17 yo nephew wants a 2011 Mazda CX7...What does GRM think ...

He sounds sensible.  When I was 17,  I bought a 1964 Galaxie 500, 390 4 speed convertible.  What the hell were my parents thinking letting me do that?

So just to update my nephew ended buying a 2004 Mazda3 with 57K miles. 

Saw it over the weekend ( brother-in -law ended going with him) and it's a very clean one owner car.

Fingers crossed he takes care of this one.

Already killed two cars? 

My only question is, is he paying for this, or mom and dad?

If mom and dad, then I have nothing nice to say.

If he is footing the bill, then whatever he wants. Any Mazda should be fine if he takes care of it. 

My kid would be doing a lot of walking after blowing up the first one. By number two, he would be responsible for his own transportation for the rest of his life. 

Edit: Reread the first post and saw that he's paying for it. Good for him! His choice will probably help him to want to take care of it. Help him get what he wants. 

Good god, this is the kind of car that nephews dream about these days?!

Our hobby is doomed.

2g Prius. They go forever and you can F in it. 

I hope someone takes the time to teach him about cars. Basic inspection once every two weeks of fluids and tire pressure. If for no other reason it keeps the gas millage up and repairs at a minimum.  Non car people understand this. 

None of my kids really are “car people”. But I have taught them the above. It is just a life thing. Like learning how to boil water or do laundry and balance a check book. 

As for the CX7. I would at least suggest that he looks at a Rav4. 

As for dumb things I take the 5th on that. So he gats a pass in my book. .  

Woody said:

Good god, this is the kind of car that nephews dream about these days?!

Our hobby is doomed.

I always wanted to drive the van when I was a teen...

1978 Ford E150, 300 I6, and a 5 speed. 

And roomy. 

In reply to dankspeed :

If he's the kind of teenager that gets embarrassed to ask for a ride, I'm sure he's learned to check the oil after running dry and overfilling.

I was going to suggest an EV like a Leaf, no oil to run out and doesn't need gas money.  And his parents will know he'll be hanging out wherever there's a charging station.

My sister had a NA 2.5 litre fwd stormy blue mica one that she bought new. It was a nice reliable car. Aside from the fact that it needed headlights every couple of months and replacing them was a royal pain in the ass!! One side worse than the other, but both sucked. 

I recently saw the twin to her car in a parking lot and instinctively started replacing the headlights. I did love the paint color!! 

Woody said:

Good god, this is the kind of car that nephews dream about these days?!

Our hobby is doomed.

I know more people under 25 with weird interesting cars than I do those under 25 that dream of owning crossovers.

Woody said:

Good god, this is the kind of car that nephews dream about these days?!

Our hobby is doomed.

I have a nephew that's not really into cars, and he LOVES my 2012 Mazda 3. He said it's the perfect size (it's a hatch) and after I let him drive it a few times, he loved the way it drove. It has a manual transmission, and he even liked that! I'm hoping it's a "gateway drug" for him to actually get into cars like everyone else in the family.

His mom is making him pay for the car with his savings so hopefully that alone will motivate him to stay up on maintenance.

I gave him a walk thru on how to check the oil, "read" the dipstick, what level it should be at and NOT at.

We'll see. 

For all those being tuff on him glad to see you were a perfect teenager and never made a mistake. 

Just so you know, those Mazda3 dipsticks are obnoxious to get a consistent readings on (or that's my experience). Make sure he doesn't over-react and that he realizes that from bottom to the top of the dipstick isn't that much oil! 

Good choice! I hope he enjoys it, those are great cars...

dankspeed said:

For all those being tuff on him glad to see you were a perfect teenager and never made a mistake. 

I've made more than my share of mistakes, but I've paid for all of them. My old man would have laughed at me if I expected him to foot the bill for something I broke. At 17 I would have been too embarrassed to ask him to. I would have come to him with a plan to fix it and pay for it when I told him what happened. He expected nothing less. 

My middle son just paid $750, half the cost, to have a transmission put in my car that he drives. He also just paid another $120 to replace the cooling fan. Between rally cross and track days, neither failure was probably completely his fault, but he's the primary driver, he can help foot the bill. TANSTAAFL

I probably got my shiny happy personness from my parents.