first car for son

In reply to garaithon:

Just avoid automatics. The automatics break. But the engine is very tough.

I find it funny that people think a pickup truck will somehow lessen the distractions and passengers. I absoutely guarantee if I had a truck in HS the bed would be packed with my drunk friends.

Miata are too small to be seen by half the vehicles on the road, I had one. Get him something people will see for a couple of years before he graduates to a tiny sports car.

+1 on the Contour, not a bad idea

You don't want him dating until he's 30, right?

I vote 1971 Dodge Dart, with the slant-6. Guaranteed it'll drive away all the girls and keep him from ever being "cool." The fact that it has a bed-like bench seat in the back doesn't matter since girls won't go near it. We called dad's "birth-control on wheels." But I'm over that...

Seriously, have him pay for it by getting a job, as the sense of entitlement in our youth is really bad, and if he has to buy it himself, it won't treat it like crap.

JFX001 wrote: The reason I suggested a 2wd pick up (Ranger in this case) is that you can get a craigslist lawn mower/weed eater, a couple of rakes and tell him that he has until Christmas to pay off half of the truck. A kid with his livelihood riding in the back might be a little more conscious of his driving.

Yep, but i'd go with an S10. The lawnmower / weedeater / leaf blower formula is a great one.

90 to 95 Taurus SHO 3.0L 5 speed. Airbags, ABS, cheap to insure it's a Taurus :), good handling, and what every male wants, POWER!!!

Put some good tires(V rated or better) on it and make him autocross it a few times so he'll know what to do in a FWD.

The girls won't know what to think about his grandma ride unless they are into cars or they like that cool sound it makes after 4k rpm's.

BTW my first car was a Mazda RX-2 and I thought it was fast....

As our resident irresponsiable teenager (19) Ill give you a rundown of what Ive had and the pros cons:

95 neon: Truely perfect automobile completely relialble, easy to work on, slow enough to keep out of trouble, fun, high school chicks think its "cute" ie you become unthreatining and you can fit pleanty of them in.

98 Blazer ZR2 eventually lifted: bad idea between the horrible brakes, wondering steering and ample power it was a safety nightmare, south central PA women found it alluring you can almost fit 2 people in the back with the seats down this is best avoided

88 Tbird turbocoupe: Make the Blazer lower and fast again best avoided

99 Chevy s10 w/t: not bad the bed became a pool once or twice, great for burnouts, I shouldnt have to tell you what can happen in an 8ft bed with a windowless cap

Anyway avoid trucks, avoid things that go offroad, get good insurance, realize and accept that teenagers are stupid we all are and while the degree of stupidity varries we all have a couple really dumb self destructive friends who could find a way to make baking classes dangerious. Chances are he is going to wreck or get picked up by the cops I hate to say it but the first car is the first chance for freedom and as you well know teenagers love to push the limits. Good luck

As our even younger teenager, I'll second anything mentioned that's boring and/or slow.

Here's what I've seen in my highschool parking lot:

New anything- kids don't care, usually totalled within a few months

Small trucks- always end up lifted (sometimes with cheap stuff like pvc pipe if the kid can't afford a real lift kit) driven by shiny happy people, driven offroad on school property, over smaller cars, over freshman, etc. Also wrecked fairly often. The best moment of my life was when I saw a racist redneck acquaintance of mine spin his lifted truck in the middle of a busy 6 lane road. Priceless.

SUVs- driven poorly (who cares about blindspots anyway?), driven aggressively, always loaded with people and poorly installed subwoofers. Favorites of flat-billers.

Sports cars- always totalled shortly (except the few kids I autocross with). Crammed full of people. Driven by complete shiny happy people.

I've also noticed that the kids have no sense of where the limits are. Sometimes they lock the brakes up, understeer, etc. without even noticing it, while other times they drive like grannys and think they're about to fly off of the road. Whatever a kid gets should be accompanied with a TON of driver training. Street Survival is a great place to start.

As far as old cars being uncool, most kids find anything old really really cool. Everybody at school thinks my E30 is cooler than the new Camaros everybody has. And the Spitfire is considered so weird it's awesome. And if your son/daughter ever gets "challenged" just invite the punk kid to a racetrack/autocross. Heck, I even offer to pay their entry fees because I love humiliating my street racer poseur friends. Even if the kid has a new Ferrari, you've got a 99% chance of winning simply because you've been around a course before. This technique works particularly well with flat-billers in RX8s/ Mazdaspeed 3s/ Scions.

