LVDell

That' just ludicrous! No child should have a car better than the parent. Wait a sec, what did the Dad drive?

nkhalidi

I joke with my friends that when I have a kid, his/her first car will be a 930. That'll learn him to control oversteer real good!

Mark Dreyer

As for the reality check in one of the previous posts, let me clarify. My comments about my daughter being a good student had nothing to do with the issue of how safe a driver she'd be. That's obvious to me. I was commenting on the argument that a kid wouldn't know the value of hard work if they were given such a nice car. Based on what I've observed in her first two years in high school, I'm quite confident that she'll be an achiever in life. She is very competetive and strives to do her best in everything. Now my younger daughter......LOL

MadFox

Absolutely most "new" cars have more mandated safety features... however, all of these volvos are "new enough" to have anti-lock brakes, power steering, airbags, 3 pt. safety belts, and volvo protect the occupant design mentality (vs. looks and/or EPA). Plus, in my case, a short drive from our house is an independent Volvo service shop that has maintained all these vehicles for the past 6 years.
I also had a J-O-B to pay for the car etc... but and unfortunately jobs are more difficult in today's world during the school year (yes, mine do get SUMMER jobs) with the piano lessons, varsity sports until 6 p.m., club sports till 8 p.m., and week-end tournaments... so, we pay for gas to/from school and the NO WRECK and Good student discount rate for insurance... wreck/tickets and/or bad grades you pay the difference.. too much bad news.. you lose privilege of using MY car!

MadFox

it is different with each kid.. the oldest has never had a ticket or a wreck... a shocker.. the middle boy who is engineer detailed oriented has had 3... the daughter.. who knows she's just started on her own.. but is cautious in general and doesn't want the bad rep her brother got!! BUT and STILL... I think your wife shouldn't rule here.. cute girl smart with brand new expensive car... spells SPOILED.. get something used and very nice (let some of the possible depreciation if she does have a wreck be taken out already) and when she grads HS or college then splurge. hey.. you wanted opinions when you posted in this forum.. so you got um// but your life.. do what you want.. if she gets the GT3 .. please post where you live so that I can drive WAY AROUND THAT 'HOOD!!

Mark Dreyer

I do appreciate all the opinions. Maybe the Volvo makes the most sense. Those cars really are that much safer than most other cars? It's not just marketing hype?

BTW, don't worry about me letting my girl drive the 3. That won't happen any time soon. I'd love to get her to take a driving school (Like Skip Barber), and then see her get into DE's, and then.....maybe she could take a turn behind the wheel of my beast. She'd have to demonstrate some solid driving experience for me to get to that point. That would be cool doing DE's with my daugher! Nice to dream.

ltc

Have you considered having your daughter try karting as a prelude/preview to DE/track driving?
There is a (very) large karting community in Florida.

ozr

...no comment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3ewLoh9kIA


OZRacing

eugkim

I'll never forget my 1st car - my dad's old '75 Olds Cutlass Salon. I thought I ruled the world driving around in it. I don't think I've washed/waxed any car as frequently as I did that beater.

My kids have a few years to go, but I imagine buying an Impreza, Jetta/Golf, or Civic for their them.

skl

My oldest got a Saab 9-3 as his first car- pretty practical safe and actually with the 5 speed stick not that slow...his brother got a GTI 337, which he proceeded to mod so much it was almost undriveable...yeah, they're spoiled as their dad didn't get a car till he graduated from college...(my dad knew me better than I knew myself-he knew if I had a car in college I would have never studied or made it to med school).
As with Lewis' son, my boys learned excellent car control and driving skills racing karts from when they were 8-9 years old- they just didn't have Ron Dennis there to pay the way into F1...oh well, we can't all be Lewis Hamilton can we???

WinfieldKS

When my daughter was 14 I brought home a 944 with a bad clutch. The idea was to replace the clutch and then sell the car at a profit. 14-year old girls can produce enormous puppydog eyes when they want something and so my daughter learned to drive in a 944 with a new clutch. It became her school car of course. Yes, 14 is, or was, legal in Kansas for learner's permits.

