My sons first car? YIKES!!!!

[Moses]

My son is getting his driving permit. He'll have his license in September. He's an extremely good kid. Never been is any trouble, gets pretty close to straight A's in school and always impresses me with how level-headed and responsible he is. Having said that, he's still a teenager and that means I still worry a lot.

Anyway, Justin has been saving his money forever. He wants to buy a used Mustang GT. We've been looking but just haven't found the right car. Last night the thought just came to me; I have a Porsche in the garage that only sees the road on sunny weekends. In fact, sometimes I go as much a month without driving it in the winter. Why not let my son use the car?

Believe it or not, the insurance hit is the same wether he drives the 911 or a used Mustang. I'm not concerned with him scratching or banging up the Porsche. If I was, I wouldn't even consider this.

So... I'm trying to make a list of the positives and negatives.

Negatives;

1) A 911 SC with a 3.6 transplant is a LOT of car for a new driver.
2) No airbags. I'm worried about safety, but my son remings me that I never owned a car with airbags till I was 35.
3) Justin will not have the pride of ownership that comes with buying your own car.

Positives;

1) My son is a Porsche enthusiast and has always treated my things with respect and care.
2) He is surprised and thrilled that I would even consider letting him drive the 911. He would rather drive the Porsche than a new Mustang.
3) The money not spent buying a Mustang will be spent on insurance and upkeep.
4) In truth, the Porsche needs to be driven more. It's becoming a garage queen, something I never intended.

Well, my wise brothers, what do you think?

[jorian]

I earned my first car and subsequently took decent care of it. It was the first in a long line of beaters. A 911 is something your son should aspire to.

[Hugh R]

Two weeks after my son got his license, and a car, he back the 72 Cutlass into a jacked up pickup, didn't see it. He was sick about it, I was a little bummed. How would you feel if your son did the same thing to the Targa? I've offered to let my son drive my Targa, but for that very reason he doesn't want to.

[nostatic]

too much car. I started with a '67 bug and could still manage to get into trouble with it.

[motion]

My advice: No. I don't believe you're doing your son any favors by supplying him with a free Porsche 911. It's a bad deal all around for him. Good lord, how the world has changed since I was a kid!

[Steve Carlton]

I agree with the above. Plus, isn't that car prone to coming around in a corner hitting the brakes or maybe letting off the throttle?

Nope - too much temptation and not enough experience.

[pwd72s]

Then there is the alternative method...first, take out a $5 million term policy on your son...toss him the keys and a bottle of Scotch, saying: "Happy birhday son, have fun!"

Disclaimer...the above was VERY tongue in cheek, and my vote goes with the majority opinion.

[ZOA NOM]

I know how hard it is for me to keep my foot out of it, and I'm 41. No way a 16 year-old will keep it on the road. Not to mention the insurance you're looking at.

[911boost]

Hmm, no way on either the GT (I have had one fo those too) or your 911. I got a 1966 Mustang as my first car, a six banger, its still in my garage. If you want him to have a 911, which is cool, get him a stock one, not a killer one with a 3.6 like yours. Or better yet, find a 914 for him. That way he can't have a ton of freinds in the car etc, or a 944....

[CarreraDan]

Moses,
Please think long and hard about this decision--it is a very tough call. When I was younger, my father always had fast cars around (Corvettes and muscle cars) and my parents used to let me drive them on a regular basis as did my older brother. I was very responsible, an outstanding student, and very level headed--I also drove the Corvette like a little old lady when mom or dad was with me. Now, when my parents were not with me is when I really learned how to drive a high horsepower rear wheel drive vehicle . Then one cold January afternoon when I was 16 my lack of skill and excess speed caught up with me and I spun my father's pristine low mileage Corvette three times off the road into a telephone pole, off that, through a cable box (big one), and finally into a big ass oak tree. It happend faster than I could say oh sh%t--I knew I was in trouble when I saw fiberglass flying past me. I walked away with only minor injuries--the state police couldn't believe I was the driver b/c of how bad the car looked.

Now, fast forward 10 years and I have a 911 that I have since graduating college. Being 26, I still get the urge to drive my car like it is ment to be driven, we all know our 911's reward good driving and it is fun to do. However, most of us understand the consequences of what can happen, at 16 I did too, I just didn't think it would happen to me--it can and it did. Would I give a beginning driver a 911 with a 3.6? God no, I would let him drive it with his parents but never alone. The limits are just too high on a 911 for an inexperienced driver to catch in time on a two lane country road when it steps it's tail out. Look how many experienced guys here have put them into ditches.

Sorry this is so long, I just know what your son will tell you and how he will will be a perfect driver when you are in the car--that is what I did. In the end it is you decision, let him drive the car with you or your wife occasionly and get him a nice Honda or something that he can't kill himself in, then when he goes to college if he has a clean driving record let him get something more sporty that the chicks will dig. Good luck.

[legion]

I was a responsible kid, but I could certainly be encouraged by my friends. It only takes one bad decision, and the temptation is just too great to always resist.

My 2.2 liter Plymouth Turismo certainly kept me out of trouble...

[Tervuren]

Ok - here is a younger opinion.

He may be reponsible in school, etc, but that won't count as much out on the road. Have you been training him about traffic flows, what to look for, staying out of the way of stupid people, etc? I studied driving two years before I even got my permit. (Test wise, got the written perfect(lady was shocked to see my soo quickly to. ) - only thing I missed on the driving test, was coming form being parked on the side of an empty road, to driving again, without using my blinker).

