Hopped up GTI 1.8 T for 16 year old first car. would You?
 

My buddy is so proud of the car he just bought for his son. It is a quick little GTI. I tell him is nuckin futz, no way in gods green earth would I put that in the hands of a 16 year old kid .
He says his boy is responsible, good kid etc. Still scares me, I am pleading with him not to give it to him yet. They also have a beat up old caravan , that should be his first car, at least for 6 months or so ... Boost comes on hard. It pulls really well, I find myself acting irresponsible every time I get in it .
What says you ?

Totally agree. Get the boy a 240 or 300D.

Give him the car but leave the waste-gate open permanently for now.

You should start a betting pool on the kid's first ticket and first accident.

Caravan all the way!

And a bumper sticker that says IF THIS VAN IS ROCKIN', DON'T BOTHER KNOCKIN'

Oldest son got a 300D for his first car (he's 22 and loves the car). Younger son just got a Golf TDI for his first car. Both gifts from my father as he wound down on his driving days (now 92 and recently stopped driving).

My first was a 56 beetle which was also a gift from my dad (it didn't run at the time). He bought it new in 56' and I still have it.

Caravan all the way!

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To save the boy from a nasty accident I think you should buy the car from his dad. Just add it to your collection.

Sounds like a fun car.

Needs to think less about himself and more about his kid. Not a good idea - also because it isn't a very crash worthy vehicle IMHO. I'd like to see him in something bigger and slower.

That said, tell us more about the car. What year is it and how has it been hopped up?

I do like the above idea of de-tuning it. Maybe you can talk him into that.

G

My son used to borrow my 914 V8 when he was 16. Depends on the kid. I'm sure he scared some of his buddies with it but I'm also sure he scared them with the beat-up pickup truck he owned then too.

Sounds about like buying your 16-year-old boy a new Mustang GT or Camaro Z28 in the 80s. I was a good driver as far as 16-year-old boys went, but I wouldn't even have given myself a car like that. I drove a 320is, which was plenty of fun on the windy roads I grew up driving on, but adequately slow.

Dont worry, it'll have a CEL within minutes.

Or it will end up with a thread like A930 has next to this one.

Every kid will see what the limit is. It is what kids do with everything.

If the kid or one of his buddies is hooning in it and gets killed or maimed, he will never, ever be able to live with himself. If it's his only child, he'll probably eat a bullet.

Think I'm being dramatic? It happens nearly every freaking day here in SoCal, a massive collection of fun cars, people and twisty roads. I'm sorry but anyone who would give a 16 y.o. a powerful sporty car is a freaking idiot. I got in lots of trouble with slow cars in HS, drinking and driving was simply the norm as was fist fighting and trying to get girls naked.

Did parents witness any of this? Of course not. Everyone thinks that their kid is "responsible", (well, maybe not everyone). If his balls have dropped, there is a good chance that he's a normal teenager looking for some fun. Talk your dumb friend out of it. He's not thinking straight. :cool:

Massively stupid idea. I don't care how "good" or "responsible" any kid (especially boy) is, put a girl or two into the frame and the show-off'in is going to happen.
My first car was a VW.... a '64 bug with what, 45 hp?? Couldn't have been a better choice.

I see 16 year old male and what is either a Mk3 or Mk4 GTi and my first thought is that this car will be stanced out as soon as the kid can afford it. The more likely end for that car is to die of oil starvation after the oil pan is ripped off than ever getting wrapped around a tree.

My two cents.

Blank space for sale!*

*(double post)

No way I would give my kids such a car.
A used VW Polo or Opel Corsa or something like that would be more then enough!

Absolutely.

Fricken.

Not.

Replace GTI with TDI and I'm on board.

Caravan definitely. And a karting league on the side to work off steam.
Kid can work summers and buy his own sports car.

whatever floats your boat. I have been given pieces of **** cars all my teenager years, did not protect me from getting in trouble. People are too stuck up nowadays.

My Son is driving a 944 (s2) to school - and I have a Motosafety App where I can monitor every move. He's a big man on campus driving a Porsche - and the 944 is not as fast as his mom's Ford Escape.

He likes going around corners fast - which I have talked to him about - but isn't that the whole point of driving a Porsche?

When I was 16, my dad gave me a 1983 Nissan Stanza (automatic, paint falling off, 200K+ miles, written off the company books, basket case) that could barely get out of its own way. Mind you, in our family, we have always been around race cars, karting, etc. It was not until my 18th birthday that the Nissan was sold (after a $150 Maaco paint job!) and I got my first "real car": a 1986 VW Golf GTI. This after my father absolutely refused to allow me driving a 1983 RX7 GSL-SE, Mustang LX 5.0, or Mitsubishi Starion Turbo.

All I can say is that I did more stupid things on the Stanza than I did on my GTI. My brother's first car was a 1983 VW Rabbit GTI (not really a quick car after heavy 15" wheels and monster stereo) and he did fine with it. Again, I do believe that kids are going to do stupid things no matter what car you give them. It is all part of growing up. How fast they hit something and how well protected they are when they hit it is what you have to be concerned about.

My twins will soon be driving and they already know that their first car will be my current daily driver (Hyundai Santa Fe Sport 2.4L). Not a speed demon by any means and tons of airbags and metal to keep them as safe as possible.