That said, I wouldn't recommend either for a new driver, unless they've had plenty of driver training. Something slow and full of safety features is the way to go.

Oh, also, a 4 seat car is a good idea. I routinely put 5 people in the E30, because I'm not willing to ride with any of the idiots. We always just take my car.

Tom Suddard wrote: As our even younger teenager, I'll second anything mentioned that's boring and/or slow. Here's what I've seen in my highschool parking lot: New anything- kids don't care, usually totalled within a few months Small trucks- always end up lifted (sometimes with cheap stuff like pvc pipe if the kid can't afford a real lift kit) driven by shiny happy people, driven offroad on school property, over smaller cars, over freshman, etc. Also wrecked fairly often. The best moment of my life was when I saw a racist redneck acquaintance of mine spin his lifted truck in the middle of a busy 6 lane road. Priceless. SUVs- driven poorly (who cares about blindspots anyway?), driven aggressively, always loaded with people and poorly installed subwoofers. Favorites of flat-billers. Sports cars- always totalled shortly (except the few kids I autocross with). Crammed full of people. Driven by complete shiny happy people. I've also noticed that the kids have no sense of where the limits are. Sometimes they lock the brakes up, understeer, etc. without even noticing it, while other times they drive like grannys and think they're about to fly off of the road. Whatever a kid gets should be accompanied with a TON of driver training. Street Survival is a great place to start. As far as old cars being uncool, most kids find anything old really really cool. Everybody at school thinks my E30 is cooler than the new Camaros everybody has. And the Spitfire is considered so weird it's awesome. And if your son/daughter ever gets "challenged" just invite the punk kid to a racetrack/autocross. Heck, I even offer to pay their entry fees because I love humiliating my street racer poseur friends. Even if the kid has a new Ferrari, you've got a 99% chance of winning simply because you've been around a course before. This technique works particularly well with flat-billers in RX8s/ Mazdaspeed 3s/ Scions. That said, I wouldn't recommend either for a new driver, unless they've had plenty of driver training. Something slow and full of safety features is the way to go. Oh, also, a 4 seat car is a good idea. I routinely put 5 people in the E30, because I'm not willing to ride with any of the idiots. We always just take my car.

Exactly.

From an 18 year old.... At my school nobody cared about cars except the Potheads (which is probably true at most schools) They all had CRX's, Civics, Eclipses, ect. With turbos and engine swaps. I had, and still have a stock E36 325. Since it's a BMW, everybody thought it was the fastest thing in the parking lot and would challenge me to race. I too would offer to pay their entry fee at an Auto-X if they beat me. The BMW worked pretty well with the girls too. It has a "cute" factor to it, so they'd hop in. 3 of my buddies had pick up trucks...all of them ended up crashing/spinning out in them.

That said, you don't have to get him something that's cool, mostly b/c nobody cares. If it gets from A-B, has a good stereo system and looks halfway descent then he and his friends will like it.

I think some top choice would be anything German from the mid 80's to the 2000's. A Mini Van- he can bring the party to the party. Honda Accord or something similar.

I think Focus' have expensive insurance, our '05 zx4 was more expensive than the BMW.

Good Luck, Steven

Smack35 wrote:

Tom Suddard wrote: a bunch of great stuff...

That said, you don't have to get him something that's cool, mostly b/c nobody cares. If it gets from A-B, has a good stereo system and looks halfway descent then he and his friends will like it.

truth. i went to high school with a bunch of richie rich kids, but they didn't all have cars. in '83 i was driving either a beater '68 D-100, a beater '66 caprice, or a super-beater '64 corvair van. absolutely did not matter. "hey PC, you've got wheels, right? let's go!"

invest in driver training!

Im thankful I had a 1.8L impreza wagon as my first car. Just enough power, and 4wd (we're from connecticut and it was amazing in the snow) which means it cant to do a burnout. Doesnt meet the 2 seater requirement though.

2nd car was a classic saab 900...underpowered (8valve CIS) and FWD but quite a drivers car.

Both were stick shifts. Both understeer (you can get them sideways but its not easy). Look for something with an ebrake that can hold the car on a hill but not lock up the rears....

I currently have a world famous ex-challenge Subaru Impreza 5spd awd wagon for sale.

Cheap to a fellow GRM'er, $1000 and it's yours.

Needs a little tlc,but that would be a character building experience for him and make him appreciate the car as if he paid for it himself.

It's bone stock again with a 2.2 NA motor, new tbelt and all front seals changed just before the challenge and it's a wagon.

