16 Year Olds and their BMWS

[Stealth]

there is nothing wrong with parents giving their children the fruits of their labor. my kids will most definitely have what ever the need but they'll know responsibility. I worked my ass off to get everything i have. my kids will too but i'll help along the way. and if i can afford for them to drive a brand new car, they will. dont put people down becuase they are more privilidged than you. thats just as bad as spitting on my car.

[Cone]

I don't think kids should be given new BMWs. I'm fine with used ones, but giving kids who are just beginning to drive brand new $40,000 sport machines to kids who barly know how to drive I don't think is right. If the kid has gone through driving schools it might be different. But please no giving 16 year olds M cars PLEASE!!! Let them work on their skills and gradually be able to drive the nicest cars BMW has to offer.

[vjlax18]

Originally posted by Mikedav
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?

Yes, and that's just the way it is. I was one, and I admit it.

If we forget the money element for a second, is it RIGHT to give someone so inexperienced something so powerful?

No, but experience is a relative term.

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...

Yes, people will always be jealous

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?

Both, but most of the people on this board understand what they have and where it came from.

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

Figured I quote the original because it's 7 pages.

[Kiko]

Originally posted by Mikedav
(My Car is blue and has rims, otherwise it looks like this)

Hey, that's a neat car!

Everyone, just consider yourselves lucky. I'm one of the "poor" kids here. Sure, my mom's Saab is nicer than probably 80% of the other parent's cars at our school...I mean it would've cost $38,000 new. I also wear nice clothes and have nice things like Armani Exchange and Fossil Watches and Oakley eWire sunglasses. But hell, that's still poor around here...

Also, my family is loaded to a certain extent. Don't think they were just born into it. My grandparents were poor when growing up. They had to work for everything they got. My great grandmother used to lead a wealthy aristocratic life in China. When the communists came she fled to California where she worked in the fields for little money. Now my grandparent's work have paid off. They have their S320 Mercedes and their Lesux ES300 as their daily driver. My aunt has her E55 AMG and her E420. My grandparent's brother just got a new 2002 E430.

This makes it worse for me. Why? I don't tell many people this but if it helps then I guess I will. I usd to be a spoiled brat. My father was a lawyer. My mom didn't work. He left us. Haven't seen him in years...many years. But I still remember living in our big house with a guesthouse and everything. Now we live in a tiny little 2 story home in the middle of middle-class suburbia. We've come a long way and now we have many things I never had before. However, since we just got our Saab, it will be quite impossible for me to get a car when I'm 16. Yea, I said a car...any car. I mean, I will drive my mom's car after dropping her off at work some days of the week, but I won't get a car for myself. Nope. No E46 Hamann M3, no Range Rover 4.6HSE or whatever the hell you all drive. In fact, if I got to..lets say a college like Cornell, it's self contained and I won't need a car. My mom would already have a headache paying for tuition and I can't blame her. So what does that mean?

It's possible my first car will come when I'm 21 years old. Have a nice day.

[CarreraGT05]

(First Post)
I'm 15, and I got my permit last week.
After a discussion with my parents, I will be getting my mother's '90 BMW 325i Auto (and my mom's getting the new car) as my first car when I get my license so I can get to and from school, instead of taking a bus everyday to my dad's work and getting home at 7:30pm and starting my homework. I'm getting a 3.83 GPA and im enrolled in the HISP (Humanities and International Studies) program at my school (which is basically like honors' classes for preppy kids and smart asians <--that sorta describes me).

I agree with a lot of opinions, such as giving kids a NEW car. I don't want a new car b/c I know im gonna hurt myself and the insurance will haunt me And maybe good grades doesn't seem like a big deal, but it's hard. I do a lot of things my parents tell me and I try my hardest at everything. They just want to see me finishing my homework and actually getting sleep...

But I also agree with not giving kids new BMW's, however, it depends on the kid on idividual accounts.

Anyway, my $.02

[CarreraGT05]

Originally posted by Kiko


Hey, that's a neat car!

Everyone, just consider yourselves lucky. I'm one of the "poor" kids here. Sure, my mom's Saab is nicer than probably 80% of the other parent's cars at our school...I mean it would've cost $38,000 new. I also wear nice clothes and have nice things like Armani Exchange and Fossil Watches and Oakley eWire sunglasses. But hell, that's still poor around here...