As a 16 year old, I would be very wary of driving a nice powerfull 911 - lets not say would be - lets say was. Sometime before my 17th, I was looking at buying my first car, low miles Porsche 968. Decided against it, I wasn't comfortable with it at that age. Now at twenty, I'd drive one, but not at 16/17.

The 911 - either you ove to drive it, or you don't. I've only driven similar cars in racing simulations, I've never driven a 911 out on the roads. One of the properties that can realy weird you out, is to keep some pressure on the riht foot if the car goes squirly, natural reaction is to lift and slam that middle peddle.

my first car was a '85 944. Over 200K miles, with a good engine. Car was mostly original except for shocks, paint and tires. (wheels had been switched for some reason, but where still Fuch's). Realy, it was the perfect car. I didn't realy realy feel bad when it was shortened between two pick up tricks. I had no place or thing to do to avoid that accident - I'd manged to get my self out of a coillision path on several earlier occaisions, but this tme, oncoming traffic, and no room to the right, and stopped a stopped lifted pick up in front. I was fine, few visits to a chioropractor to get my back straight, other then that...

So stasticly, expect there to be a pretty high chance of the car being gone in the first 1-2 years of driving. I lost my '85 last August at age 19.

I throroughly beleive that young teenager can be perfectly responsible in a powerfull 911 - the thing is, it takes one willing to set rules, follow them, and stufy what is going on around. I did not consider my self at age 16 to have what it takes to drive a car like that. I'd love to today though.

Throughout my teenage years, I wanted to earn the money for my own car, and buy the car I'd fallen in love with(the four cylendor Porsches). In my case, on two counts, I wouldn't think it was a good for me at age 16 to have what you are offering to your 16 year old. I'd said, love to, but not a good idea. I might of taken it out on weekends on lesser traveled roads, but would not of wanted to learn city driving in it.

What sort of value do you place on the 911? Perhaps he could buy it from you?

All the posts above about not having a powerfull car keeping them out of trouble - eheheh. Well, that wouldn't work in my case. If I drove a poor handling slug, I'd push it even harder in respect to its limits - which would probably be more dangerous. My 944 is enjoyable at 30-50% of what it can do in a corner.

Originally posted by CarreraDan
I would let him drive it with his parents but never alone.

I agree with this post. At least, for the 6 months.

Overall, I say if you think he can handle it, and is likely to push it in under a safe environment, learn it in and out, then I say YES!

[VincentVega]

No way. It would be cool to let him borrow it once in a while, but it's too much car for a kid. He just doesnt have enough driving experience.

[nostatic]

let him drive it only with you as passenger.

[livi]

Someone need to vote yes here. IŽll do it.

I think it all depends on what kind of person your son is. What habits he has and what crowd he hangs out with. You have described him well. Out of my four children I know I would say no to two of them. One of them would get the go ahead. She is (rather as you describe your son) very responsible. Takes good care of her own and other peoples things. She has a stable, calm temperament. Careful and cautious. She is not the kind of person I associate with a bad crowd during week ends.

I would teach her to drive that particular car. When we both felt comfortable with her driving it - I would let her have it.

Some kids will have an accident in a Honda Civic on a straight road at day one. Others will never even have a dent in the bumper after 20 years of driving.

[vash]

i think you should give him my SC! then of course we trade.

mine is the blank slate that your son dreams of. you and him can work on it together. think of the bonding! PM me if this works for you. at least put my fuchs on the car first.

[masraum]

Even if he is responsible and never succumbs(sp) to the temptation of the loud pedal, he's inexperienced and will have passengers that are distracting. He is nearly guarateed to get into an accident. Even though you don't want it to be a garage queen, you don't want it bent either I'm betting.

Not to mention that unless you've had him driving some serious machinery eventually he'll hit the brakes in a corner. We all know what that leads to.

[Tervuren]

Originally posted by masraum
Even if he is responsible and never succumbs(sp) to the temptation of the loud pedal, he's inexperienced and will have passengers that are distracting. He is nearly guarateed to get into an accident. Even though you don't want it to be a garage queen, you don't want it bent either I'm betting.

Not to mention that unless you've had him driving some serious machinery eventually he'll hit the brakes in a corner. We all know what that leads to.

My older brother did that...Scraped the whole underside when he went over the curb sepearting the different traffic dierections... Left his foot down on the brake when coming in a bit quick. For him it was understeer, as the braking was initiated before the turning. If you turn, then brake, oversteer is going to generaly be more prominant.

My only issue with such a thing is experience, what kind of driving experience does he have? Any sort of racing, does he watch when you drive what you do? Do you have any racing sims like ay, Grand Prix Legends or something? I also recommend Vic Elford's Porsche Performance Driving, great book.

[StevoRocket]

You know you posted it here because you know in your heart that its wrong to let him drive it unsupervised.
In the UK you cant drive until 17 and there is pressure to raise that to 18.
The section of the public most likely to die in a car crash is the 18 to 25 year olds.
Our village had 6 people killed when a Peugeot 106 with 5 people in it aged between 18 and 22 hit a Ford Focus head-on two miles from here.
My son is 21 now and is driving his second small hatchback 1400cc. The concession was alloy wheels and a bigger exhaust pipe.
Get him some professional advanced driving instruction - get him a car with ABS, airbags, ESP and a great safety crash record - in a bright colour - spend the money on superb servicing and great tyres. Teach him about the importance of tyre pressures and defensive driving. Get him to read the British Police advanced driving manual.
Theres plenty of time for him to have lots of power under his foot later.
Imagine having to tell his girlfriends parents that he just wrapped the Porsche round a tree and killed her.
Sorry to be so blunt but I cannot believe you are serious giving him the Porsche at 16.