Nissan sentra se-r spec v?

Okay, so is this potentially a good or bad idea as a first car for an 18 year old kid? He's sorta mechanical, but lacks experience, tools, and a good place to wrench on things. 

I'd walk.

In reply to Mazdax605 :

If my kid showed me this car I would recommend that they hold off and look for something else.

MrFancypants said:

In reply to Mazdax605 :

If my kid showed me this car I would recommend that they hold off and look for something else.

Yeah that's sorta where I was, but it's not my kid. I'm just being asked to help in checking out some of these cars as I've been dubbed "magic dad" because I'm the only father in the group of kids that wrenches on my own cars and has a couple of manual transmission vehicles. 

This is the type of car that will make or break a future mechanic. Do you see the potential in this kid for the former? It can be a fine line,

I drove one at Tremblant many years ago. I remember the ergonomics being pretty terrible (for me) and the engine being torquey without a lot of top-end zing. Kind of a disappointment for me. 
 

My girlfriend at the time had a stock Mazda 3. I remember the Mazda being better in pretty much every way. 

For an 18 year old, who may want to do some wrenching, I would really recommend a Honda based product.  They are about 87% easier to work on than a Nissan, plus parts are more available and cheaper.  

Find him the newest Integra in the neighborhood.

wheelsmithy (Joe-with-an-L) (Forum Supporter) said:

This is the type of car that will make or break a future mechanic. Do you see the potential in this kid for the former? It can be a fine line,

I'm not sure actually. I haven't known this kid very long. He seems like one of us. Well saying that I'm not even sure I'm one of you guys. Sure, I wrench on my own stuff, but I'm limited, and have never owned a race car. I did auto-x and some track days with my 1st RX-7, but I'm not like most of you guys. I'm a sorta grm'r. This kid really wants an older car with a manual and pop up headlights, but everything he wants is either crazy priced or just terrible. 

Now would be an excellent time to suggest he learns to be patient and do research on cars of interest before rushing off and buying in a moment of madness. First step in any purchase.

outasite said:

Now would be an excellent time to suggest he learns to be patient and do research on cars of interest before rushing off and buying in a moment of madness. First step in any purchase.

This x1000. A SE R is a good GRM car or it would be a good car for one of your kids because you own tools and know what end of the hammer you hold.  From your description of this kid I would push him away. Not based on that specific car (it could be in decent shape) but in general those cars are going to need a lot more care and feeding.  Push to get him in to a Toyota or a Mazda as they don't have the Honda tax.  Also now is not the time to be purchasing a smaller sporty car. Wait until the leaves start turning and we get some frost. Conversely it is truck season at the moment.  But in a month that will change.  Truck prices will go up or AWD anything will go up in price.  
 

A side question for the SE-R people here. Did they ever make a AWD manual version of the car?  

CyberEric said:

Curious... can you easily remedy a pre-cat issue (header) and still pass emissions in California?

Nope.  Not without some trickery, and there is no guarantee there.

Unless your remedy is an fresh header-cat that you replace every so often.  Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be much data floating around on whether or not the updated cat is more reliable, or whether any of the aftermarket ones are.

The potential not-as-easy remedy is to move the cat further downstream so its contents don't disintegrate so fast/get ingested, but not so far that it is ineffective.

That’s what I figured. Thanks!

To the OP, I’d recommend to the kid to walk away. 

Mazdax605 said:This kid really wants an older car with a manual and pop up headlights

Well golly, a manual trans and pop up headlights, I can't think of a single ANSWER.

I asked about the spec v a while back, and got pretty much the same info you are now, plus people saying the driving was kind of disappointing. Which sucks because when you read the list of hardware it sounds great. Add in the four doors and it has the makings of a great car that can still be a decent dad car. But it sounds like it would be too much trouble for a teenager without much skills or tools.

gearheadmb said:

Mazdax605 said:This kid really wants an older car with a manual and pop up headlights

Well golly, a manual trans and pop up headlights, I can't think of a single ANSWER.

I asked about the spec v a while back, and got pretty much the same info you are now, plus people saying the driving was kind of disappointing. Which sucks because when you read the list of hardware it sounds great. Add in the four doors and it has the makings of a great car that can still be a decent dad car. But it sounds like it would be too much trouble for a teenager without much skills or tools.

Yeah a Miata would work in my opinion, but I don't think he wants one. 

In reply to Mazdax605 :

Could driving a Miata possibly change his mind?