Buying a first car

[Porchdog]

My younger son is 19.

He graduated high school last year, went straight to boot camp and has been home from training for about 6 weeks. (Private first class, Marine Corps Reserve). He starts college at Penn State in the fall.

He may have been overly influenced - I've had my 911SC his whole life. He learned to drive in my 94 Golf (5 speed, GTI wheels, springs and struts). His friends next door have a Super Beetle and an E30 respectively - there's a lot of wrenching and a lot of car love in our neighborhood.

He's been saving his money his whole life. He's been a great worker - he started a couple weeks ago as a pipe fitter and he's making good money for a 19 year old.
Now he's willing to part with $5000. - $6000. for a car, but it has to be "interesting". It also has to be stick shift.

We've looked at Golfs, 944's, E30's, E36's an MR2, a 280Z and some other stuff. We haven't yet found the "right" car.

His car doesn't necessarily need to be a 100% driver - I have other cars for him to use and His campus will be 3 miles away - he's planning to live at home. On the other hand he doesn't want a car that sucks away all his money.

I don't really know what I'm asking for here - anybody know of a car that would be a good candidate? Any advice on especially robust, interesting cars?

Thanks!

[christiandk]

944 - Great economical car.

[Eric 951]

Originally Posted by christiandk

944 - Great economical car.

Seconded.

[TV74911S]

Christian has you headed in the right direction. Most of the Porsches that I've seen in this price range that aren't rollers are the water cooled cars or maybe a 914. $6K might actually be toward the bottom end of the 914 range, but it might get your son the type of car he is looking for (something you can drive, while you restore it.) Having owned one of these myself, the biggest thing you need to worry about from my perspective is rust. If there is an interest in these, I would contact Matt Monson (if he doesn't respond to your thread himself.) Matt knows these cars very well.

First gen Boxters might be another option, although good examples are probably closer to $10K (and may not have had the IMS dealt with)

From a non-Porsche perspective, the first thing that comes to my mind is a VW R32 - but even an '08 would run somewhere close to $18K. 90-94 ZX turbos are another possibility.

[NYNick]

My 26 year old son, a Navy Lt., purchased his first Porsche at age 20: a minty 1987 944S. Car has been great to him and has actually gone up in value, albeit slightly.
I second the 944, 944S purchase. Great first Porsche for a 19 year old.

[Porchdog]

We have considered a lot of 944 ads and we've driven 2. We will be looking at more at Hershey.

After the multi-year experience with the neighbor's super beetle I'm pretty sure he doesn't want a 914. The rust and beetle motor issues turn him off. I've been looking at 914's myself for years - the price of clean examples seems to be above his range anymore.

[PushingMyLuck]

A $3000 BMW E30 seems to be a perfect compromise.

It's well within his price range, with a healthy repair budget to spare.
You will not get that buying any Porsche with a $6k budget.
And he's got a neighbor who knows the car.
Why did you pass up the other E30's you saw?

[Porchdog]

E30's so far - scary rust and boy racer mods. A reasonably clean, solid E30 for $3,000 - we would snap it up. Do you know where to find such a car?

The neighbor kid's E30 has been a nightmare - but he didn't give me a chance to look at it before he bought it. The chassis was solid, but lowered, no muffler, trans shot, clutch shot, motor leaked everywhere, needs susenion bushings and brakes all around. He paid more than $3000.

My son is being surprisingly patient.

[X JBM X]

How about a Nissan 300zx? The late 80s models can be had really inexpensively (last I looked...) and even the 90s models aren't too bad. They're a lot of fun to drive. Somewhat difficult to find unabused though.

[kennykimk2]

Originally Posted by Porchdog

My younger son is 19.

He graduated high school last year, went straight to boot camp and has been home from training for about 6 weeks. (Private first class, Marine Corps Reserve). He starts college at Penn State in the fall.

He may have been overly influenced - I've had my 911SC his whole life. He learned to drive in my 94 Golf (5 speed, GTI wheels, springs and struts). His friends next door have a Super Beetle and an E30 respectively - there's a lot of wrenching and a lot of car love in our neighborhood.

He's been saving his money his whole life. He's been a great worker - he started a couple weeks ago as a pipe fitter and he's making good money for a 19 year old.
Now he's willing to part with $5000. - $6000. for a car, but it has to be "interesting". It also has to be stick shift.

We've looked at Golfs, 944's, E30's, E36's an MR2, a 280Z and some other stuff. We haven't yet found the "right" car.

