phooee or Fui. The point of my post is that good students with good characters get into trouble too. Impulse control and experience are issues, nevermind the also previously stated distractions from having passengers.

I never wanted a Porsche as my first car when I was young. You'd have to have dated a midget to "do it" in the back seat.

i think the 944 idea is a great one......then track time or autocrossing to learn what to do whan he's at the limit, the only way to really learn is to kill a few cones in a big open parking lot.
he needs to experience the physics before he is unsupervised in your 911.......a 944 is even more forgiving than a mustang, and it would be his.

Moses,
Your son sounds like a great guy. That's a LOT of car for him to be rolling in. My daughter is an honor student and never been in any trouble whatsoever. Bed by 9-10 most nights. Outstanding gal and fun to be around. No attitude or quirks. She's had her 91 Mazda MX6 for about 18 months and its been hit 5 times. Once was her fault. I know you said you're not worried about dings or scratches but it will get beat up. Its the places 16-18 year olds go. Mostly the same age group and they'll bump it because they won't see it from their SUVs or 92 Buicks.

Remember, he is male and raging testosterone will get the better of him at some point. I say help him find something you can both wrench or play with. This is a fantastic time to teach him delayed gratification. You being a Doc shows him you did it so now use this example for his sake. He'll be a better man for it.

All this internet stuff is good and all but honestly, we don't know you or your son personally. Only you do and you know what 's best. I think most respondants are just worried about the worst.

I was a spoiled rich kid.....1987, On my 17th B-Day my father bought me a brand-new 16Valve VW Shirocco manual.....

I grew up in the DC Potomac area......1 week later, my parents out of town.......I drink myself silly, and race the car at 3 AM on the 'famed" McArthur Blvd." I flipped the car 3 times....completely totalled the vehicle...

I should be dead, but I made it.

DO NOT GIVE YOUR SON THAT CAR!

SvK

Moses - my 911 is actually his when he turns 16. That was always the plan. In the next 9 years the idea is to work on it together - having him take a real active role in the rebuild. I think we will learn alot about the car and ourselves but I also think he will take extra special care of it if it is something he had an active role in.

Matt, first, let me preface my following remarks by saying that I have no doubt that you are a responsible driver, and, though I've never met you, everything I've read from you and from those who've met you suggests that you are a very level headed 16 year old.

That being said, I don't think it is such a great idea to take a new driver in a 911 on public roads and "teach him a few tricks." Sure, we've all had fun on the twisties and around town, but now that I'm a bit older (about twice your age), I find myself resisting the urge to "push it" on public roads.

What changed me? Track time. After my first track day in a stock '94 325is, I realized that driving over one's head on the street is just plain stupid. The consequenses are just too high on the street. On the track, everyone is either driving with an instructor or has been deemed a worthy enough driver to go it alone. Plus, the traffic is going in one direction, there are flagmen to warn of any potential hazards, and the concentration level of each driver is at its highest: i.e; no stereos, cell phones, passengers, etc.

Moses, I would wait to hand over the keys to your beautiful and fast 911 for a while. Sure, let him drive it with you in the car. I'd even suggest taking him to a DE for teens (BMW CCA has excellent schools, and you can let him drive your Porsche.) I just think that the temptations while he was driving alone would be too great. Not to mention the fact that every kid in his Honda is gonna want to race him.

I'd also reccomend against a Mustang GT. Instead, you could start him out in a V6 Mustang. My girlfriend has one, and I can tell you, that car is umm, uninspiring. ;)

Good Luck,
Jim

I think a 911 is a poor idea for a 16 year old.

Tell the kid to save his money, and buy him a 10 year old Volvo 740.

That would be an 850 - I have a 10 year old 850 and will have it another 10 years.

"I had to walk 5 miles to school, in the snow, uphill, both ways" Make him suffer like we all did. Buy him a 924:cool:

I was like your son 19 years ago. I was a good kid with good grades, and the son of a doctor who drove a sports car. He lent it to me for prom, and of course, I wrecked it. A pristine '88 M3. Only 191 hp, and perfectly balanced, yet I managed to get it crossed up. It was his baby, and I just wanted to kill myself.

I was definitely more at home in my own car at the time, an 81 Spitfire. ~60 hp, cute car the chicks liked, and gave me my first lessons in auto repair. So get him a cheap used Miata, butched up with a rollbar and loud exhaust.