chsu74

I think the point of the thread is to discuss which cars are good candidates for a 1st car and not what other potentially unsafe cars are available in that price range.

Camry or Accord with lower miles. Done... The potential upkeep and maintenance on the Pcar alone would make me shy away from it even if you are a DIY person.

5CHN3LL

One more point to consider - a fender bender in a 996 may total it (as far as the insurer is concerned), whereas a fender bender in a Camry won't.

F1CrazyDriver

I agree with the assessment, nicer car, he will take care of it...if he is not taking care of it, take it away.

Most here seem to be pessimistic, instead of optimistic. Give the kid a chance. Dad knows him best... if he is considering it, most likely it is for a reason.

I say evaluate his up keep how he is treating the car for a few months, and yes make him drive with you as much as possible so he can learn.

FRUNKenstein

Thanks everybody for your opinions. Lots of good thoughts here. I think I'll let him drive it some over the next few months with me in the car. We'll see how he does in his mandatory driving classes. I've got several months to think it over. Interesting topic to discuss as these cars' value drop down into the range where high school kids can afford them. Was really good to see opinions from several younger Rennlisters.

rglbegl

The way I drove with dad in the car, and the way I drove with my friends in the car . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

You don't think you are going to get an honest idea of how he drives, do you?

mcbit

I feel that you are missing the point a little, the vast majority of kids will survive their first cars and many do not have accidents however the best race drivers on the planet have accidents on a regular basis. Accidents happen and fast cars raise the speed at which they happen and the potential for their occurrence.

Just because you and your wife have not yet had an accident doesn't mean that you won't have one today.

As a father of 5 I can tell you that you know will nothing about what your child gets up to in a car, alone or with friends, until they come home in a broken car, you have to visit them in hospital or worse. You may believe you know your kids but they are not you.

Gawernator

Yeah, it's probably not a good choice for your first car, not earned, and not sensible :/

DBJoe996

I have three sons. Helped all with getting drivers permits and teaching them how to drive. Did many tech walk thru's on the car mechanics and so on so they would be familiar with tires, brakes, engine components, etc. Did all the driving education courses, a year of driving training w/adult driver in passenger seat and finally working up to getting their drivers license.

I would not buy them a car because I said they would not respect it. They had to work, get their own car and insurance. I thought with all the drivers education, driving experience and the fact it was their own car and insurance at risk, they would not do stupid stuff.

They did. First one wrecked his car so many times I lost track. Second one flipped and totaled within a week (single vehicle crash...walked away). His second car was wrecked, rebuilt, wrecked again and now is on car number three, all within 18 months. Third one, mostly just broken tires, suspension parts (from mudding), batteries, blew the computer by jumping it wrong...etc.

Final analysis - young men (even seemingly responsible ones) do really really stupid stuff with cars. IMHO do NOT give your son a Porsche....you will live to regret that decision. Get them a beater Toyota or Honda. If they want a Porsche, let them work for it and earn it themselves. It will take years (50 like it did for me) and they will hopefully get all the hormones and bravado out of their system by then.

XR4Tim

He'll be able to get an idea of whether or not his son's a good driver. If he has trouble with the clutch and throttle while Dad's in the car, it's a good indicator that he might need a slower automatic.

niart906

It's difficult to say one way or the other without knowing OP's son. But I know that when I was that age, regardless of the car I was in, I was determined to see what it could do. Also keep in mind, your son may be perfectly safe all on his own but what about when friends are with him? Peer pressure does odd things.

I would probably have him drive a cheap beater for a year or so until I felt comfortable giving him the p-car. I would have killed for a Porsche at such a young age, your son sounds like a lucky guy.

Sue Esponte

Well, it sounds like you've successfully done it in the past. If that's the case then why hesitate to give your other son a Porsche? While I agree with the comments from other posters that it really depends on the kid I still wouldn't/won't give my kid a Porsche for their first car.

