16 Year Olds and their BMWS

[Mikedav]

Originally posted by SaBiH
then there are the kids who sit there and burn their tires, so daddy will buy them new ones

Just want to clarrify my position here because its being taken the wrong way by a lot of people...please read:

PLEASE RE READ- THIS THREAD IS BEING MISINTERPRETED BY MANY, SO IVE CHANGED THE WORDING A BIT

This thread might upset some people, but bearing in mind some of the threads I have been seeing lately, I wanted to see what general opinion is on this forum.

Are kids that are bought new BMWs, M3s, etc spoilt or priveledged? If we forget the money element for a second, is it RIGHT to give someone so inexperienced something so powerful? If you are very young with a nice BMW or such, do you get much abuse for it? I ask this because I drive a 406 coupe,and other road users never let me out of traffic, ignore me when Im merging, etc...

OR Is it a bit of both? There are kids out there who respect how lucky they are and act accordingly, and stupid kids driving like fools because their parents dont have a clue?

Please comment and vote, its interesting to see what everyone thinks.I WOULD LIKE TO CLARRIFY THIS IS NOT AN OPPORTUNITY TO BASH THE KIDS ON THE FORUM WITH BMWS, AND ALSO THAT THAT IS NOT WHAT I AM DOING EITHER. I am undecided on the matter- I have FRIENDS with new BMWs, Mercs et al and yes, I am jealous, but I AM NOT hating; just annoyed my Dad chooses not to buy me one!

At the end of the day we are all BMW enthusiasts here to talk about the cars we love, so lets not get nasty

[Loud_TIGER]

i am 16.. will turn 17 in two months. the 318 i have now was my dad's old car - he simply let me have it while he got his boxster. i guess i'm just lucky. you can't really screw up a 318 by driving fast; it's hard to drive fast in the first place : ). i've gotton nothing on my record, no tickets, no accidents, no nothing. a few of my friends would be called "priviledged" though. i know a few people who (when 15, on their driving permit) get E46 325s and 330s as their first car. the way i see it, it's not really worth getting a new car for your first car, especally not a bmw, because it seems such a waste - there is no way you can appreciate it. in fact, i feel lucky already to have a 1995 318 - granted, it's an automatic, with almost 90k miles, but i'd still take it over any of the Camrys or Accords at school.

[325bOy]

Not to forget something. Some 16 year olds have the luxury of learning in there parents cars, which might as well be a corvette or porsche. You really dont know, they could be experiencing more power without you even knowing.

[M5Dreamz]

im 18...i drive a 2000 323ci...when i was 16 i drove a 93 honda accord...payments i have made zero, insurnace i have paid zilch...how much do i love and appreciate my parents for it a whole shit load..its the little things like when ur pops asks u to mow the lawn..u do it without arguement..if a kid has a BMW when hes 16 more power to him..but youre not going to understand his relationship with his parents over a forum...its all an individual basis..some kids get spoiled out the ass but deserve every penny of it and some dont....and for those kids that are paying for their own cars and are paying 300-500 bucks a month...i find it very ridiculous..unless you work full time, paying that much a month plus insurance for a car should not be a priority..

[MarcusSanDiego]

Originally posted by Tom330idriver
I was 16 when I got my 2001 330i and it was my first car. My parents both know that I'm responsible, do very well in school and that I'm a good driver. They said the second I become arrogant, stuck up, too cool for everyone because I have a bimmer, it would be gone. I havent been like that and I never will. I'm soooo greatful for my car and my loving parents. I treat my car like a baby and every second i get to sit in it and drive that beauty, i think of how lucky i am.

If my kid is like the guy quoted above, then, yes, I would definitely not hesitate to give him a car like that. Fact is, if he is a good kid, is responsible, and level-headed, then I think he can handle the responsibility that goes along with owning this kind of car.

That said, if the 16-year old is irresponsible -- as many of them are -- then I would be very reluctant to hand over an M3 or any other car for that matter. Indeed, it's not the car, it's the kid.

Kind of reminds me of the gun argument: People often say that guns are bad, because they hurt and kill people. Of course that is wrong: Guns don't kill people -- people kill people.

Same thing goes for the 16-year-old kid. Bad kid doesn't get car. Good kid does.

Oh, and for the record, to address your question about spoiled and privileged: the theoretical kid could be both spoiled and privileged; privileged and not spoiled; or, neither spoiled nor privileged. I'd suspect the worst combination would be any scenario in which the kid is spoiled (after all, spoiled connotes something that would seemingly be less than desirable).

