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Maintenance & Repair To Fix Up or Trade Up, That is the Question
536 messages, Last post on Jul 24, 2009 at 9:12 AM
You are in the Maintenance & Repair Forum. Your Host is mr_shiftright
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Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (May 05, 2009 8:01 am) Me too. But, a fast car and a teenager together? Hope it is a mature and responsible teenager.
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Replying to: jipster (May 05, 2009 10:09 am)
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Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (May 05, 2009 10:50 am) Car does have nice torque at at all speeds but if a kid is going to go fast, all cars can and will go fast. All parents have to constantly warn their kids about speed and safety. Showing them articles in the newspaper about teenaged car accidents and deaths does get them listening for a short while. Some cars will cost you more to insure with a teenaged driver, than the cars is worth. There are no right or wrong answers on this issue. Everything is a trade off. I do like the power/torque of the SHO but the transmission is clunky by today's standards. |
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Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (May 05, 2009 10:50 am) Geech, Shifty - 7.5 sec to 60 is slow??? That's as fast as my '69 Z-28 ran. Of course that is not what it was set up for, as the engine really didn't start to run until 4,000 rpm, so 0-60 and quarter miles times were not a quick as a lot of the other big-block muscle cars. But, there is a big difference, IMO, especially for an inexperienced driver, between a 7.5 sec 0-60 car and a 10 sec one. That's not to say that one is dangerous and the other is not, but it's a lot easier to get into trouble by "punching" the throttle at the wrong time (into a curve, in the rain, etc) with the former than with the latter.
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Replying to: srs_49 (May 06, 2009 3:51 am) Exactly. But, the SHO is quite a bit faster than shifty indicated. The first generation ran 0-60mph in 6.6 seconds (quite a bit faster than a Honda Accord). And while not a sports car, it is a high performance car. To a teenage or younger driver it is all about perception. He is given a "fast" car, therefore there is implicate permission to go fast... and I doubt the handling characteristics of the car equals that of it's acceleration/speed.
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Replying to: jipster (May 06, 2009 5:08 am) I actually had my Scion xA TIMED at 0-60 in 8.5 seconds---that's with a 1.5L engine and me getting off a really good launch and a clutch dump...nonetheless, to gain 1 second on an SHO for all the complexity of it seems like no big deal in this day and age. For a teenager, driving a slow car is way more of an education than driving a fast car. I'd buy him/her the slowest car I could possibly find, as long as it had air bags. Yeah. 7.5 is not a fast car anymore. There are mini vans out there that would mop up many a 60s muscle car. Even 6.6 isn't very fast. Many new pocket rockets can do that. There are cars in dealers' showrooms right now that are in the 4s & 5s---quite a few of them. A 15 year old Mazda RX TT is faster than 6.6.
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Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (May 06, 2009 8:04 am) Yep. Maybe one of the early 70's Scamps with the slant 6. Or a 78 Ford Fairmont with the straight 6. No danger of any speed related issues there  . Of course, they don't have the airbags 
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Replying to: srs_49 (May 06, 2009 9:00 am) |
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Replying to: srs_49 (May 06, 2009 9:00 am) http://carfamily.wordpress.com/category/hummer/ What did GM say years ago? Something to the effect of "If safety was all that mattered we'd build a tank that floats, wouldn't go over 25 mph and forced everyone to be strapped down when in motion --- but it would never sell. It's not what people want." I tend to think completely opposite of what some are saying concerning "perception". Reality is the goal. A teen driving a V-6 Honda with its yawn image probably has no idea his car is powerful so he might have no idea how fast he is going. He might feel the need to prove his car has muscle via the accelerator. The SHO OTOH has the perception of being nastier and faster than it really is by today's standards so his ego is satisfied and he thinks he is going faster than he really is and has nothing to prove. "Slow" cars tend to have smaller engines so they weigh less -- not good in a multiple vehicle accident. Little cars lack metal and weight which can act to protect in accidents. Talk to your insurance man and he will have tons of stories about some family who gives their kid an Escalade only to have them total it the next week. Many teens roll SUV's. Most of the fatalities I've heard of involving teens happened when they were driving some type of SUV. And unless mom and dad are made of money gas mileage needs to be considered. My sons have driven the SHO for a few years and who is the one who wrecks it? Mom, the experienced driver, of course. Won't be buying the new SHO though -- this one really IS a beast: http://njection.com/blogs/jalopnik/archive/2009/02/11/2010-ford-taurus-sho-live-- - and-with-a-ridiculous-torque-curve-ford-taurus-sho.aspx Makes my SHO look like a pansy: http://www.shotimes.com/php-bin/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&mo- de=thread&order=0&thold=0&sid=22
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Replying to: maryh3 (May 06, 2009 10:26 am) Oddly enough the best car statistically for a teenager is one without a back seat! That's not off-color---what it means is that he/she can only carry one passenger---less distraction, trouble, etc.
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