Also, my family is loaded to a certain extent. Don't think they were just born into it. My grandparents were poor when growing up. They had to work for everything they got. My great grandmother used to lead a wealthy aristocratic life in China. When the communists came she fled to California where she worked in the fields for little money. Now my grandparent's work have paid off. They have their S320 Mercedes and their Lesux ES300 as their daily driver. My aunt has her E55 AMG and her E420. My grandparent's brother just got a new 2002 E430.

This makes it worse for me. Why? I don't tell many people this but if it helps then I guess I will. I usd to be a spoiled brat. My father was a lawyer. My mom didn't work. He left us. Haven't seen him in years...many years. But I still remember living in our big house with a guesthouse and everything. Now we live in a tiny little 2 story home in the middle of middle-class suburbia. We've come a long way and now we have many things I never had before. However, since we just got our Saab, it will be quite impossible for me to get a car when I'm 16. Yea, I said a car...any car. I mean, I will drive my mom's car after dropping her off at work some days of the week, but I won't get a car for myself. Nope. No E46 Hamann M3, no Range Rover 4.6HSE or whatever the hell you all drive. In fact, if I got to..lets say a college like Cornell, it's self contained and I won't need a car. My mom would already have a headache paying for tuition and I can't blame her. So what does that mean?

It's possible my first car will come when I'm 21 years old. Have a nice day.

Wow, :: pours a glass labeled "Respect" for Kiko ::

Sounds like you've been through a lot...

BTW, where in Sac do you live?

[Kiko]

Originally posted by CarreraGT05
(First Post)
I'm 15, and I got my permit last week.
After a discussion with my parents, I will be getting my mother's '90 BMW 325i Auto (and my mom's getting the new car) as my first car when I get my license so I can get to and from school, instead of taking a bus everyday to my dad's work and getting home at 7:30pm and starting my homework. I'm getting a 3.83 GPA and im enrolled in the HISP (Humanities and International Studies) program at my school (which is basically like honors' classes for preppy kids and smart asians <--that sorta describes me).

I agree with a lot of opinions, such as giving kids a NEW car. I don't want a new car b/c I know im gonna hurt myself and the insurance will haunt me And maybe good grades doesn't seem like a big deal, but it's hard. I do a lot of things my parents tell me and I try my hardest at everything. They just want to see me finishing my homework and actually getting sleep...

But I also agree with not giving kids new BMW's, however, it depends on the kid on idividual accounts.

Anyway, my $.02

OMG DUDE! YOU GO TO MCCLATCHY! Small world!

[Mikedav]

Originally posted by Kiko
Hey, that's a neat car!

Hey man, you will be a better person for the life you have lead- you have had both extremes and it can only be beneficial. Ive experienced something similar myself and although its tough, when things get better you appreciate it a lot more

Thanx for saying my cars cool- I cant modify mine as its leased (the only things I do are things that can be returned to original). It would be nice to do this...though I would respray it



...and while I am at it, some pictures of a nice modified Peugeot 206- North America doesnt have small cars, so this will be funny to you

[Stealth]

you guys get all the cool shit oh well nice car man

[318ispower]

Hey that peugot looks really nice!

But anyways, I am 17 and the first car I had was a 89 jeep cherokee until my dad got me a 93 AUTO 318is for $7,000 and I am really thankful for that. My car is really slow so there are lesser chances of me speeding all the time. I see other kids with their brand new cars and they are abusing their car which makes me angry but I cant do anything about it. I treat my car like a baby and i constantly spend a lot of time taking care of it. I could say I earned it because I worked hard in school because i'm heading for UT austin, and its going to be hard for me because I think I have to leave my car behind. But overall, I really give a lot of thanks to my dad for all that he has done for me.

I really didnt mind that I got a used car, well in fact its better I got a used car because I believe its a waste of money for a parent to give a kid a brand new one. I have a friend that has had 4 new cars in the past 2 years and I find thats really spoiling a teen. Well all i can say is that i'm happy with my car because it is better than others but yeah....

[CarreraGT05]

Kiko was right, very nice car!

