danglerb

Hard to guess if its good or bad, certainly a 928 is capable of speeds with very serious consequences, but in general its a strong safe car.

I'd say yes providing you accept the responsibility to properly educate him as a driver. You can't really dismiss the benefit of restoring a car or any other large father son project.

RKD in OKC

Friend at work got a classic Firebird convertible that he and his son totally rebuilt and restored for the two years prior to his son getting his license. It was really really nice when they finished it. Two months after the son got his license the son sold the Firebird and got a cheap econobox. When I asked his dad about it, all he would say is, "It was his car." When I asked the son about selling the car, he would just say, "Meh, not into it."

Another friend at work did a similar thing with his son and a mid-70's Camaro. His son love's it, drove the wheels off of the thing, and still has it 20 years later.

My dad was not a car guy, so all he could do was help me get good deals on cars not fix them.
I still wonder what would have happened if I had made the trade of my Mopar hot rod for a Ford GT 40 I was offered by my dad's mechanic right after I graduated HS.

jon928se

I learn't to drive in my Mums 40hp Fiesta. Fortunately by the time I passed my test she had upgraded to a 1300S Fiesta with a heady 50 or 55 Hp. How I stayed alive until my late teens I do not know. I did learn about the effect additional mass has on handling and acceleration though.

My first car was a tuned 850cc Mini with Long centre branch manifold and Single 1.5" SU Carb from a 1300cc MG Metro, rubber suspension (good) with Koni shocks and 175/70/13 tyres. A real momentum car - it was probably the ideal young persons car - handling better than the uneducated bravery of the driver but not enough performance to get you into trouble.

My answer to the OP's question is NO. give them something they can learn to explore the limits in at slow enough speeds not to die in the process. May be a Series II Landrover would be a good starting point - Cool, slow, robust, can explore 928 like handling at about 1/5 of the speed, can still go offroad better than almost every 4x4 since.

bradartigue

We all have our own ideas of parenting - and this aside has little to do with speed as I'm talking about a Land Rover Discovery. In 2009 I sold my Disco II to a man who "wanted something safe for his daughter to drive." My cynical mind immediately thought of being a teenager and having a truck so big a mattress would fit in the back seat. Led me to the conclusion of "we have a different description of safe."

By the way a 12 year old's idea of what is cool will change by the time he is 13. Just set some ground rules with him - no cars that will ruin his life - like a Camaro. You can't live owning a Camaro down.

blown 87

I would put your kid in a S4, but I sure as hell would not put mine in one at 16.

85euro928

My wife has always questioned why I'd buy my kids ride on toys at 2, their first ATVs at 5, have them mowing the lawn and teaching them to drive and operate the backhoe at 7, plowing the driveway, and moving the cars and hooking up the trailers whenever possible. It's because my father did it with me, and it taught me respect for vehicles as well as confidence and the ability to make good decisions when driving. I firmly believe that if you teach your kids to drive early and often it will arm them with the correct mindset they need to keep them safe. If your kids want to go fast then let them do it in video games. If that doesn't scare them enough to have them drive within their limits, introduce them to a friend who's survived a horrific accident, I'm sure we all have one of those. All that being said my oldest will be 16 this year and has been saving his money for the right 928.

85euro928

Greg,
The way people drive these days it might be safer for your son to be in the 928 rather then the other kid. In my neck of the woods we see way too many inexperianced privilaged kids driving cars that that they shouldn't.

85euro928

One caveat. Get them an auto, there's too much to think about as an inexperenced driver to be driving a stick.

Thom

The more the young are challenged the quicker they learn - the first car should always be a manual IMO.

pkt1213

Start him on an orginal 924. Don't have to worry about it having too much power.

blown 87

My son thinks 80 HP is plenty, he does not care about cars at all.
I have always thought a good Volvo 240 5 speed wagon is a good car for a kid.
Horrible gas mileage, built like a tank, and they can not kill it, if it gets a few dents, hey, it was ugly to start with.

SeanR

I'm so screwed.

The choices for what my daughter wants were.

1. Audi R8 with the Lambo V10.
2. 1978 Green 928 with ripped up pasha interior.
3. Bug Eyed Sprite

Guess which one she has a chance of getting. She starts drivers education in about 2 weeks......I better start looking for a car.

Oh, and she will be going to performance driving school here at Texas Motor Speedway.

As to the original question, it's up to you and your kid. I've seen one 928 owner who let his son daily drive his '89 GT and everything was fine. I've also seen the death of a nice S4 auto in the hands of a female kid. All up to the maturity of the kid and how well you've done as a parent.

Murray

My oldest is 14 and last year at SITM he was looking at all the 928's for sale and asking if I would buy one for him. "Mom can drive it till I'm 16" was his reasoning. Yeah like his mother would give it up later!
As much as I like the fact that he really thinks 928s are great, I don't think they're a good first car for the average teenager. I think a 944, BMW 3 series or Audi A4 would make a better choice. At least in my family.

z driver 88t

It totally depends on the kid - I was pretty mature as a teen and had a 260Z as my first car. I was more into Z cars in that era, as my dad had a few 280Zs. I waxed it regularly, kept it covered at school, did weekend autocrosses to learn car control and lots of wrenching.

yeah I did a few stupid things too - but kids will do stupid things in any car. At least a 928 is a pretty safe chassis. I might be more inclined to go with an OB car that is easier to work on and a little less power to weight. I've had my 84 on the track a few times and its really hard to get into trouble with a stock 16V. Basically the same power and weight of a modern Honda Accord or Camry.

For me, although their first cars are still 13 years away, I hope my daughters want a sports car and if they do I'll do whatever I can to put them into an old Boxster or Cayman (which would presumably be pretty cheap a decade from now) - assuming they demonstrate some maturity and attend some driver ed stuff.

For me it sealed my love for auto racing and wrenching.

Imo000

So you bought him a bike that you like? A 996 is not a beginer bike.....horrible idea.