Please please do not do this

[RarlyL8]

I've been under the weather for a few days and my productivity is near zero, but something has happened that I feel compelled to share.
Many of you are blessed to be well off and as such like to buy nice things for you kids. Buying a modern sports car or super car or even hyper car for most 16 year olds is the mother of all bad ideas. Buy him an entry level SUV and have it gold plated with 30" wheels or whatever is the going trend. A friend of the family's 16 year old son is in the ICU right now fighting for his life. You do not want to be that dad.

[HarryD]

Sad to hear. I have always maintained that a low power car is the way to go. Make it a two seater so only one buddy can travel with them.

[Matt Monson]

Brian,
I’m sorry to hear this. I hope the kid recovers.

Originally Posted by HarryD

Sad to hear. I have always maintained that a low power car is the way to go. Make it a two seater so only one buddy can travel with them.

An MB Miata. An old Miata is enough for a kid.

[winders]

Here is a post I made on Rennlist when some rich guy wanted to buy his 16 year old son a newer Cayman:

"Since you asked me directly…

If it were up to me, it would be illegal for parents to buy kids (especially boys) under 18 any kind of sportscar, first car or not. Parents that do this are just asking for a poor decision to be made. Boys, in particular, are apt to make a poor decision. No matter how responsible and well mannered they are in everyday life. I would get my kid an SUV…one with mediocre performance and a great safety rating and not a sporty one either. Just transportation.

Of course I think it is great to get them driving a sportscar with an adult present or at a DE or race event once he has proven he deserves that. But, I would not give them a Porsche of any kind as their first car.

So buy the Cayman and get him driving on the track or at autocrosses or on the street with you supervising. Just don’t make it his daily driver.

There. That is my opinion…

But you should do what you think is best. It’s your kid and you are responsible for setting him up to succeed."

[porsche930dude]

An suv isnt much better. They will just kill themselves and all their friends. Happend in my school twice and that was just in the 4 years I was there. Not to mention countless crashes. One rolled his corvette a dozen times on the highway at 120 or something. My freinds girlfriend crashed and rolled her delsol in just a few weeks of owning it. I had a 240sx its awesome handling saved my butt countless times I never crashed it amazingly but did very dumb things. Yes a fast car is a bad idea. My first car was a 1946 willys jeep. Too afraid to do anyting stupid in that id be dead for sure. I rolled it on its side once completely by accident

[deemsriddle]

In the middle 1980s I had a 1975 Carrera for sale. A couple came to my house to buy it for their 15 year old daughter who wanted to own a Porsche. As kindly as I could, I recommended a 924 if she absolutely had to have a Porsche. I would not let them test drive it. I did warn them of letting the boyfriends drive.

[FA-18C]

Growing up in the late 70s early 80s, first cars we were allowed to drive were 70 Buick SS station wagon and a 73 Ford F250. I never had my own car until I bought one mid-way through college, an RX7. I still did stupid stuff, but was governed by the car. A close friend has an Olds 442 W30 - his dad picked up from jail at least 3 times for drag racing. That was a stupid fast car in a straight line.

When we bought a car for our daughters to drive in HS, it was a Volvo S80 from a retired couple. Boring, safe - they were run into by other people three times - I replaced 3 doors on that car and it never missed a beat.

I agree with the general sense of buy safety, and let them prove themselves - they can invest their own $$s into a sports car for daily driving. Too much yielding to peer pressure.

[winders]

Originally Posted by porsche930dude

An suv isnt much better.

Of course it is....MUCH better...if you get "one with mediocre performance".

[RSTarga]

Supercars aside, (they should require special licensing no matter the age). I don't think any car is really safe for a poorly trained 16 year old. I started with a 65 Corvair and a 64 Ford Falcon. Still don't know how I survived, as I was on the edge and over of stability much of the time.
Best money I ever spent was sending my daughter to Skip Barber and buying a go-kart for my son. The best way to learn limits is to go over them, but in the safest way possible.
Driver education for teens is pitiful.
Hope the boy comes out of this well.

[Quickstep192]

I wonder the same about the current crop of EV cars. I recent test drove a Volvo SUV that could do 0-60 in 4.2secs. It makes me wonder how many drivers are prepared to handle that.

[stownsen914]

🙁 terrible news. I hope he recovers and can count it as a very unfortunate lesson. But sadly it’s a scenario that’s just asking for a bad outcome. We need to take care of our kids and do our best to keep them safe.

[HarryD]

Every teen should attend Street Survival School. I believe it is the best money spent on APPROPRIATE driver training for young drivers.

www.streetsurvival.org

[Black 993]

No training will help. The problem is the teenaged male brain, which lacks situational judgment. Buying anything other than a super-slow junker for a teenaged boy is insane. My first car was a Tercel, and I still drove like an idiot and almost killed myself a few times. I would be dead if I had been handed the keys to a 400hp sports car when I was 16 or 17 or even 20. The parents who buy teenagers these fast cars are making a horrible, often tragic choice that defies all comprehension.

[HarryD]

Originally Posted by Black 993

No training will help. The problem is the teenaged male brain, which lacks situational judgment. Buying anything other than a super-slow junker for a teenaged boy is insane. My first car was a Tercel, and I still drove like an idiot and almost killed myself a few times. I would be dead if I had been handed the keys to a 400hp sports car when I was 16 or 17 or even 20. The parents who buy teenagers these fast cars are making a horrible, often tragic choice that defies all comprehension.

