first car for son

+1 on Toyota pickup without a lift kit.

Having a 2 seater, chick magnet or not, allows you to be much more selective about who you give a ride to. This is a GOOD THING.......

I am kind of suprised but not really with the miata answer. Thought maybe everyone would think it would be too fun to drive for 16 year old, and get him in trouble. I have told him toyota truck, miata and an e30. He is okay with any of them. He has to commute to school about 20 minutes so, I was not sure if Miata was too small amongst the SUV laden commuter crowd. What do we think about a 140k mile 318ti?

If you get him a car with two seats, he'll spend a lot of time in the back seat of friends' cars. My first car was a 924 and that meant a lot of time in the rear of my friend's XR4ti with him driving way, way, way, way, way, way, way too fast.

No escaping the fact that this is the most dangerous time in his life, regardless of how much driver training he gets. I spent plenty of time getting driving instruction from both my safety-conscious father and at hpde/autocross schools and a fat lot of good it did me. I still drove like a retard, just more confidently.

I'd go for something really safe, really slow and that holds 5 people comfortably. How often do you hear about a group of kids getting killed in an old Volvo 960? A non-GTI Mk4 Golf/Jetta is probably a good choice, too, with the added benefit of being entertaining on a track. One way or another he'll be in a car with lots of kids, so it might as well be on your terms.

Small pickup trucks aren't generally very safe and an E30 or Miata (or 924/944) is just begging him to try to figure out momentum preservation on public streets, if he's anything like I was.

I'm not real paranoid about my kids (the 4 year old has a pocket knife and hangs out on the roof of the house with me whenever I'm working up there) but there's no way in hell I'd ever put him in a 2200lb Miata with no roof, side impact protection, stability control, probably no ABS, etc. No. berkeleying. Way. I'd give a 12 year old a shotgun, but I'd never give a 16 year old a Miata.

Fun Reading .

In reply to paanta:

Exactly what i was thinking about being young dumb... and you know the rest. Maybe a e30 4 door automatic or that 318ti auto, little more lethargic

Saturn - the style is dated but they are reliable and probably some fun with a DOHC

Focus - Minimal mods can make the car look high school cool and still not be too powerful

BMW E36 318, should run forever

I was thinking Dump Truck for my kids.

I would honestly feel that a '95 and newer XJ Cherokee would be a good canidate. 2WD or 4WD. They're reliable, they're a descent size, and they handle well for an SUV.

If you go on craigslist you can find a lot of good Cherokees.

Also, I can get 325 miles on a 18 gallon tank, so its reasonably good on fuel for an suv.

well.. you can be the cool kid with a 318ti.. dump the backseat, put in a carpeted rear deck in it's place for speakers and you have a stylish car that is simple, slow, handles well, holds two.. and gives him time to play with car electronics instead of high speed

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:

Raze wrote: Buy him something that will either get him laid, or he can get laid in, so I guess that means either a sports car or a wagon, and no, a miata will not get him laid.

It certainly will - in the same sort of way tapping your feet in the john at Minn/St Paul Airport will get you laid.

I LOL'd @ that...

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: I would honestly feel that a '95 and newer XJ Cherokee would be a good canidate. 2WD or 4WD. They're reliable, they're a descent size, and they handle well for an SUV. If you go on craigslist you can find a lot of good Cherokees. Also, I can get 325 miles on a 18 gallon tank, so its reasonably good on fuel for an suv.

I'd love to get that mileage. We're getting 14-15mpg.

Probably being closer to your son's age than yours, go with what he wants, set the budget and then have him do the car searching within that, assist when he asks for it, offer pros and cons that he might not see, but DO NOT MAKE IT WHAT YOU WISH YOUR FIRST CAR WHEN YOU WERE 16 otherwise he wont appreciate it, will beat the E36 M3 out of it either through neglect, or purposeful abuse. Although if the kid doesn't have an ounce of petrol in his blood, just get him the best deal you can on an appliance.

'98-'01 Impreza, either sedan or wagon, NA 2.2. Durable, reliable, modestly powered but not dangerously underpowered, light, tough, decent handling, in budget. Ideal first car.

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote:

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: I would honestly feel that a '95 and newer XJ Cherokee would be a good canidate. 2WD or 4WD. They're reliable, they're a descent size, and they handle well for an SUV. If you go on craigslist you can find a lot of good Cherokees. Also, I can get 325 miles on a 18 gallon tank, so its reasonably good on fuel for an suv.

I'd love to get that mileage. We're getting 14-15mpg.

I was doing a combo of mostly highway and some around town driving. Also, I live out in the country, so I have a lot of open road between stops.

instead of a $4k car, how about a $1500 car and $2500 in real driver training?

AngryCorvair wrote: instead of a $4k car, how about a $1500 car and $2500 in real driver training?

This

A truck was the first car I learned to hoon in.

I honestly don't think they are a good idea for a first car. Dunno what the weather is like, but they understeer like crazy UNTIL they spin with no hopes of correction (ok, not really... but you get a light pickup spinning and its a bit harder to deal with then something that has more then 20lbs on each rear wheel). They also encourage you to see what you can't run over, and do power slides through peoples farm land... Fill the bed with dumb drunk friends or ride on top of the cab steering with a rope. I did none of these things.

Volvo. Volvo. Four-cylinder n/a Volvo.

Did I mention Volvo?

RedS13Coupe wrote: A truck was the first car I learned to hoon in. I honestly don't think they are a good idea for a first car. Dunno what the weather is like, but they understeer like crazy UNTIL they spin with no hopes of correction (ok, not really... but you get a light pickup spinning and its a bit harder to deal with then something that has more then 20lbs on each rear wheel). They also encourage you to see what you can't run over, and do power slides through peoples farm land... Fill the bed with dumb drunk friends or ride on top of the cab steering with a rope. I did none of these things.

A standard cab may only have seating for 2-3, but stupidity in the bed will ensue.

I think mini-pickups are a lousy idea. They don't handle worth a poop, and aren't good in a collision. A very good friend died in a wreck a couple years out of high-school. He was driving a mini-pickup. Sure it could have been a different vehicle, but happened to be a mini-pickup.

I also recall another friend on his way to my apartment years ago driving a Ford Ranger. He got struck on the rear quarter by another driver who ran a red light. The Ranger ended up ON ITS ROOF. My friend was fortunately not seriously injured. The driver that ran the red light drove away and was later apprehended by police. He happened to be driving a VOLVO.

An aftermarket rear sway bar really helped my 2wd Toyota's understeer.... Just sayin'.

+1 on the $1500 car. A $4k car is wasted on a teenager. Hell, a $4k car is wasted on me, and I've got a wife and child.

I would vote for something underpowered. When that age, the first thing my friends and I would do when we got in a new car was see what the top speed was. Luckily I had a 3cyl geo with bad compression so top speed was not far from legal.

please let him help you find one that you both approve of, my parents got me a 93 cavalier over the 240sx I had picked out that ws $1000 cheaper. And probably would have actually ran, unlike the Cav.
My third or fourth car was my first decent one, 94 isuzu trooper (basically an Acura slx), but if you don't want him to be able to carry alot of people it may not be a good idea (we fit 12 people in it one day)
They're very safe though, actually, especially in winter weather, if you care about that kind of stuff

Whatever you buy, make him pay for at least some of it AND the insurance. The worst drivers I grew up with were the one's who were told "Here's the keys, its yours, the tank is full, off you go." What they were driving didn't really matter.

how many miles can you expect to get out of 3000 dollar impreza?