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Doctors Do Little
Well-Known Member
My son’s first car was a 12 year old Volvo S40. It was barely running. He drove that dented little toaster for about two years before the catalytic converter failed. He LOVED that little junker (paid $1200 for it), bc nobody else had anything like it!
Sturm
Well-Known Member
Oh, heck no. 1st vehicle for a teenager should be an 80's Chevy Citation...or something similar.
Make 'em appreciate the privilege & opportunity. ;-)
Make 'em appreciate the privilege & opportunity. ;-)
Doctors Do Little
Well-Known Member
All of mine have driven the hand me downs to learn on. My 16 year old is driving an old Wrangler. It’s not really reliable but easy to park. It won’t leave the county. When she goes to college we will see!
tubes
Well-Known Member
I would have killed for a Slate at 16!
We just had to borrow the family car. You know, share. I took public transportation to high school. At least we got a student rate on bus fare: $0.25.
In college, very few of us had cars. No parking. We had bikes.
When I interned one summer at a Megacorp, dad did lend me his 13 year old Chevelle. We arrived at the site and he said: "It needs tie rods and exhaust work. Here's your chance to deal with repairs. Have a good summer, mom and I are on our way home." Good lesson. I also replaced the distributer cap (on my own) that summer due to hard starts and misses. On the 700 mile solo drive back, I was adding coolant due to a slow radiator leak. Honestly, that was a great life lesson!
My roommates both had used ICEShitboxes too. An old Tercel and a Ford Maverick (THAT Maverick). We rotated carpooling. Both had breakdowns on the way to work. Tercel locked up a caliper, Maverick blew out a radiator hose. More good life lessons, like calling the boss from a pay phone to tell them we'd be late. "Seriously boss, we had a break down, we are not hung over."
For the Miata: I would be concerned on the insurance hit for a 16 year old!
We just had to borrow the family car. You know, share. I took public transportation to high school. At least we got a student rate on bus fare: $0.25.
In college, very few of us had cars. No parking. We had bikes.
When I interned one summer at a Megacorp, dad did lend me his 13 year old Chevelle. We arrived at the site and he said: "It needs tie rods and exhaust work. Here's your chance to deal with repairs. Have a good summer, mom and I are on our way home." Good lesson. I also replaced the distributer cap (on my own) that summer due to hard starts and misses. On the 700 mile solo drive back, I was adding coolant due to a slow radiator leak. Honestly, that was a great life lesson!
My roommates both had used ICEShitboxes too. An old Tercel and a Ford Maverick (THAT Maverick). We rotated carpooling. Both had breakdowns on the way to work. Tercel locked up a caliper, Maverick blew out a radiator hose. More good life lessons, like calling the boss from a pay phone to tell them we'd be late. "Seriously boss, we had a break down, we are not hung over."
For the Miata: I would be concerned on the insurance hit for a 16 year old!
Doctors Do Little
Well-Known Member
In college, I drove: nothing, my Nissan hardbody, small sedan, BIKE, wrecked Escort, Dodge Daytona -- all in 3 years. The six months of only having a bike and living off campus in ATLANTA - truly sucked. Always wet/sweaty, but I was in fabulous shape.I would have killed for a Slate at 16!
We just had to borrow the family car. You know, share. I took public transportation to high school. At least we got a student rate on bus fare: $0.25.
In college, very few of us had cars. No parking. We had bikes.
When I interned one summer at a Megacorp, dad did lend me his 13 year old Chevelle. We arrived at the site and he said: "It needs tie rods and exhaust work. Here's your chance to deal with repairs. Have a good summer, mom and I are on our way home." Good lesson. I also replaced the distributer cap (on my own) that summer due to hard starts and misses. On the 700 mile solo drive back, I was adding coolant due to a slow radiator leak. Honestly, that was a great life lesson!
My roommates both had used ICEShitboxes too. An old Tercel and a Ford Maverick (THAT Maverick). We rotated carpooling. Both had breakdowns on the way to work. Tercel locked up a caliper, Maverick blew out a radiator hose. More good life lessons, like calling the boss from a pay phone to tell them we'd be late. "Seriously boss, we had a break down, we are not hung over."
For the Miata: I would be concerned on the insurance hit for a 16 year old!
TPL
Well-Known Member
I get the desire to put your kid in something with modern safety features. I grew up on hand-me-downs and cheap rustbuckets too, and they were death traps.
