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Smart Shopper Best Car for a new teenage driver
554 messages, Last post on Nov 08, 2009 at 7:33 PM
You are in the Smart Shopper Forum. Your Hosts are kirstie_h & tidester
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"Really, it's almost impossible to find a used Subaru in my area anyway. They are pretty rare around here, we don't even have a Subaru dealership in my city any more" Oops, sorry I missed this part of your post, forget my Subie recommendations then. For your budget there are tons of midsize cars out there. As for Sonata, as long as you're prepared for the resale sting, its a decent car thats also cheap to maintain and insure. Here are my concerns with ESC: Dont get me wrong, ESC helps somewhat. But you lost the sense of control when the ESC does all the thinking for you, so you'll have a hard time learning to be a better driver. ESC will save your son for now, but for the long term? This becomes a problem when the emergency situation is inevitable. Will he be able to save himself or left gripping the wheel and scream? Like someone said earlier, ESC doesnt make a better driver. Maybe 16 yr is too young for most, I'm not sure, so I suggest your son to at least maintain driving experience in a car w/o ESC once he's older. ESC helps prevent emergencies, but doesnt help when the emergency actually comes in. In fact, I find myself having less control of the car during such occasion, as the stability control's taking over and do all the thinking for me. My Acura comes standard with ESC and thats exactly what it did when the car suddenly lost traction on icy surface last winter. I was prepared to take emergency maneuvers when the system suddenly "stabilized" itself and left me guessing for controls. Fairly speaking each brand's esc setting is different, so this may not be your case afterall. This is the most important imo: many kids actually drive worse with ESC. No, its not ESC's fault, but knowing the system's there makes them think that ESC will save them no matter how sloppy their driving is. They become less aware, distract themselves with ease. This actually happens here, where a local newspaper studied this subject and even made a poll 2 years ago. Just my 2 cents 
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Replying to: supereagle (Oct 13, 2008 8:38 pm) I agree. But, on the flip side of that argument, some will say you're putting an inexperienced driver behind the wheel of a big heavy SUV or full sized sedan...putting others in smaller cars needlessly at risk. |
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Replying to: carexpert08 (Oct 12, 2008 7:12 pm) Me? Jealous of a 19 year old with a G35? YOU'RE DARN RIGHT I'M JEALOUS!  As to being outdated I'll have you know I have all the latest records by the Beatles and Elvis.  Seriously though, us old fogeys speak from experience of what we have seen and done in our youth. Some of us got lucky and are here to post, some weren't so lucky. So cut us some slack and take our comments for what their worth. Odds are you won't. You'll just learn the hard way. Hope you are one of the lucky ones. 
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Replying to: oldfarmer50 (Oct 16, 2008 6:20 am) You still have a functioning turntable?  Odds are you won't. You'll just learn the hard way. Hope you are one of the lucky ones. If I recall the G35 comes with ESC. 
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I think that having a largish car which is not high in power would be the best compromise. That way you won't be a speed demon and there will be crunch space. I'm think 03 Taurus, $6k maybe, and 160 hp to motivate 3500 lbs of car. It's old enough where it wouldn't be too expensive to insure and common enough where parts are easily found at a junkyard. My friend's brother got one that was torn up for $800.
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Replying to: tidester (Oct 14, 2008 12:35 am) However, also keep in mind that a lot of teenagers get into single vehicle accidents. So that extra space would be a benefit to them. |
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Replying to: tankbeans (Oct 16, 2008 1:09 pm)
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Replying to: explorerx4 (Oct 17, 2008 3:38 pm) I was always amazed that my car was the 2nd to oldest car in my family and yet it was worth more than all of the rest of the cars in my family. I look at kelly bluebook fairly often. I'm weird that way. On a side note: I disagree that a kid shouldn't have any say in the car that they get. If a person is going to spend the money on something that is going to be driven it needs to be something that the kid isn't going to purposely beat the snot out of. I know many kids, if they don't like a car, will beat the crap out of it and then you're back at square one. I think the wisest move is to do research on a number of different cars and narrow it down to 3 or 4 and let the kid pick. By all means don't say you can get anything you want as long as it's under $X. A lot of times a kid will go for all show and no go, meaning the car might be a pile of scrap, but it would look cool. If I'm confusing sorry. I just know that I am very recently out of the age group being discussed. I'll chime in once in a while to give my perspective. |
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"In the area that I live where kids with audis and acuras generally drive like they are brain dead, the M6 definitly takes the cake. " Not even close, westgmn. Take a look at what I've seen: Here where I live you'll see at least a couple 18 y.o kids driving Ferrari F360 there. Cake taken already? No, my friend, thats just icing on the cake, these kids drive those Ferraris to.... (brace yourself, barf bucket in hand) .... the local COMMUNITY COLLEGE!!!!!!!! I encountered this baffling sight 2 months ago when I met a client there (who happens to be a staff), of course as the community college is only 3 blocks away from work then this has become a regular view to me. If you havent barfed enough, here's the cherry topping: I asked one of them about the ferrari, he replied: "yeah its my highschool graduation present, cool aint it?" I asked if he's visiting there, he shamelessly replied "No, I go to school here" I asked him if he's kidding me, he gave me a blank stare " Huh, why? Did I say something funny?" Brain-dead? Understatement. Brain-less? Jackpot. Searching for brain:... ... Brain Not Found On the other hand, I once met a 19 y.o who drives an '06 Jaguar XJ. I asked about the car, he said he was given 25k for a car, he worked a bit to add $2k and got himself the Jag. The Jaguar is a CPO, thus theres a 1+2 yr warranty that matches the Camry's. Both cars pull 20 mpg. The Jag needs premium fuel but the free maintenance (that the camry doesnt have) covers the difference. Brain dead? More like a smart shopper to me. 3rd case, I know a friend of my sister's who drive another Ferrari (I think it was an F355). I asked her about the car and she simply said "Just for today" I asked her why a Ferrari, she said "Its the only thing left in the garage, I usually take my dad's Cayenne but he needs it right now" I asked her if she ever felt the cars are too expensive for her, she said "I can ask them to buy me a car but that'll be a waste of their money, so I just drive whatever's in the garage. As long as I dont drive like an idiot I guess I'll be fine" Here's the thing. Like everyone else I agree there's no age limit to a luxury brand or any car for that matter. Additionally, I dont think giving a 100k or even 1 million dollar car to a 16 y.o is a mistake, IF the driver is responsible enough. Whether said driver is responsible or not is something we can decide, we simply cannot pass such judgement. I have personally met a 14 y.o girl who happens to be wiser and more mature than my 30 y.o co-worker. Thats why I dont think the Jaguar kid's parents are making a terrible judgement, however I do think the Ferrari boy's parents are brain dead. Their son is only smart enough to get into a community college and they gave him a Ferrari? Come on.
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A 19 y.o leasing a G35? No I'm not jealous. I do however wonder if you make all those payments out of your own pocket (no attacks intended here) If you do, please remember that there's about 1 person like you in a million. If you dont, then I'm sorry but you dont deserve to call that car yours. Me? I could drive my parents lexus or mb but my dad decided I need the true driving lesson. Didnt matter as I was happy enough with my "junkmobile" when I was in school. Its a terrible car compared to my parents', but I ealrned to drive in any possible condition with it. As the result now I can drive a Lexus LX through a tight space with no more than 4 inches of room on either side smoothly. No worries
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