I was a Stepford kid in many ways but even I enjoyed mashing the pedal down on an open highway. My first car was an old e12 '78 530i. It had 90K on the odometer with a brand new engine in it when I bought it. It was fun and quick enough without being crazy and it was big enough that it was safer than a tin can. I'm not suggesting you should buy your kid a "Family Truckster" but even good kids are still kids. Maturity is relative and giving a teenager a 300hp Porsche as a daily driver is asking for trouble (IMHO).

Ditto to ditto's comment.

Agreed...but great doesn't have to be a Porsche. What about an older S4? Something he can tune if he wants.

Right. What about a newer-ish Accord Coupe? If your son likes the look of a 997 you can even get him a car with the same tail lights...



Those tail lights aren't off of a 997.2. Check it out!



Good cars -- depending on your budget...Accord Coupe, BMW 3, Audi A4, Volvo S60, Infiniti G35/37...all are sporty and more than powerful enough to get into trouble with but also a bit larger and, therefore, more protective of their occupants. You don't want to be the father of the kid who flipped his Porsche with 3 other kids in it. Flipping any car is bad...a teen flipping a Porsche tends to get a little more attention, Mr. Attorney.

Just my $.02,
-Eric

5CHN3LL

A high school kid cannot afford a $20K car without underwriting from a parent - even with a job, nobody under 18 qualifies for financing. The 996 is old enough that most adults with good credit can't get financing for it.

There is a tremendous difference in operating cost between a $20K Hyundai with a 100,000 mile warranty and a $20K 996 with no warranty. $200 for a set of tires vs. $250 for _a_ tire. A high school kid certainly can't afford the repairs that will be necessary for a 996 without financial support from a parent, and that car is going to NEED repair because it's going to be flogged by a teenager.

There are two kinds of parents of teenage male drivers: the ones that recognize the fact that their kids drive like testosterone-fueled maniacs, and those that are in denial about the fact that their kids drive like testosterone-fueled maniacs.

The fact that you're contemplating a 996 for your son suggests that he's not in the position to worry about how to finance the purchase or the maintenance, so maybe none of this applies in your scenario - except for the preceding paragraph. I believe it's a given that teenage boys are going to make errors in judgment. Once an accident occurs, physics determines the outcome. As a responsible teenager, I put a Delta 88 through the side of a landscaping truck, I put a Mazda B2000 pickup through a planter into a block wall, and killed the Delta by sliding sideways into a tree. In all three cases, an extra 20MPH might have been the difference between walking away and not.

That you posed the question even though you're planning to proceed suggests that you understand at some level that this is a questionable decision, and you hope that folks will assuage this concern (and some in this thread have).

I swear I'm not trying to be a tool - I just think this is a scenario that has only one possible good outcome but countless not-so-good possible outcomes.

white out

FYI,

Audi B4 S4 is cheap to modify and will literally blow the doors off a C4. Even with light pocket-book mods will outrun 996T. Definitely not a good first car if you want your kid to not constantly be at WOT. The perk with the S4 is if he is driving it hard, it will break, a lot.

G35/37 are both faster than C4.

But a newer German or Sweedish coupe/sedan would probably be safer than a 996. I'm pretty sure the Volvo C30 prices plummeted and it's a cool looking car that has some tuning potential and is super safe.

AA717driver

Like I told my daughter (and, this morning, my son), the brain can only process so much information. Until driving becomes second nature--almost autonomic, a significant portion of your brain function is spent keeping the car between the lines.

Add multiple other vehicles and the kid is saturated.

Add a manual and they are overloaded. Something in the brain gets shed and you can't choose what an individual's brain elects to ignore.

Could be ugly.

TC

5CHN3LL

Think of all the things that have become second-nature after years of driving sports cars...how to correct for oversteer, how to tell when the car is about to come unglued, how to stay out of ABS to get the car to stop in the shortest distance possible, how the difference between a smooth hand on the wheel vs. a twitch can make the difference between saving a corner and losing it, how to load up the suspension for an upcoming feature in the road, and in a pinch how to get the nose up when you realize there's no way to brake in time for that dip in the road ahead. Factor in a still-forming mind that has not yet grasped the intricacies of culpability and an endocrine system that is bathing the brain in red mist. Add a dose of peer pressure...