Absolutely, hell no ! I bought my 16 year old son a slant six dodge pickup that he has modded up to make his own, and he and his (country hick) friends think it's cool with the open exhaust. I told him he needed to drive something slow and stupid for a full year with no accidents, or tickets, and then we will find something much nicer (a mid 70s highboy 4x4 Ford if he has any say) vehicle.

A friend of his just got a modded 350Z, and runs around like an idiot not thinking anyone hears his Borla exhaust. I just picked up a 2004 triple black GT Mustang for my DD, and had to have my son drive it to his carreer school to get the tires changed out (he did the work) and I told him "no racing or stupid ****e"........of course that fell on deaf ears when he told me the Mustang took the Z by a car length !?!?

Kids need to learn how to drive, and appreciate basic transportation before they get thier hands on some hotrod that can get away from them in a hurry.

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Nope

Hell no. Driving a slow vehicle is what separated me from merely stupid (which I was) and dead. Even my first fun car, a 1993 Nissan 240SX, was fun but not fast. Kids will be stupid, it's just a question of how fast the accident occurs.

I know there will be those who claim some 16 Y.O. boys can and will drive responsibly.
However the numbers show teen boys and girls have a higher percentage of accidents... if nothing else just from lack of experience behind the wheel.

I grew up driving mom's 69 impala station wagon with a 327... donuts and seeing how much air I could get were the order of the day.

YMMV

No kidding. I drive an ALH just so I don't get speeding tickets.
It's just not possible.

Why don't you give him that 930 you have in your stable :eek:

My first son, I gave him a nice 77 320I BMW, it didn't last the week. Then he totaled a nice 84 F250 diesel truck, of course only liability ins, ouch.

Next was a Subaru, that one last almost 6 months, I was done, he was now on his own with a replaced car and ins. Next was a VW Quattro wagon, nice car but for the next 2 yrs, it made it in the repair shop every 6 months for some body damage. My Mother gave him the grandma car, a buick century which got totaled 6 months later.

My next child was my daughter who got a VW jetta and drove it until the wheels fell off it. My last son got a Subaru which he drove till he went off to college which until last yr went free of even getting stopped.

The first kid no concept of what was right, second one getting better and by the third one, he signed a agreement on driving infractions he might incure, the way to go.

Most of the guys I knew growing up cracked up their first car, I did .
My buddy is justifying that he will be o.k because of how good the car handles and brakes, my thinking is that this will only increase the speeds he will be traveling at when he finds the limits .
This guy is not really a car guy, and I am not sure he gets it, but I really think it is a bad idea .

These can be pretty damn quick, my son just has a stage 2 on his jetta and its scary fast, how are the brakes?

My son got a MK3 GTI at 16 with a 2.0 slow in it, he was just happy to have a nice car.

One kid I knew with a GTI in my high school crashed his car within a few months of owning it. Ended up tuning the hell out of it and didnt upgrade the brakes. Aren't they expensive to insure? If you're going to get them a performance car, make sure it is well built in all aspects and make them do mandatory DE events / autocross events.

I think it all depends on the kid. I have no regrets purchasing a 944 S2 for my first car. The four piston brakes and the handling capabilities have saved me from things like deer jumping out in front of the road, etc.

his first mistake was buying his kid a car at all.

kid should buy his own car. the boomers think there kids are entitled, they have only themselves to blame. buy your kid a car? no idea where they get the idea to be titled ... nope ... not at all.

Nope, slow cars won't keep you from getting in trouble. BUT you'll get in less trouble, and probably less serious trouble in a slow car than you will a fast one.
If you can hit 100mph every time you hit the gas because you're driving something fast, you are going to get in trouble more often, than if it takes you a while to hit 100. Your argument is silly. It's like saying, "You can slip and fall in the shower and die, so base jumping isn't any more dangerous than taking a shower."

WTH does that mean? Stuck up is generally taken to mean vain or conceited. I'm just not seeing any of that in this thread.

The basic rule is to ''Never out drive your line of sight.''.

And how does one learn that ? I figure a first car is a disposable thing. Mine was like a personal toy.

I would not think about it as "All I want is to keep my kid safe, so heavy, huge car and lots of power is required".
Think about the other participants in traffic.
Would it be good if the kids kill someone when they hit them with theire heavy and fast cars?
I dont think it will do them any good either.
No, small, slow cars for the beginners. So that they can do less damage when driving around with theire zero experience. The younger the smaller and cheaper cars.

Kids totalling one car after the other?
This is the best evidence that they are not ready for that responsibility yet!
Take the bus or bike!


Now, in an ideal world most people would cooperate and not rise theire kids with the personal attitude that its all about me and my family, f*ck everybody else!
Similar to todays gadgets: my son started 5th grade with most classmates coming to school with iPhones and having TVs and laptops on theire room at home. WTF? Its 5th grade, they have to concentrate on school and nothing else! This generated horrible stress for the few parents not participating in this game.

Sadly the ideal world is long gone or far away, we will never see that happen, I know that.

At least get the kid in a Street Survival course or something like it to increase his chances of seeing 17 or 18. 240 or Caravan would be smarter as would be letting him work for it.

You wouldn't think of a 4cyl manual Taurus wagon as a sports car.
My parents were wrong.
Kids will be kids.

30 years later, I have never caused an accident and avoided countless others.

Be safe.