heinrich

I see your point Imre. There are tools for every task, and a machine gun is not the tool for a toddler to take shots at a piece of paper, you need a nerf gun for that. In that sense yes, an S4 is a pretty bad idea for a teen.

jeff spahn

Link is to the BS or not website. It is BS. Was pictures of crash of Stefan Eriksson, a former Gizmondo senior executive.

http://news.cnet.com/Ex-Gizmondo-exe...3-6042278.html

jej3

Thank you all for your comments! Lots to think about; probably why parenting is fun.

I'm biased more towards a car with less passenger seating capacity. Driving school is an excellent idea and we met a Father/Son & SITM and that really got me thinking about the 928 for my child. I don't remember their names but the father put the son through driving school and the kid was quite content.

My parents put me in a Lincoln Town Car, that was "safe" and well equipped to drive 6 kids to school (charging them gas money), fit large coolers in the trunk, etc.. Oh, and a backseat big enough for well, a big enough backseat

Everyone's perspective is so valuable, I just genuinely appreciate you sharing!

fanny bay r1

Read the post ya duffus I didn't say that he would start on it I bought it to work on it with him. I clearly said how I'd start him street bike riding and the progression that he'd take. I'm pretty certain I know a bit more about the capabilities of bikes than you do (maybe I'm wrong here) and this bike has about 125-129 hp to the rear wheel, not much different than most new 600's. That said I stated that he's start on a 30 hp 250!!

BTW I have an R1 and a 1098S so no I didn't buy the bike I wanted for him I bought the bike that he'd love to ride in due course!

WallyP

What I say: Medium-sized unpopular (e.g., cheap on Craigslist) coupe with moderate power. You don't want six teens in a car, you don't want a lot of power, you don't want a tall vehicle that will roll. You do want a lot of steel around them. You don't want a high-insurance vehicle. Late enough for air bags is a big plus.

What I did (twenty-some years ago): Older son - well-used Austin Healy Sprite with seized engine. Younger son - well used '68 Nova with a blown 350. That's blown as in broken, not as in supercharged...

As might be expected, there were more tickets gathered in the Nova than in the Sprite. Neither has ever had a chargeable accident. I started teaching them driving skills when they were thirteen or so by talking to them as we drove. By the time they touched the steering wheel, they knew what to do, and only had to learn how to do it. They knew the rules of the road, how to watch other drivers, what to do in the rain, etc., etc., long before they ever drove.

And, in a totally unrelated comment - this forum is so slow today as to be very frustrating...

supercedar

I taught my 16 year old in my 928 to drive. I have since bought her a 85.5 944 manual. I just let her take the 928 last night. Depends on the maturity of the child. I like the fact that it teaches responsibility for one, and appreciation for vintage auto's. She is now 16 and a half and knows more about 928's than I did at 57. But also she was driving go karts at age 4 (55 mph) and managing her money at 6. She knows what my car means to me and that helps a bunch.
Thomas

Ketchmi

We reluctlantly sold an 86.5' 5-speed in exceptional condition to a 16yo after both of us telling his father that this was not a car for beginners. The father proceeded to tell us that the kid was very responsible and would not have full access to the car until deemed worthy. A couple of months later the kid...after only a couple of beers, with 3 passengers drifted around the inside of a car at a stop sign, went over a curb, through a bush into a parked car. Totaled. The kid had snuck it out without permission. Thankfully no one was hurt.

Another local 86.5' auto that we built into a beautiful machine for the father let the son have access. Have you ever seen a new set of 19" Conti's burned flat is 2k miles? Sorry, I don't think "drifting" was meant to include 928's. Oh yeah, the head gasket is now toast as well as a few other things. He turned an almost perfect 928 into a project car very quickly.

My sons are 25 & 26 and I would still be leery about letting them loose in a properly running 928. I know what I was like when I was young...and was driving a 70' Cobra Jet Mach 1!

supercedar

Maturity !!

PHIL928

I think maturity is kind of important. I'm 19 and own an S4, I do all the work on it myself. My dad is a ***** when it comes to getting his hands dirty, so he's never really helped me on it. In-fact I'd love some help that's why I started befriending some other local 928 owners and they seemed pretty taken aback when a lanky 19 yr old turned up :P
Anyway my dad also has a beast of a car with about 700BHP and sounds like an F1 car, and he's a bit weary of me driving that, so he'd never let me take it if I was going to friends because even though I'm quite good at controlling myself when I'm alone, I think I may succumb to peer pressure.
I've never abused my porka and I treat her like a fine lady, I drive pretty fast sometimes but she seems to like it. However personally I don't think the 928 has enough power to cause parents to be worried of their children driving the car. The increased power is equaled out by an increase in handling ability, so I think a 928 is just as dangerous as a Toyota Yaris.

Murray

For me it's not so much not wanting them to have a sports car as their first vehicle; though I'd prefer something less potent than a 928. My first cars were all sports cars and included a 1968 400 cid firebird (ok it's not a sportscar, but it was potent). But they were all inexpensive to fix and my friends and I were pretty happy fixing them ourselves. A 928 on the other hand can be a big investment in terms of maintenance time and money. If your kid is into working on the car and appreciates the hobby aspect of it then ok. Mine have grown up in a day and age when they would expect to get in it and it starts and everything works.
If in the next couple of years my boys develop the interest and desire to fix a project car, I may get one and work on it with them. But it wouldn't be their primary transportation.

