jeaubear

hello, I'm new to this place but i came here to see what you guys thoughts are on this.
My 17 yr old son just got his license after 6 months with a permit around 3 months ago. We've been looking into cars he might like that are sporty. he loves mustangs and corvettes and my local dealer just posted an ad for a 93 corvette with 65,000 miles for 13K. i was wondering what you guys think of a 17 year old in this type of car. is it too much car? some more questions i have as a parent are: does anyone know what insurance would cost? I'm expecting it to be pretty steep, but might anyone have an idea? also, do you think if this is his daily driver, with 65,000 already on the engine do you think the car will require a lot of maintenance or are these models built to last? also, if i do end up buying it, anything i need to look out for?

Bandit's C4

No... there are already too many young drivers already a statistic of bad choices and an early grave with a C4.

peyc2

I'm maybe off base, but as a father to 2 girls now 32 and 27, as well as a step father to 2 boys, now 23 and 21 (10 years now as step dad) there is no way in hell I would give what amounts to as a loaded weapon to a 17 year old.

Try a Honda Civic, a Chevrolet Cruse a Nissan Altima, but nothing as big. First off I don't care how good he maybe, the facts are he WILL be involved in some kind of an incident.

My oldest twice took the entire front off of a 1999 Honda Accord, then crashed a Ford Escape ( her money not mine) the other went through a VW Jetta and a Nissan my 21 year old step son struck another car during a dumb lane change just last week in the 2011 Honda Civic his mother bought for him. $1500 in damage to his car and over $5000 to the woman he hit. He's a full time college student, so no way he can even give the deductible back to his mother,

Sorry, but, the law of averages, and history as well as your insurance are all betting against you and him. And in addition do you really think you will be able to sleep at night, worried the car will become unreliable? Or worse and accident? I had a 1970 LT-1 at 20, and I am lucky I survived with the stunts I pulled.

Just my 2 cents

8valve

I agree 100%
I have 3 boys. They all started out with mild mannered cars. I did not want to look at them
dead.

8Valve

ChiliPepperGarage

First of all, $13K is too much for that car. Should be more like $7K to $8K.

I think it would be too much car for him. Also, is he paying for it or are you buying it? If he is he might be more inclined to take it easy with the car. If you're buying it then it is a free car and he's more likely to get in over his head with it.

greest_lightnin

This has been the subject of several threads here lately...

We have no children, so maybe it's not my place to voice an opinion...

But, locally...

http://www.ydr.com/News/ci_25966213/...grad-dies-twin

Sad. Can you imagine how the parents feel?

Like I said, I'm in no position to offer advice, but if Maggie, Boo, or Bubbles could drive, I would make them drive a Prius...



Al

Little Red L98

Just no.

Put him in something he won't want to test the limits of himself and the car every time he gets behind the wheel. Think safety first and economy second. High performance should not factor into the equation. Let him buy his own vette when he can afford it himself and is older, more experienced, and hopefully, more responsible and mature.

Good luck.

Cruisinfanatic

Totally NUTS!
No 17 year old inexperienced driver needs a car that will do 150+

The OP can look up insurance rates online with a few clicks, too hard I guess

1bdvet

Buy him Honda to learn how to drive, I find Corvette is unforgiven car when you make mistake, they don't forgive, like other cars do, and you are given him loaded weapon.

WW7

I'm not going to be as subtle as the rest of the guys..
If you even need to ask this question, you probably shouldn't have children......WW

Txbobcat

If I had had one when I was 17, 18 or 19 I wouldnt be sitting here posting on this subject.

JVH

The only way I would by a 16-18 year old a vette is if it didn't have an engine in it.

c4cruiser

I agree that a Corvette for a young son is not a good choice at all. It's too easy for him to "show off" and the chances are that he will quickly get him a visit from an LEO.

Definitely check insurance rates. You may gt away with having the car insured in your name and him as a secondary driver, but his tickets will be a primary reason for your rates to go up.

Another thing to consider is him taking the car to school. There will be jealous kids and that could lead to some sort of vandalism.

Find a small car (Honda, Toyota, Mazda or similar) and let him gain driving experience. Keep a close eye on his driving record. Then maybe someday he can move up to a cool car.

Little Red L98

Give him a revolver with one chambered round and invite him for a nice game of Russian Roulette?

No time for all the details, but we had a 16 year old wrap his classic Mustang that daddy bought him around a tree in our front yard. He and his friend are lucky to be alive, and we're lucky he didn't aim a foot to the left, or he would've wound up in our living room.

charliet615

NO..NO......NO........and NO............

radar502

I was 17 at one time I am now 65 but can remenber back to the days ( Hell No ) I just had a flash back..I grew up around Hot Rods and am VERY lucky to be here ..One and only one good thing about the Corvette one other person can ride with him just one OK I could get 3 in the other side but we were 16 -17 and way smaller back then and with the top off the girl in the middle could put her head out the top and sit on middle deal NO NO ,,I had fun in my 61 and 65 Corvette but lucky to be here ...I did some dump stuff for sure ..Get him a old LTD and take the back seat out ...and NO TEXING ...Just saying..

Tahlee

Hello, that seems a bit overpriced.

I have a 17 year old son. I let him drive my Mustang GT with me in the passenger seat the day he got his license. He's a great kid, but I would not give him a high performance car at his age. He has a Toyota Matrix with a 1.6 liter putt-putt engine. Better safe than sorry.

Good luck!

- Bryan

DanielRicany

I think he should probably work for it to understand the value of the car, which will make him more careful of something he worked hard for. But, when I was 16, I was driving my dad's C5 all over the place.

1Asterisk

As a LEO and a dad I say no. It's just not a vehicle for an inexperienced driver. If he pushes it too far just once that could mean his death.

A performance car should be purchased when you're a little older and wiser.

My dad almost got me a Z28 in the mid 90's. He test drove it and got me a v6 instead. I understood completely even if I really wanted that LT1 V8. In truth any teen should be happy to have any car. I was.

Red89'-L98

My parents are not the type to ever do anything for me growing up. I bought my C4 when i was 15 and paid for it with my money as my parents could care less about helping me out and restored the whole car with my money.

I personally am not the type to do stupid stuff and mainly because i don't get things handed to me and have to earn things the proper way.

For most kids that are just going to receive it for doing basically nothing it would not be a wise choice at all. If they have to work for it like I did and put tons of time into it then maybe.

Personally I don't think it is a good idea because no matter how much you think he is responsible chances are around friends he will not be. I know this because I watch other kids like this all the time.

Last week of school last year someone bought their kid a new C7 just for making it to 10th grade and 3 days later he wrecked it at the school trying to race it through the parking lot and killed a 3 day old C7 that had all the factory option upgrades. He said it didnt matter cause his parents would just buy him a new one.