If cost is not a constraint, a Slate is a great option for many reasons, not least being when you need something hauled you can have them do it!
If cost is not a constraint, a Slate is a great option for many reasons, not least being when you need something hauled you can have them do it!
Driven5
Well-Known Member
Are you saying you aren't willing and able to teach your teen responsibility, or that your teen is not willing and able to learn responsibility? Because that's all I get out of this hyperbolic rationalization. Less maintenance is nice and convenient, and whatnot... But negligence blowing up engines is quite the leap as a primary justification.
These minor rationalization are in the noise. How much difference is there really between a screen integrated into the dash and a screen in a cradle mounted to the dash? Each is a little better one way and a little worse the other. Having started driving with manual windows, instances of trying to open the passenger side while actively driving (not stopped) are also exceedingly rare. Without power windows, you're just not opening and closing them at a whim.
Agreed, with the acknowledgement that 'modern' does not have to mean brand new or all of the latest and greatest nannies. At this point, a 10 or so year old car is still extremely safe, and there is something to be said for learning to drive safely without relying on all of that. Admittedly, automatic emergency braking would be nice to have though, especially for a teen.
For new drivers, don't buy anything you care too much about. Not scratches. Not dents. Not totaling it out. Slate is good on the scratch n dent front, but the $25k hurts a bit more to total out. The $15+k savings of a 1st gen Leaf, 2nd gen Prius, or ~10 year old Civic/Corolla/etc buys a lot peace of mind for scratches, dents, AND totaling. And speaking of totaling, it also buys a lot of hyper-inflated teen driver insurance premiums... Which might just be the ultimate deciding factor.
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Trace26
Well-Known Member
How old is this teen?
-15-16? just starting to learn? I'd say get them a cheap gas car. Let them mess it up learning. And then trade it in on a EV later when they're leaving the house.
-Already been driving? Leaving for work/college soon? I'd get them an EV to set them up for low financial burden and less to worry about starting out on life.
-15-16? just starting to learn? I'd say get them a cheap gas car. Let them mess it up learning. And then trade it in on a EV later when they're leaving the house.
-Already been driving? Leaving for work/college soon? I'd get them an EV to set them up for low financial burden and less to worry about starting out on life.
Doctors Do Little
Well-Known Member
Agree. The college part is tricky. Not many ways to charge if you are living in a dorm?
Trace26
Well-Known Member
Alot of campuses have chargers now, and many grocery stores have them now (Walmart in particular, with good pricing). Living on campus would entail even less driving, and more sitting (which isn't good for gas cars). And most people I knew didn't live on campus past the first mandatory year.
Frozen North
Well-Known Member
At 15k on a used Miata, you break into the low end of the market for the ND and mid grade NC and most of the others easily. IF you can find one. The ND Miata is an awesome car.
Wanna adopt a fat old Miata lovin guy?
FL4XE
Member
- Thread starter
- #28
I really like the Miata but it has very little storage so sports and music equipment would be problematic. The other thing is I have driven a Miata and it definitely encourages you to drive it sporty and insurance is already painful with a new driver.
There is definitely something to be said for that. We don't have a suitable hand me down at the moment that isn't needed for the purpose it was purchased for. One of the reasons I was considering the Slate (blank slate specifically) is that he could save money to purchase any customizations and do it on his own.
That was the same for us, we just don't have anything we want to part ways with (both vehicles are fairly new).
My first vehicle was an 1984 LTD retired police cruiser and it was definitely not the 80's.
Public transportation here requires a ride to get to. He is currently taking public transportation to school but I have to drive him to the station. We were the same in college with just a couple people having cars.
This teen is just starting out driving. Our area has limited public transportation which he does use but even that requires getting to. As far as blowing up engines, it is not based on him, but what I have seen from my friends growing up, my friends that had kids earlier that have been through it, etc. I definitely teach responsibility, however I also know if whatever vehicle he gets is not reliable it will be on me to get him to the public transportation to get to school. Agreed on the 10 year old cars being safe and also about savings on a cheaper car offsetting the insurance.
15 currently and just starting and would be 16 around the delivery date. He is interested in going into a trade (electrician, plumbing, etc.) after high school so the other thought (that I did not mention earlier) was that the Slate would be more suitable for that while still having a lockable frunk.
Thank you all for the input.
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