His car doesn't necessarily need to be a 100% driver - I have other cars for him to use and His campus will be 3 miles away - he's planning to live at home. On the other hand he doesn't want a car that sucks away all his money.

I don't really know what I'm asking for here - anybody know of a car that would be a good candidate? Any advice on especially robust, interesting cars?

Thanks!

Sounds like you have a great son.
How about E36? I know the parts on these cars are easy to get at a reasonable price unlike P-cars and E30's.
All older cars have issues, but sounds like your son has good resource of help and knowledge near by.

Good luck in your search.

Kenny

[bhmkv]

Gti 1.8t. The mkv would be out at 10k plus, but can get a nice mk4 for 6k. Fun first sports car. Ive owned three Gtis and miss them all.

[COLB]

Another thing to consider for a kid who can/likes to wrench is a B5 Audi. Like the E30s, a lot have been modded in unsympathetic ways. But they handle great, are available with 5 speeds, and have performance potential with the turbo motors.

I think the pre-2002 cars have fewer CEL issues. Timing belts, water pumps, and control arms are the normal wear items, but are manageable.

But I would probably go 944.

[Porchdog]

I'm not thrilled with the 4 cylinder turbo vw and audi engines - the guys I know who have had them have had a lot of trouble and I find them hard to work on. The son likes them, we looked at one.
An E36 would be great if we find one he'll pay for.
I think a 944 would be wonderful - if we find one that seems solid I expect he'll snap it up.

[deathpunk dan]

02 - 04 SVT Focus with European appearance package. #1 hot hatch of its era. Quick, great handling, inexpensive to own. Don't be fooled - it's a European focus ST170 and a very cool little car. BTDT with both e30 and e36.

[olivier.r]

Gti mk4 are fun reliable and cheap to fix
I love my 03 1.8t much more than my 968
But probably if our winter were smoother the choice would be différent

[WPOZZZ]

Originally Posted by kennykimk2

Sounds like you have a great son.
How about E36? I know the parts on these cars are easy to get at a reasonable price unlike P-cars and E30's.
All older cars have issues, but sounds like your son has good resource of help and knowledge near by.

Good luck in your search.

Kenny

I'm thinking E36 M3.

[johnvan8]

Being the father of a 19yo and having been 19yo myself in the distant past, I personally think an M3 is too much horsepower for such an inexperienced age. Mind you, I'm not implying anything negative about your son's abilities, but like they say "there's no replacement for displacement", I also believe "there's no replacement for experience". Young age + inexperience + the feeling of being invincible + 250hp can get away from you real fast. Have you considered a 924S (1987, 1988)? Same dynamics as a 944 but in a more graceful narrow body and, from what I have seen, 924S can be found in more original, less "pimped out" condition than similar year 944s. Just my observation YMMV. And they're usually cheaper than the 944s. I also like the e30, especially the 4cyl 318is from 1989-1991, a great, well balanced car; an e30 M3 "Light".

[Porchdog]

Strange, he just bounced the first E36 M3 ad off of me last night. It's a little more than he wanted to spend, but very clean and no issues if the ad is to be believed.

Yes he gives us all the normal concerns about a young man in a powerful car. I had been carefully not mentioning 944 turbos and M3s for just that reason. I'm not going to try to tell him what he can't buy - he decided on his own against buying a sportbike, so I'm thankful for that.

He earned his own money, He signed up for the Marine Corps without consulting us - he wanted to experience boot camp and he wants to pay his own way through college.

His driving has never given me any concern - he's careful and skillful. He got a speeding ticket when he was 17 (kind of a bs ticket, but those are the breaks) and he's been very clear that he doesn't want another.

He's careful with his money and careful with his things. There's always testosterone and adrenaline to worry about, but on the whole I'd rather see him in an E36 (even an M3) than the neighbor kid's beetle.

[COLB]

Originally Posted by WPOZZZ

I'm thinking E36 M3.

Most of the E36 M3s I've seen under $6k have slush boxes, salvage titles, or are generally ragged out.

It might be tough to find a good car in his price range.

These are also cars that you want to go into with a cushion of money to fix things that need fixing.

I still think a 944 is hard to be beat in this price range.

[speeder]

Where are you located? You give no clue in your posts but it sounds like somewhere that is not a good place to shop for older used cars. My advice would be to expand your search to places where E30s or 944s are more plentiful and definitely do not buy a rust car. That's just asking for misery to work on and a car that's not even worth putting nice new parts on.

I'd rather buy a dry car sight-unseen on eBay and have it shipped, (with a lot of good pictures, of course), than buy a soggy old car. Best of luck to both of you.