TheClairvoyant

I think it depends on the kid. Everybody is different. On the whole, most kids would probably get into trouble. Of course, I've met kids who are more mature than some people in the 40s & 50s.

I got my 86.5 in when I was 17 in 1994. I was aware that the car was special, and I was lucky to have it, so I was careful to not do a lot of the risky, stupid driving kids my age were doing.

The car may have seen some faster speeds on the highway on occasion late at night in good weather and no traffic, but I never did crazy driving on twisty roads, or race people, or did donuts in parking lots, etc...

I was paying for my insurance, so tickets and accidents were always on mind. The premiums were high enough with no points on my license.

The car had 32 K miles when I got it. I still have the car and it now has over 124K miles on it. It's taken me many times up and down the eastern seaboard and will be taking me with my wife and 5 year old son to Sharks In The Mountains this year.

When I got the car 18 years ago, the last thing I would have imagined was a child seat in the car.

Barry Chan

if you hand him the key to a s4 on his 16 birthday, i m sure he will have some fender bender or worst BUT
if you both build it, wrench together, him does most of the work and if his reaction is positive about
"this is going to be my ride and no one else is going to drive it" kind of attitude then you maybe safe and so will he! again, your kid - you know him best BUT 13 year old and 16 year are 2 different person, you just have to observe his changes the next 3 years, good luck on your decision!

docmirror

My son learned to drive by taking out the 90GT. My Ferrari was the only other stick car I had at the time, and we both wanted him to learn on a stick shift, so the GT was the best candidate. The clutch wasn't real great to begin with, so I went into the project assuming we would have to change the clutch after he was done learning.

Once he got the feel of it, and we figured out that he could operate it safely, it became a matter of maturity. He's always been very mature for his age, and we included a lot of rules that he would have to follow to use the GT once he got his license. He met every challenge, he acted like an adult, and he kept all A's in some tough HS classes.

We had the discussion about no boys riding with him ever, and if he had a girl in the car he had to be extra cautious. I told him that he had the fastest car in the school, hands down and there was never a reason to prove it to anyone. He drove the car for more than a year, never dented a fender, never burned a tire, never had one problem with speed. The only issue I had was that he kept a lot of band equipment in the back, and scratched the rear window with one of his many instrument cases. Meh...

So, when it came time to get something a little better on gas, and a bit more useful for band we got him a VW GTI. He and I worked on it quite a bit and set it up to operate safely and he's been driving that for 4 years, and never a scratch, never a dent, and I have no problems worrying about him driving it from DFW to Houston and back. It's a very safe car if driven correctly.

Should you try it? We can't answer that, only you and your boy can answer it. Some kids are ready at 16, some will be ready at 26, some will never be ready.

When my daughter wanted to learn a stick after getting her license, I taught her to drive the Mondial, and I let her take it anywhere she wants around town. My kids are not your kids. I don't know your kids, so I can't say if they can handle it or not.

Alan

Folks are strange...

Seems we forget how little control we had when we were teenagers, even those of us who were "mature" for our age... yeah right...

Lots of parents don't even think before giving their teenagers access to wholely inapproriate cars, some even do it deliberately as compensation for not having been very involved, some with some misplaced 'living vicariously' motivation - perhaps not realizing that if they had actually lived that dream - they might not actually still be here now...

Foremost to me is safety, yes get them well trained, teach them principles well before they start driving, reinforce the risks, take them to safe places to explore some limits, get them invested in the vehicle, all good....

But don't ever forget they are still teenagers - are really inexperienced - and worse - can't help themselves being stupid every now & then, especilaly when their friends are in the car, (the more friends the more stupid).

Picking a car with good safety features, good visibilty, that isn't very sexy, isn't particularly quick or fast or much of a target to be raced against is a pretty wise move for the first 1-2 years. Having rules about who they drive (and drive with) is smart too.

The only way to really improve things much for them is to keep them alive & undamaged enough (hopefully car too) so they can end up a bit older & more experienced.

Alan

CUJaysfan

When it comes to kids and cars - water seeks its own level.

I had a '76 Pinto Wagon which IIRC had about 37 horsepower. my buddies and i would pile in with some beer lookin for a party (circa 1986). The rear seat folded down in the wagon - and if a girl wasn't afraid of being seen in "The Orange Flame" - it was on like Donkey Kong in back.

Upgrade to my grandmother's 1971 Buick Skylark in 1987-88 - 350 v8 putting out about 230 HP (which is actually 10 more than my '78 928). Holy crap was that car fun. It was heavy as hell - but you'd put the pedal to the floor and that thing was a monster - particularly coming from my pinto background. With the two bench seats i can now upgrade to hauling around 6-7 buddies. Extracurricular activity is still easily done in either front or back. With huge new trunk - I now have two coolers on ice full of beer at just about any time.

Meanwhile I'm "good kid" honors student and all that jazz.

Would I do it for my kid - probably not. I might save it for a college graduation present when a little more maturity is hopefully attained and he is paying the insurance bill (which might make him think twice about a few things).