Spoiled Teens - Am I Just Getting Old?

[widebody911]

One of the kids @ my high school went through 2 911s before graduation.

[Jims5543]

Just to make you feel better, my son bought his first car from our own RickV for the heaping sum of $500, it was his money, he saved it up since he was 10. I matched his $500 and baselined the car with his help.

RickV giving him a yuppie 101 lesson.


I cannot stand it when I see a 17-18 y/o with a brand new car. Its not an age thing its a respect for what you have thing, while there are exceptions, most do not appreciate what it takes to be able to purchase such an item and treat them accordingly.

My son goes to private school and one girl in his class from last year got a brand new Range Rover as a reward for getting her learners permit. (mom an dad are doctors)

I suspect one of his buddies in school will get something really nice too, daddy rolls in a new M5 and has an new M3 and a new Zo6 in the garage. I will have a lot of respect for the guy if he makes the kid earn his car but I don't think that will happen.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

There is a public high school a few miles from my house. The student parking lot is full of unbelievable nice rides. The teachers have much cheaper cars.

My 1st car was a 32 hp 1960 VW bug. My dad gave me a interest free loan, but I had to pay for it. I had to pay for 100% of the operational cost.

1959 VW for me...$158.00 dollars american.

Perceptions can be interesting. My daughter goes to a very good Catholic HS. She works her a$$ off, both at home and at school...she just finished, as I type this, mowing five acres of lawn. She also won the Future Business Leaders of America competition in Maryland and will represent the state in Cali in June.

She also won the Maryland Pony Breeders Championship on a pony we got for free and she trained. It looks like she'll get a equestrian scholarship in college (thank you Title 10).

She also gives riding lessons, mostly to young girls who absolutely adore her. It is something to see.

I made a deal with her: I'll handle a used FJ Cruiser for her if she pays the insurance and gas from her riding lessons and keeps mowing the lawn and working on the farm. So far on track.

Substance can be packaged in a nice car, friends.

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by The Gaijin

Years ago, future Porsche owners drove VW beetles. Those days is over..

yeah, first was a '67 bug, second was a '63 that I made into a baja.

I remember one kid at my HS had a brand new 944. He was a dick. And my bug was faster

[JavaBrewer]

My Catholic H.S. was used by rich families to teach manners to their spoiled rotten kids. The parking lot was loaded with expensive cars. One kid got a new (1980) Lotus Esprit which he totaled before the end of his Junior year. Parents replaced it with a new 4x4 Chev truck in the hopes it would last longer...

Spoiled rich kids have been around along time. Nothing new.

[splinterAMG]

Moderately wealthy spoiled child scenario. True story about a relative – on her side.

Their eldest son was given a new NSA Lexus upon acquiring his driver’s license. When he discovered an equalized tire one morning, said useless offspring felt compelled to call his absentee parents, who were vacationing in Europe, as to how best handle the predicament. My 14 year-old son is no mechanical wizard, but he darn sure knows how to safely swap a wheel and tire.

<--- repeatedly broke first car – a ’73 Pinto – thereby promptly learning self-repair techniques to avoid having to ride my skateboard or bicycle.

[Tim Hancock]

Me?..... $50 rotted out '72 VW Superbeetle in about 1982.

My daughters each started in an old '77 924 which I still have and it still runs good after a ton of miles. The car "might" have been worth $1000 when they started driving it. I am pretty sure every other car in their schools parking lot would have eaten the 924's lunch 0-60.

[Bill Douglas]

I was a private school boy, but our family didn't have any money (not after paying school fees) and all the kids I knew were quite different. My holiday jobs were age 10 and 11 every holiday working in a bacon factory - I loved it and the money was excellent. My friend Michael's dad was the boss. 12 to 13 doing cleaning jobs in the weekends and holdays - bought an old Francis Barnet motorbike for 50 bucks. I remmember age 15 a school holday job working in a button factory. Some other boys and I got the last week off on full pay - about 30 years later I realised we had been fired. By 16 I was riding a triumph 650 to school. All the kids I knew were the same and we have learned "how much life you need to exchange for a car/bike" by working. Plus we all seem to have done well in life after this lesson.

[ruf-porsche]

Originally Posted by Tim Hancock

Me?..... $50 rotted out '72 VW Superbeetle in about 1982.

My daughters each started in an old '77 924 which I still have and it still runs good after a ton of miles. The car "might" have been worth $1000 when they started driving it. I am pretty sure every other car in their schools parking lot would have eaten the 924's lunch 0-60.