Here is what my thoughts were, and then what actually happened:

Thought: A Porsche might tend to intimidate the boys her age.
Happened: It did intimidate the boys her age ... but it attracted the older boys.

Thought: A Porsche might help with the usual teenage girl self esteem problems.
Happened: It tended to reinforce the self esteem problems by attracting loser friends.

Thought: She'll learn respect for a car and keeping it nice.
Happened: Have you even seen a mobile trash basket?

Thought: All of her peers will think the car is really cool.
Happened: All of the girls in her class got jealous as hell, and it wasn't pretty.

Thought: She'll go autocrossing with me.
Happened: She did, but only for one year and only because she wanted to please me.

I won't go into details but there was an unauthorized party when we were gone, the car was stolen for a joy ride, police came, community service, a wife who still blames me for letting daughter run loose, and a subsequent marriage to one of the aforementioned losers followed two years later by a divorce.

The car was returned to me at the end of high school undamaged but with a much better stereo system courtesy of one of those older boyfriends. I'm pretty sure that it was hot but I don't know for sure. Oh -- and I found out later that she once raced a Mustang off a stop light. She won.

Unless you live in a social class setting wherein Porsches, BMWs, etc are normal high school rides, my advice is to not do this. I can almost guarantee that you will regret it.

I can only thank God that in spite of my weakness in letting her have that car she turned around and got her act totally together. She reversed direction and went straight to the top in every aspect of life. She is a delightful person and a wonderful daughter. I've heard it said that God looks out for fools and, in my case, that's exactly what happened.

Good luck.

Grantsfo

I'm a huge fan of Audi A4 Quattro for new drivers with parents that have some cash to burn. Very safe, tons of features, nice clean German car thats enjoyable to drive, but not a handful.

If not the A4 certainly the Porsche, Audi or VW sport utes with V6 motor are good choice.

I'd stay away from Boxster as a first car - even with safety features the car can put an inexpereinced driver over their heads pretty quickly.

OldGuy

I agree with Mad Fox Completely we have- including me- spoiled our children, I drop off my son every day and the kids are going nuts through the parking lot. A Boxster is out of the question (IMHO) I could be talked into a Cayenne V6 Only. A 3 series is what my drives(335i) and peer pressure would be tremendous to go fast. We have 3 high end cars 04 GT3/06 BMW X5 4.8is/ 07 335i. My son
got a 96 dodge pickup single cab
Here is the way you should be thinking as a parent (again my opinion)
A: Vehicle should not have much power(I failed on this dodge has the5.9l V8 but is pretty slow)
B. Vehicle should not be able to carry many people (other irresponsible kids) I got a single cab
C. Vechicle should not be high performance or 4X4 youre inviting trouble (I failed truck is 4X4)
D. vehicle should be safe (96 dodge full size is safe and has airbags)
If this sounds harsh I only do it out of concern for your daugheter.
I have an exectutive friend here and his daughter went through the same thing he got her
a 96 Toyota T100 single cab 2WD. he could have got here a AMG mercedes if they wanted but
make the first one a truck that safe. I would hesitantly go along with the V6 Cayenne. But then
my son doesnt even deserve his truck (grades)
When shes in college has a bit of maturity then reward her.
And I agree about the driving classes. I have let my son drive both BMWs but NOT the GT3, (I was in the car at all times)

OldGuy

I just had a another thought a nice safe car would be a Lexus GS300 say a 2000
225 HP all the safety features You kinda satisfy your wife and your daughter thinks
she is getting a kewl car- My wife had one and it was pretty slow. SAFE but slow.

leek

I 4will second several of the thoughts here; both of the kids were allowed to drive trucks or SUV with nominal hp until they gained skills. Both had accidents and I was happy that they had iron around them . At 18 I purchased my son an A4 (he wanted an S4 and I said no way for safety issues) he is still driving that car at 25. Likewise, we passed on a Lexus 350 to my daughter who drove it for quite a while, successfully