I disagree. While a teen boy (and girl for that matter) lacks total judgement, as in many things, Good training is better than no training. It may not be the 100% solution but it is a nudge in the correct direction.

I have been an instructor for Street Survival for years and I truly believe each of my students has benefited in some small way to become a safer driver.

[fanaudical]

I'm sorry to hear about this, Brian. I do hope your friend's son recovers quickly and all involved can learn from the bad experience.

(We've got plenty of other threads about what makes a good first car; let's all just support Brian for a bit, please.)

[smadsen]

Both my kids (in the late 90's) first car was my 1971 dirt brown, Ford Econoline on window with a 240 cu.in. inline six and 280,000 miles. They both *****ed & moaned, and both were given the option of walking to school.

Both later put some skin in the game and acquired real cars, but learning to drive a big no window van with drum brakes right out of the 1940's set the bar for paying attention and driving within their abilities. Doubt they ever did burn-outs in the high school parking lot with the 240.

[ChrisHamilton]

What worked with me,that my Dad did....... First make them earn the money to purchase a car. My first car was a 70 240Z that was a little raggedy. Pops told me he would allow me to go in his insurance, but if I ever got any sort of infraction, speeding ticket, reckless driving, DUI, etc. I was done. If I wanted to drive after that I would have to get my own insurance and pay for it. Being that was far more than I could afford, it helped keep me in line. Not saying I didn't do some silly things but what he told me was always in the back of my mind.

I think it's a terrible idea to buy a high powered sports car for your kid. First you are setting them up to be entitled. Second they have little to no driving experience and depending on your kids thrill limit, doing so could very well be setting them up to kill themselves or someone else.

Make your kid earn some money to at least partially pay for their car. Make it something relatively humble/normal. Reward them later after they have proven they can drive safe and gain some experience.

Enrolling your child at a driving school is a great idea as well. Bondurant has an excellent program for new drivers. It could save their life. I highly recommend it.

[Jeff Higgins]

My very first car, in 1976 at the ripe old age of 16, was a '67 GTO 400 four speed. Never a lick of trouble. Sold it to buy a 1967 Dodge R/T 440 automatic. Again, never a lick of trouble.

My two sons began driving in Volkswagen Beetles. The oldest bought a '79 SC when he was 18 and has been driving it ever since. He is now 35. The youngest bought a crapped out '68 912 when he was 15, but he couldn't drive it until we restored it and converted it to a 911 (2.4 MFI motor) as his high school senior year project. He's been driving it ever since. He is now 32. Not a lick of trouble with either of them.

I guess it's easier to blame the car than to blame other contributing factors, like bad parenting. My own father was a hardcore drag racer and performance car enthusiast who insisted "drivers' education" was a waste of time that only met the minimum legal requirements to get licensed. He would not allow me to drive until I did more than that. Fast forward to my own two boys, and neither was allowed to drive before they completed the full PCA drivers' skills and drivers' education programs, plus Don Kitch's ProFormance Racing School.

Yes, kids can learn to "drive" - parallel park, back around a corner, turn the wheels the right way when parking on a hill, etc. in "drivers' education" through their high school or some other establishment. But they will never learn to drive, they will never learn what to do when things go wrong.

We do young people a huge, potentially fatal disservice in this country when teaching them to "drive". This needs to be a lot harder for them. We, as parents, can, of course, raise that bar. Few are interested in doing so. It's hard. It takes too much time. Yada yada yada...

I'm sorry to hear about this kid. I really am. I know I'm coming off as very harsh, but I've just seen too many friends go through this with their kids. And worse. Seeing all of that, I resolved before my sons drove to do better. It took a lot of my time, I spent a lot of money. So far, so good... maybe I've been "lucky", but that brings to mind one of my favorite quotes.

Arnold Palmer was once accused by one of his competitors of being "lucky". His response was "funny, the more I practice, the 'luckier' I get"...

[PeteKz]

We're all preaching to the choir here, but as long as we're preaching, I'll add mine. When my son was old enough to drive and really wanted to drive to his last two years of high school (he was an athlete and had late practices, and I didn't want to continue being his chauffeur), I decided to get a pickup truck for him. Something not new, but at least had airbags and traction control. I ended up buying a used Chevy Avalanche. Big enough to have plenty of steel around him and anyone else riding inside. Then we went out to a parking lot many times and he learned how to drive on wet cold and slippery conditions, and in snow, with and without traction control, and we did a little mudding to give him the feel of loose surfaces.

I still think that was a good decision and a very useful vehicle. It also served him very well in moving off to college, going skiing, and going camping in the big national parks. And now he's graduating from college, and he still has it.

[fred cook]

When my son was 15, I bought him a totally worn out four cylinder (small) standard cab Dodge pickup truck. Then we worked together to repair it so he would learn about the various systems in the truck and have some sweat equity in it. Once the mechanical stuff was done, I got it painted and some interior work done. He drove it for his junior and senior years in high school. Since it was only about 100 horsepower, he managed to stay out of trouble for those two years! When he was a senior, as a reward for behaving himself I let him drive my 911SC to school for the last week. Made a big bump in his social standing! Today, he is 40 years old and is driving a turbo Porsche Cayanne !