Hey a PORSCHE 924 is still a PORSCHE, even if it does have an VW/Audi 4 banger engine.

[TimT]

My 1st car was a 32 hp 1960 VW bug. My dad gave me a interest free loan, but I had to pay for it. I had to pay for 100% of the operational cost.

I think mine was a '59 though. Also my Dad gave me my first loan...I did pay him back with no delinquent payments.. That was in 1977 or 1978..

I bought my first 911 in1979 cash, with money I earned and saved..

There were always fortunate sons (daughters) whose parent bought them new cars for insignificant milestones.... I was driving a '59 bug to school, usually it ran on 3 cylinders..adjusting timing and dwell in the parking lot..(by ear and with a match book) while some others had brand new Vettes and Novas

[speeder]

There have always been spoiled kids, but times have changed a little and also I think that it's a regional thing(?). I was a little shocked when I moved to L.A. after college and saw so many kids with brand new cars that were obviously given to them, even if they were Rabbit convertibles or the like. Lots of BMW 320i's as well.

I grew up in Mpls. and almost no one drove an expensive car in HS. There was one guy who was already working full-time as a baker early in the AM before school who had a new 442 but he was making payments on it. Most kids drove their parent's cars or had cheap used cars. This was not a poor area, pretty upper-middle class. There was a girl I knew whose BF had a brand-new Camaro and people assumed that he was a drug dealer. They were right.

[legion]

I went to a public high school in Naperville like this.

The whole football offensive line had matching Jeeps.

One kid had a brand new 3000GT VR4 that he had a "KITT" light installed in the front.

There were at least three new BMW's with bows on them in the parking lot after graduation.

Me? I drove an '85 (in '95) Plymouth Turismo "Duster" that rusted, a lot...

[legion]

Oh, and one of the kids I went to high school with, his parents won the lottery.

The parents took the lump sum and gave each of the kids a share. The kid in my grade bought a brand new Chevy Blazer. He got bored with it after a couple of months, crashed it into a brick wall, and walked to the Ford dealership and bought a Mustang GT.

His sister was 14. She bought herself a Mustang Convertible that she couldn't drive for a few months until she got her learner's permit...

[RedBaron]

I'm in a private high school and I own a Porsche 944S2. I bought it with the money I saved from working in the IT department in my school for the summer (I got there by biking to school 5 miles every day just so I wouldn't have to pay anyone for gas money).

I do see kids at my school get into accidents with nice cars, and it all comes from them being careless drivers and not caring about their cars.

[Rick Lee]

Hey, my first car at 16 was a BMW..... a 1970 2002 that cost $800.

At my graduation I saw one kid get a new Ferrari 308, another got a new 944 and several friends already had real nice classics like a Vette Stingray and a concourse TR4

[Pazuzu]

I'm jealous of you guys with cars during high school. I bought my first car after I got kicked out of college. I didn't know a single person who owned a car when I was on campus...cars were expensive and useless there.

[porsche4life]

I go to a public school and my 944 is one of the cheaper rides. I get called spoiled and I'm like the 944 that i paid for most of was cheaper than the pickup your daddy gave you. I paid a good chunk and I sold my virago that was paid for. I work for my dad to make some spending money and he puts gas and insures my ride. However it is very rare that I am not running company errands throughout the course of the day so I guess it equals out.

[BeerBurner]

I don't think things have really changed. Back when I was in high school we had kids with the nice cars, and my wife (who predates me by a half-decade) said the same thing happened when she was in high school. To be honest, I'd guess that any noticable changes in expensive cars are probably more related to the strength of the local economy than anything else.

The high school I work at has everything from lifted trucks to classic cars to new BMWs to old Toyota beater... almost all of which are worth more than both of my cars. (Not that it says much since my cars aren't worth anything.) I haven't noticed any real trends that make me think that the kids are all spoiled, but there are some individual cases... especially if you know the kids!

BB.

[Mo_Gearhead]

Whatsamatta wit' you guys?

You neva' watch da Cable show ..."My Sweet Sixteen?"

[ruf-porsche]

Originally Posted by Mo_Gearhead

Whatsamatta wit' you guys?

You neva' watch da Cable show ..."My Sweet Sixteen?"

Cable? Who can afford cable these days? Oh the kids with the really nice cars spend their days watchin cable.