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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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"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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Replying to: m4d_cow (Oct 17, 2008 10:15 pm) Here's the other side of the coin. I consider myself smart, but I can't afford to go to anything but a community college. My parent's couldn't even afford to buy me a $2000 car let alone a Ferrari. Perhaps, he's at a community college because his parents can't afford anything after the Ferrari. Either way it's not a smart thing. Or they gave him a choice saying you can go to any school you want or you can have a Ferrari. Stupid I agree, but what can I say? My mom has said it over and over again. It seems that kids end up being accessories. Meaning that since the parents work all the time they buy their kids expensive crap as a way of saying "Look what I can afford to give my kid." No attacks on my side either, but it seems fairly accurate. |
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Replying to: m4d_cow (Oct 17, 2008 10:15 pm) You don't know that. There are many reasons why one would choose a community college over, say, a four year liberal arts school. You also said "we simply cannot pass such judgement" with regard to responsibility but it would seem to apply here just as well. tidester, host SUVs and Smart Shopper |
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Ah true, tidester, there are reasons for that, but I dont see any excuse for any ferrari boy (aka wealthy enough) parent deciding to send their kids to a community college over a decent university. No matter what they say most community colleges simply do not offer the same level of education as a university. Even if we're talking about one actually capable of delivering university level education (yes there are some), trust me this particular college isnt one of them.
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Replying to: m4d_cow (Oct 18, 2008 10:23 pm)
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Replying to: teasip (Oct 19, 2008 8:41 am) Have you considered having her take the school bus? Not as fancy as a Civic but she could learn to shift by watching the driver. Save gramps for driving her to a job so she can save up for a car of her own. If she balks at the idea of the school bus, tell her to think of it as a chauffeur driven 66 passenger SUV. 
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Replying to: teasip (Oct 19, 2008 8:41 am) it is a lot easier to let the kids drive themselves when they have after school activities, especially when there is no bus by the time it is done. now in college, she doesn't have a car to drive. there is plenty of other transportation. now, #2 is driving the explorer to shool. |
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| School bus is not an option for us at this time. Game plan, even if she ends up with the IS, is a monthly payment to dad for a hundred or so just to get used to the payment idea. The nice thing about our situation is that I've been putting back an additional 50% of the payment for the Civic each month for the purpose of paying it off in 24 mos. as opposed to 36. Those funds would now be available for a third vehicle since the wife would be giving up the Lexus. Another option is to sell the Civic since we're already right side up even without the extra payments set aside and go with a two vehicle lease (maybe a his/her Lexus or some such). House is paid for so we don't have any other outstanding debt. | |
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Well, some areas dont have bus system running through or if they have one, terribly unsafe, I can understand your reasoning, oldfarmer, but things have really changed, at least thats what my mom said. Heck its even a lot different from 10 years ago when I was still in highschool. Even my dad, who always balk at the idea of spoiling any of his kids, wouldnt let us go near a spitting distance from the bus system now. Anyways to me the IS is a decent idea, none too flashy nor too expensive (resale is pretty weak for this model). And the idea of monthly payment teaches her responsibility. I'm not sure driving stick is that hard, but as less and less americans know how to drive stick, maybe its just me.
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Smart Shopper Best Car for a new teenage driver