DukeOfUndersteer wrote:

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote:

DILYSI Dave wrote: Volvo. Wagon if you like him.

With a waterbed in the back.

And an Anarchy flag... /clarkson

Be weary of the back window.

N Sperlo wrote: Be wary of the black widow.

Always good advice!

My first car was a 1983 RX-7. Bought it myself, and then had to wait three months while I gathered driver's ed money, insurance money and driver's license money.

Keep the power down, make sure it stops and turns properly, (I had a fender bender in the wet a month in - later learned I had no rear brakes) and try to get something that can hit and/or be hit without killing everyone inside.

Scaling all of this forward a decade and a half or so, and I'll echo the others and favor a 318ti. Rear drive, not much power, and just enough room in a car that's fairly small. It has looks going for it, and handles well. The Nissan 240SX is okay, but I'd be afraid of giving him a car that is so central to the drift scene.

I have never laughed so hard before reading this thread I was gonna pitch in but you guys have it covered and the responses are golden, good lord I'm glad I got my GTI based on some of the cars you guys are recommending for the poor chap...but then again, that didn't get me girls, laid, or really anything......DAMN!!

Where's MattB? This thread reminded me of his avatar .

Hilarious, but NSFW - contains coarse language and sexual references - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwLSH0SJnpc&feature=fvsr

Also, I don't think anybody's mentioned E28 BMW yet. I think a 525E would be a great first car. Economical, fun enough to drive, solid, reliable, slow-ish.

Yes, my buddy had an E28 ever since he was 17, sold it last year. He's 22 now. That was so nice and pretty much all of what you said and I haven't seen those videos in awhile! nice!

"rollercoasters and tits, this is gonna be brilliant!" LMAO

http://allentown.craigslist.org/cto/2128928141.html don't have to worry about the lady folk.....

my first real car was a k-car. It's actually a FANTASTIC first car. it is so slow it will be hard to get into trouble (although i spun mine a few times), they're ridiculously simple, reliable, cheap to fix, and very safe for how little they weigh.

I bought an aries as a DD for $100 when i was 19 or so. Started at a 20 sec 1/4 mile, modded it down to 17.0 n/a for next to nothing $$, turbo'd it, ran 14.5 on a half-ass street tire pass, placed midpack at GRM challenge on street tires (i beat the sport-package NC miata's autox time they were reviewing), and itll probly hit 12s the next time it sees the track, and ive got under $2k in it in all these years. It weighs 2400 lbs and makes 350lb ft of torque. Most of the people who've ridden in it have yelled at me when i floored it in 3rd gear.

Here's a video of a grey reliant. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uePg94aIAP4

That REALLY makes me want to get one now, I have wanted to turbo one for some time now

I retract my previous suggestion, and I'll change it to a late 90s Outback Sport. Second choice would be a Chevy Cavalier. The Cavalier is boring as heck, easy to work on and will run way longer than you want it to if you keep current on maintenance.

Also, I read "flat-billers" and nearly choked on my drink.

A cavalier is horrible; the most dangerous car among its contemporaries for crash injuries. Bad idea for a kid.

"first car for son"

I can't believe nobody's said this yet: "Sounds like a fair trade."

Atlanta is a scary place to turn the kids loose on the roads. After attending two Street Survival courses with my teenagers, I'd recommend cars that handle VERY well with just enough power to get out of the way. I watched car after car after car after car that could not do the avoidance manuevers because they were undersprung wallowing pigs. Even smaller cars were terrible.

One son has an Mazda MP3 (I ended up winning G-stock with that one on a Sunday) and my other son has a ZX2 - I ripped the sloshy suspension out of it and put in the S/R suspension so it would handle way better. Both of these cars did quite well in the avoidance manuevers and subsequent autocross. Good brakes, good handling, nimble, and two airbags. And go ahead and pay the money for excellent tires!

It's funny, most of the flat billers that went to my school drove E46's and G35's that mommy and daddy bought. Then the girls always got a small SUV, or Cavalier, or Sunfire, or Cobalt, or TC haha I just went to school with a bunch of rednecks so a lot of actually nice, pickups. But there was this one kid where his granny bought all his cars.....a TT 300ZX, 240, G35, turbo Honda hatch....annnnd promplty wrecked all of them! Actually we had a wide spread of different cars at my school

By far the coolest car at my school was an old Chevelle SS with the 396 that the guy built from a wreck. It had CE frame rails, 4-link and coil-overs. It was sweet.