That's my take.

[Edog]

I have a similar expereince, my parents used to be loaded and I got what ever I wanted. and let me tell you there is no way a kid is going to appreciated and understand how great something is when it is just given to them. I sure didn't. fast foward few years later.....
dad gambles all money away, no longer have money, didn't get anything I wanted. Now looking back I should have taken care of those things given to me instead of taking it for granted. Now I'm working my ass off trying to get what I want and I sure do appreciate I what I buy and take care of it a lot better then when it was given to me. Just thought I share alittle of my personal experience.



Eric

[vjlax18]

I was one of the "lucky" ones who was always given a fast car. I got my first car when I was 12. Yes 12. I was a rusted out POS 1965 Mustang. It took my father and I 4 years to restore it. It was orignally going to be my daily driver, but I decided that I didn't want to drive it everyday because kids would mess with it. So my father went a bought me a Jeep. For my 18th B-Day, HS grad, and making Eagle Scout, he bought me a 96 Mustang GT. The GT was the coolest thing to me, unitl I rolled it. You may not believe me, but it wasn't my fault, so my father bought me another one a week later. I never had any respect for my life while driving that thing. I put a lot of money into that thing and it handled better then my Silver 98 M3 (which I bought). It was dangerous, not safe at all, and looking back at the stupid crap that I did, I am lucky to still be here. After the Mustang, my father bought me a 1994 Corvette. It didn't handle for crap, but it was fast. When I was done with it, it was faster than a C5. I can't imagine giving a 325HP car to anyone that acted the way I did. I sold the Vette for what I owed on it and I bought my M3 with my own money. I learned a lot over past 7 years of driving, and there is no way that I will ever give any of my kids any cars like what I had. If he/she is anything like me, or his mother for that matter (my fiance) he/she will be nutz on the road. No way in HELL. Maybe once they have driven a couple of years and have attended a good driving school.

My 2 cents

Edit: And I was a responsible kid.

[Mikedav]

Originally posted by Edog
I have a similar expereince, my parents used to be loaded and I got what ever I wanted. and let me tell you there is no way a kid is going to appreciated and understand how great something is when it is just given to them. I sure didn't.
Eric

This is all I personally am talking about. Great if you can have it but please appreciate it.

[vfr-rich]

It's not about privilege. It's about parents that are too stupid to see that giving a high powered car, (even a 328 auto, that isn't slow by any stretch of the imagination)to thier kids are asking for trouble. Kids are stupid! it's programmed into them. I was one! It lasts until you are at least in your mid 20's.
My kid is going to work somewhere starting at 15 if they want a car. They will pay for it. I MIGHT cosign a loan, I might help with insurance. It won't be anything remotely cool. It will be an old 4 cylinder Volvo 4 door, and no modifications allowed. He WILL go to the Skippy school, and any other drivers ed school, SCCA speed freekz, or whatever. He WILL learn to drive well. I will pay for that. I will probably install telemetry to record the cars speed, just to keep him honest. If you think I'm going to let him loose with my M3 on the street without me in the car.... Haaaaaaaaaaaaa
If you think I'm being harsh, mean, cheap, so be it. I could afford a new E46 M3 for him, so it's not about money.

I love him, and don't want a call in the middle of the night saying "Sorry, but your idiot son crashed and killed 3 others while showing off" or whatever.

[325bOy]

Originally posted by vjlax18
I was one of the "lucky" ones who was always given a fast car. I got my first car when I was 12. Yes 12. I was a rusted out POS 1965 Mustang. It took my father and I 4 years to restore it. It was orignally going to be my daily driver, but I decided that I didn't want to drive it everyday because kids would mess with it. So my father went a bought me a Jeep. For my 18th B-Day, HS grad, and making Eagle Scout, he bought me a 96 Mustang GT. The GT was the coolest thing to me, unitl I rolled it. You may not believe me, but it wasn't my fault, so my father bought me another one a week later. I never had any respect for my life while driving that thing. I put a lot of money into that thing and it handled better then my Silver 98 M3 (which I bought). It was dangerous, not safe at all, and looking back at the stupid crap that I did, I am lucky to still be here. After the Mustang, my father bought me a 1994 Corvette. It didn't handle for crap, but it was fast. When I was done with it, it was faster than a C5. I can't imagine giving a 325HP car to anyone that acted the way I did. I sold the Vette for what I owed on it and I bought my M3 with my own money. I learned a lot over past 7 years of driving, and there is no way that I will ever give any of my kids any cars like what I had. If he/she is anything like me, or his mother for that matter (my fiance) he/she will be nutz on the road. No way in HELL. Maybe once they have driven a couple of years and have attended a good driving school.

