Making a 912 out of 996
#46
Captain Obvious
Super User
Super User
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 22,846
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From: Cambridge, Ontario, Canada
Let him drive and if he get's a ticket it will teach him to slow down.
Regardless, your first car should be the biggest POS you've ever owned so get him a $hibox, make sure it's safe to drive and that's it.
#47
^^ Yup. Ideally one that will keep the driver alive and keep whatever they hit alive (i.e. don't give a 16-year-old an H2). An import pickup (a Mazda) was perfect as my sacrificial vehicle. It was cheap, so I didn't go broke once it was wrecked; it had a narrow bench seat, so I wasn't likely to have a bunch of friends in the car, it was big enough to take hits and light enough that I never plowed into anyone or went through any walls. And I was the "responsible" kid in my neighborhood.
#48
Not to mention the weird social interactions that will result from owning such a car in high school. I mean maybe this is a school where every other kid drives a Ferrari, so a 996 will be a humble, lowly POS everyman's car. But if I'd driven a 15-year-old Porsche to my high school, it might has well have been a Veyron, and the treatment from classmates would have been merciless. I can virtually gaurantee it would have been vandalized at some point. I remember people pulling back from one kid because they had a used Audi A4. Not a particularly special car, but even that was kinda like "oh, excuse me, Your Highness, we'll just be over here with our ****ty hand-me-downs ".
#49
Another thought: your goal here doesn't require that your son's car be track-worthy. If you want him to be able to experience a fast car on-track, just share whatever car you're driving. You'll likely be in different run groups anyway so sharing is no problem, and then you only have to take one car to the track and maintain one car in track-ready condition.
Could be a nice reward for driving a more practical car responsibly every day; getting to drive Dad's track beast on the weekends.
Could be a nice reward for driving a more practical car responsibly every day; getting to drive Dad's track beast on the weekends.