[benzo619]

hey tom330i my mom said the exact same thing when i got my first car if u get stuck up or something its gone well since im not that type of person i was all koo my first car was a lexus sc400 damn that car was wicked but after my senior year(after 1.5 years of ownership) i sold it bought a lincoln navigator and later on my baby m-benz e-class. i currently still have the e-class(w210) and the lincoln navi and im 19 years old but my parents make me work they want me to at least pay insurance which i dont have a problem with. and i go to school. and for those people calling my parents stupid f-u at least in my situation they are trying to give me what they didnt have as teenagers but at the same time being resposible. and if its in there power to buy there kid a nice car then be it. oh yeah and stop drinking that hatorade u sound like those peeps at school who were driving civics. the one thing that sucks is if yur a minority with a luxury car u get pulled over happened to me and my friends so we took them to court got the 2 cops suspended for awhile and it will be on there permanet records.u ask why becasue those sons of bitches made me and my firends take pixs like if we were criminals just becasue we were hispanic.they got what they deserve lates

ps-hopefully next year(summer 2003) i will purchase my fav bmw the m e46 cabrio with smg. it will be out of my own pocket too yeah!!!!!

[Z3Jonathan]

I have the utmost respect for someone that has worked their butt off in life to become sucessful. There's quite a few people on this board who put a lot of hard work into getting their BMWs. I know a few BMW enthusiasts who have started their own businesses and put countless hours into their business, on top their day job. These are the genuine enthusiasts... these are the people that have my respect.

I have a lot of respect for my parents. They both paid their way through college, and put a lot of effort into their jobs to get to where they are today. Throughout my life they've allowed me to experience some of the things they weren't fortunate enough to experience when they were kids. I've had the oppourtunity to travel quite extensively. From some of the places I've travelled I've picked up two lessons in life:

1. There are quite a few people in this world less fortunate than I am. People who will never know what it means to live a middle class lifestyle. People who worry about where they will be living and what they will be eating tomorrow.

2. Successes come from hard work. They are earned, not given.

When I turned 16 my parents said they would HELP me buy a car and HELP me pay for college. It had nothing to do with finances. It had to do with the fact that my parents wanted me to work for my successes in life.

Everyone on this board should be thankful for what they have... no matter how big or small it is.

[pete]

hmmmm
well... when i was 15, i got a '98 GTI (new)... 7k of engine mods later, i thought it was totally badass... my dad went back on the idea, decided it was way to fast, and got my a '91 audi 100... (talk about torture)...

25k miles later (9 months) i started getting into racing cars and karts... as i was getting into cars, i finally scammed my parents into getting me an a4 1.8t. that summer i got into karting, starting with a 100cc yamaha, and 2 weeks later getting a 80cc shifter. i jumped into the novice class, won my first 3 races and moved to expert. By the end of the season i was top 4 or so in expert (running with guys with 10 years of experiance) so over winter we built up a new 125 for last year. still in the top 3 or so, recently running lap times of mid national (SKUSA) races. Unfortunatly between trying to double major and party, start a company AND race, i haven't been able to tour on that circut.

Over this off season i've gotten into formula racing, mostly just in SCCA... i'd love to run the nationals but, as with karting i don't have time to run the circut.

thats how i got my m3... its all about experiance... track experiance... even with 100k miles under my belt on the street, i probably get in more odd situations in a single day of karting then in 10000 miles of driving on the highways. after a certain point, unless you challenge yourself you don't continue to learn.

this is also what i found with bmwcca, when i first took my m3 out on the track the first day i was getting used to the car really, and learning the track, and on the second day it was boring already, except for making the instructor look really scared under braking.

what i don't like are totally inexperianced kids who ask to race me on turny roads. they are the ones who will end up wrapped around something, and i don't want to be the FIRST thing they hit on there way into that pole.

as for bmw's... uhhhh, if your kid has 0 experiance, or you don't think they are a great driver naturally, get a 323 or 325... you can't get into too much power oversteer trouble with a car like this... then, keep its staggered setup... if they get wheels and tires, don't go to a non stagger... understeer is easy to deal with because your naturally programmed to deal with it... it happens, you lift, and it goes away. honda's and acura's aren't bad cars for a beginner driver either because the FWD setup promotes understeer majorly. problem is, given enough road any of these cars will haul ass... even a 318 can be driven VERY hard and fast through corners, if you have the ability to maintian speed well through a corner.

[LITEWAITM3]

ete why dont you do some races instead of bmwcca schools? I know some people who you can get in contact with to help you get into the mor experienced groups if you want, but be prepared to have your ass handed to you. If you plan on running in modified (h prepared i think you would run) You'll get whooped. I suggest you run in a stock class, and get your car skills up to par before moving to a faster car. Kart exprience is the perfect thing to get you into every form of racing, like formula series. goodluck, and most importantly have fun.