My 2 cents

So u have been driving for 7 years , and u have had a restored 1965 stang, 1 jeep, 2 Mustang gt's , a 94 corvette, and now a m3? 6 cars, that is awesome Besides the bad happenings with crashing and all, u have gotten a lot of experience driving different cars. And the best of it is, ur dad supplied all of them except for the m3. NOW, that is one NICE POPS!

[Mikedav]

Originally posted by vfr-rich
I love him, and don't want a call in the middle of the night saying "Sorry, but your idiot son crashed and killed 3 others while showing off" or whatever.

DAD IS THAT YOU? You sound exactly the same as my father and although I would love said M3, he (and you) ARE TOTALLY RIGHT.

[Weibchenmeister]

Give a kid a kart, a helmet, and a race track. He wont EVER need a bimmer then!

but none of u can say oh dad no i want a 1988 POS as my first car instead of a hot m3

Seriously, tho. It doesn't make sense when you're 16, but when you look back...self control is lacking. Giving a kid (there will always be exceptions) a fast car isn't a smart thing. When you're 16, you don't think about how speeding can get your ass locked up for life or 25 years or how one bad accident will change your life forever. I know everybody wants a fast car for their first, and so did i. Now i'm 19 with an M3...sure i'm young, but i'll tell you one thing. I don't speed on the roads...why?...because it's not worth it. I'm getting into karting and every once and again i do the driving schools. And this is how i feed my motorsport addiction. It's not fair for the person that gets killed from an out-of-control vehicle...and i know we all believe we are the world's greatest drivers, but look at Ralf Schumacher. Even he, with all of his driving skills, just had an accident.

Regardless of money, a young guy should most likely not have fast car unless he's got some other way of 'alleviating' his "need for speed" because you can say it all you want. But a kid with a quick car is gonna speed and do dumb things...everyone wants too...but at 16 most people can't control themselves.

[vjlax18]

Originally posted by 325bOy


So u have been driving for 7 years , and u have had a restored 1965 stang, 1 jeep, 2 Mustang gt's , a 94 corvette, and now a m3? 6 cars, that is awesome Besides the bad happenings with crashing and all, u have gotten a lot of experience driving different cars. And the best of it is, ur dad supplied all of them except for the m3. NOW, that is one NICE POPS!

2 Jeeps 1988 Jeep Cherokee and a 1976 CJ5. Had that one for 2 months, and Pops sold to buy himself an 84 Vette. Yeah, he's great, and he had a Mustang, a Camaro,a Chevelle, a Corvette, etc when he was growing up, but things were different back then. He and I have had convos about this topic before, and we both agreed that he wouldn't have done it again. But everyone has to realize that the most expensive car was the second GT, which was only $16,500. And they were all financed.

I was told a story at Towson BMW in Maryland by one of the sales people. Again, it was a story, and I don't know the entire truth. There was an E46 M3 on the showroom floor that two men got into a bidding war over. The guy that one the war paid $68k in CASH for it. Ok, well it didn't sound like that big of a deal to me, unitl he said that the guy bought it for his 19 year old son. WTF? Don't know if it's true on not, but again I say WTF? Someone needs to pass the Puff Puff Give, Puff Puff Give

[jmiller]

20K is not a lot for a first car. I know plenty of familes who payed 2-3 times that for their kids first ride.

And my first car was a M3. Well look I still have it.
Granted I was much older, and bought it myself, but same sh*t

[RodneyK]

I totally think there's a case for both sides. For me personally though, I think that when the time comes for me to decide what car i'm getting for my child (loong way off though), I think that I'd want the absolute best that I could provide for them, granted that I felt they deserved it and that they could conduct themselves accordingly after being given such huge responsibility as a car.

In my opinion, i feel that parents are in no way obliged to provide a car for a 'good kid'. I have to say i'm bewildered by some of the attitudes that float around, people saying, "I do well in school, I think my parents owe me at least this" I'm sorry, but i don't buy that for a second. Since when are you doing your parents a favor by getting good marks, or staying out of trouble?! I am one of those lucky people that have been provided a car by my parents, and not one day passes by that I don't think how lucky that I'm not one of those people trudging through Vancouver rain every day.

I am in no way judging others, they can buy whatever and do whatever the hell they want with it, but this is just how I feel.