# Is this a good car for a 16 year old? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 5, 2003, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-good-car-for-a-16-year-old/179829 "2003-06-05T14:32:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-good-car-for-a-16-year-old/179829/21 "2003-06-06T03:12:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mipiace \* > \*\*being a boy and all there is that stupid “cool” factor too! (rolling her eyes…) \*\* I must have never gotten the “cool factor” because when I got my car I insisted on a huge, old, rusty car. And I got just wanted (1986 Chevy Caprice). ---
**Author:** ![tastycorn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@tastycorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tastycorn)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-good-car-for-a-16-year-old/179829/22 "2003-06-06T05:25:03Z")
Hmmm, my first car was a 82 Datsun pickup. 4x4 with a lift kit. I got into soooooo much trouble with that thing. Almost rolled it a few times without even trying, and pickups are much harder to roll than suvs. Plus, insurance, gas, maintenence, repairs (he will run into stuff, trust me). If you live in a northern climate and are worried about safety, you should be able to pick up an early nineties AWD Subaru for about that price range. Almost as much of a tank as the volvos, but much more affordable (especially in repairs), better handling, and cheaper to insure. Civics are a little to fun and zoomy. Good handling to start, and they are highly “tunable”. You can get over 400hp out of those engines, and with movies like the faster and furiouser so popular, he may want to try. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-good-car-for-a-16-year-old/179829/23 "2003-06-06T05:41:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by skaterboarder87 \* > \*\*And gas mileage like a tank? 😉 \*\* Nah, an Abrams gets about 1/2 mile per gallon. I manage between 15 and 20. Though I do wish I could have a big gun mounted on the hood or roof… ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-good-car-for-a-16-year-old/179829/24 "2003-06-06T15:48:40Z")
Volvos look nice, but the parts are very expensive. Just went through this with one of them. 4x4’s seem classy, but again, much more expensive than regular cars cause they use special parts. The car for him is one he can pay for & maintain himself, including insurance. That way they learn about car ownership. ---
**Author:** ![roadrunner70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@roadrunner70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roadrunner70)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-good-car-for-a-16-year-old/179829/25 "2003-06-06T15:58:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Magiver \* > \*\* A 72 Pinto would go 110. \*\* That’s got to be the funniest thing I’ve ever read here. [sub]mebbe if you pushed it off a cliff…[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Breezy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b3f665/32.png) [@Breezy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Breezy)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-good-car-for-a-16-year-old/179829/26 "2003-06-06T16:09:39Z")
As far as insurance goes, I’m sure you aren’t going to put full coverage on it, right? Liability insurance for ANY car is the same. Liability insurance on your son’s car would be exactly the same price if it was a 2003 Cadilac Escalade, or a 1977 Chevy Pick-Up. Liability doesn’t cover the car he’s driving, it covers the cars and people he might run into. So as far as 4WD affecting the insurance rates, that just isn’t correct. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-good-car-for-a-16-year-old/179829/27 "2003-06-06T16:16:34Z")
Just to clarify, since a lot of people quoted my post, I was thinking along the lines of an '89 Civic hatchback, not a riced out CRX. The kind that sort of wheezes along. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-good-car-for-a-16-year-old/179829/28 "2003-06-06T16:36:28Z")
How about a late-80s or early-90s VW? Inexpensive, good mileage, and if properly cared for they seem to last forever. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-good-car-for-a-16-year-old/179829/29 "2003-06-06T16:40:03Z")
A Hotwheels[sup]TM[/sup] toy car. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-good-car-for-a-16-year-old/179829/30 "2003-06-06T16:44:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SUPERKARLENE \* > \*\ ***Kunilou** , do you live in a non-urban area? \*\* Indeed, no. I live in an area with a rich supply of auto salvage yards and went through not one, but two body shops. The Volvo needed virtually the entire front end. Back ends were available, but not front ends. I’m aware that two months earlier or two months later the situation could have been different, but I just want people to not AUTOMATICALLY assume they can get parts for an old car as easily as for a later model. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-good-car-for-a-16-year-old/179829/31 "2003-06-06T17:22:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hello Again \* > \*\*I think a 16-yo boy should own something significantly less fun and zoomy. I’m thinking like a 4 cyclinder early-90s Honda Civic. > I have never been a 16 yo boy, but I had one particular car-loving XBF who used to tell stories of totalling 3 “fun” cars before his 18th birthday hahaha. > > He should not get behind the wheel of any car he considers “cool” until he has a proven record of safe driving. \*\* You’ve never seen a tubro honda civic I take it? Zoomy, low and fast, with four cylinders. What’s wrong with having a fun car? Not all kids are stupid enough to total 3 cars!!! Either kids are good with cars or they’re not. Caprice, Volvo, Izuzu… If the kid has a permanent brain malfunction, he’ll crash it either way. Get him what he really wants, a broke as hell car that he’ll learn to fix himself. This way he won’t have to rely on shops to rip him off his whole life and will be self sufficient. The more they work on cars, the better they understand them. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-good-car-for-a-16-year-old/179829/32 "2003-06-08T17:40:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ParentalAdvisory \* > \*\*You’ve never seen a tubro honda civic I take it? Zoomy, low and fast, with four cylinders. What’s wrong with having a fun car? Not all kids are stupid enough to total 3 cars!!! Either kids are good with cars or they’re not. Caprice, Volvo, Izuzu… If the kid has a permanent brain malfunction, he’ll crash it either way. Get him what he really wants, a broke as hell car that he’ll learn to fix himself. This way he won’t have to rely on shops to rip him off his whole life and will be self sufficient. The more they work on cars, the better they understand them. \*\* **Ahhh… NO**. I could give you a tour of teen eating trees in my area involving nothing but “death-by-sports-car” fatalities. My first car was a Pinto. it was a complete POS but it had one life-saving characteristic, 50/50 weight distribution. It would not rotate in a slide. Even a novice could steer it through a corner during total loss of traction. I can’t even say that about my Thunderbird TurboCoupe, and it will pull a .88 g skid from the factory. Most cars today are FWD which makes them very unstable in an emergency maneuver (poor weight distribution). If you slam on the brakes and try to steer, the vehicle will rotate uncontrollably. Spinning out of control is dangerous only if you hit something in the process (on-coming car). I’ve seen people do this at speeds as low as 30 mph. The only thing that is worse than spinning out of control is flipping out of control. That is the difference between an SUV/truck/van and a car. The real danger in flipping an SUV is being ejected from the vehicle. Most of the rollovers I see in my area are easily survivable. It is the ejection from the vehicle that kills the occupants. If you want to give your kids the safest vehicle then look for a car with 4 wheel anti-loc brakes. It will make any vehicle more stable in an emergency situation, particularly a novice driver. I do like the idea of getting him a “fixer-upper”. That will make him appreciate what he has. I remember burning up my first clutch. Oh what fun. I remember replacing my first clutch. Son-of-a-bitch, how do you get this shaft to center up. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-good-car-for-a-16-year-old/179829/33 "2003-06-08T18:16:04Z")
Aside from type of car, I would strongly advise that you make your child invest heavily in the vehicle himself. Either make him purchase it outright, and you pay for insurance, or make him pay for the insurance, with the understanding that if he gets speeding tickets or gets in an accident, and his insurance goes through the roof, he’s STILL paying for it, and if he can’t, he doesn’t drive. I knew a lot of kids who’s parents gave them a car, and I knew lots (myself included) who had to buy the car themselves, or ride a bicycle. The ones who bought their own cared for them better, enjoyed owning them more (nothing like a vehicle you worked for and paid for youself…), and the constant threat of a major insurance hike caused them to drive more responsibly. I think a perfect vehicle for a 16 year old boy is a beater that you buy for $500, insure for liability only, and which requires a lot of TLC to keep running reliably. He’ll have to learn to do minor maintenance and troubleshooting himself, he’ll learn to treat the vehicle with care, and he’ll learn to really appreciate a better vehicle when he gets older. Maybe for a going-to-college present you can buy him a nicer car. Let him know that that’s the plan, UNLESS he treats his own car like crap. Then he’s on his own. Maybe I’m a bit of a hard case, but I knew far too many spoiled-rotten kids who had brand-new cars, treated them like crap, and ragged on their parents when they didn’t buy them the latest new toys for it. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-good-car-for-a-16-year-old/179829/34 "2003-06-08T21:40:31Z")
Sam Stone has my vote. I know someone who had to travel out of state to rescue his son’s car. The damage was the result of running off the road at speeds in excess of 100 mph. I asked the father if he thought he would ever see the $1000 repair money and he said “probably not, but what are you going to do”. Personally, I would have demanded title for the privilege of borrowing the money to repair it. Title gets returned when loan is paid (it also gives you control of the keys). My parents were very succinct in their philosophy: if you can’t insure it and maintain it, you can’t afford it. The problem involved in buying a car for someone is that, beyond the cost of the car, there are tremendous costs involved in maintenance and insurance. When you buy someone a car who cannot afford it then you are really buying them unlimited transportation. The price could easily double. In the spirit of the “That 70’s Show”, find a nice Vista Cruiser for the young man to purchase and restore. It’s tough in this 2-income world. Giving kids everything they want is a harsh lesson in reality when they leave home. Many kids expect mom and dad to help them out every time they do something financially irresponsible. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-a-good-car-for-a-16-year-old/179829.md?page=1)