The $25k Sports Car

[onewhippedpuppy]

My oldest had one minor issue in his Pathfinder when still in high school, a lane change that scratched his off road bumper and dented in a minivan door. His fault. My daughter got rear ended by another student while sitting at a redlight in her GLK, front and rear damage that totaled her car and 3 others. We ended up getting her a nicer GLK from the insurance payout so that was a win. The joy of teen drivers.

[matthewb0051]

One of the first times I let my son drive on learner's permit over a distance... before we started we pulled up to Chik Fil A for a beverage. No joke, the first thing he did was pull out his phone while we were in line and he was behind the wheel. I about lost my shiznit. He got it from his mother.

[thingmon]

Don’t forget the “don’t let your friends drive it…” speech. I treated my son as an adult too. Worked well, but he was pretty mature for his age. Frankly, his friends were too. Luckily for me.

[onewhippedpuppy]

If he gets a manual the “don’t let your friends drive it” should take care of itself.

[bleucamaro]

Might have missed some posts, but I'll assume insurance is part of his budget.

Does he go to a fancy high school in a rich area? When I was in HS, if you had something significantly nicer than those around you, it would get messed with. With that in mind, I'd vote for something under the radar a bit: Pre-2008 WRX or STI, 240sx, BRZ/GR86.

If showing up to school in a newish Merc or BMW isn't out of place: C5 vette, E36 M3, E92 335is.

[matthewb0051]

Originally Posted by thingmon

Don’t forget the “don’t let your friends drive it…” speech. I treated my son as an adult too. Worked well, but he was pretty mature for his age. Frankly, his friends were too. Luckily for me.

Just gave a similar speech a couple of weeks ago. I let our college daughter upgrade to our Land Rover LR4 when her Disco 2 broke down. But the speech was, "you are not the designated driver" for purposes of carrying 6 passengers. The far rear seats are stowed and I left the middle row middle seat stowed as well to hopefully prevent that.

She went from 180ish HP to 375 hp and from having just OK brakes to having brakes that will stop on a dime. I took her on a test drive that day and she about lost it going around a corner due to the extra power.

[WPOZZZ]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

My oldest had one minor issue in his Pathfinder when still in high school, a lane change that scratched his off road bumper and dented in a minivan door. His fault. My daughter got rear ended by another student while sitting at a redlight in her GLK, front and rear damage that totaled her car and 3 others. We ended up getting her a nicer GLK from the insurance payout so that was a win. The joy of teen drivers.

Wow, it got totaled and it still had temp plates. Your daughter must have been a little upset.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by bleucamaro

Might have missed some posts, but I'll assume insurance is part of his budget.

Does he go to a fancy high school in a rich area? When I was in HS, if you had something significantly nicer than those around you, it would get messed with. With that in mind, I'd vote for something under the radar a bit: Pre-2008 WRX or STI, 240sx, BRZ/GR86.

If showing up to school in a newish Merc or BMW isn't out of place: C5 vette, E36 M3, E92 335is.

Technically it’s a private Catholic high school but it’s not fancy or exclusive. Wichita Catholic schools are tithe based, they don’t have tuition and they don’t turn people away for financial reasons. So it’s not what I would call fancy, there’s another school that charges about $15k per year and caters to a much different demographic.

While way nicer than the beater truck I had as a teen, $25k is still well under the average used car price in 2024. We’re basically talking late model Honda Civic money. The average used car was just under $30k in 2024.

Originally Posted by WPOZZZ

Wow, it got totaled and it still had temp plates. Your daughter must have been a little upset.

Yeah that was a bad day. We flew to NC to pick it up and had a fun road trip home. She drove it for about a month. Then we had to fight with USAA for two months, first because it hadn’t been titled yet and second when they tried to lowball the hell out of us. Eff those people, they suck.