Quote:
Originally Posted by MuseChaser
Look for something that is safe (not saying the 86 isn't....stay with me here), but has some years and miles on it, needs some repairs, and is relatively easy to work on. Spend $3k-$5k on the car, and some more on tools and needed parts. Ask your Dad if you can put $5k of that $22k in the bank for the next year or two of repairs and operating costs, and anything left over in a good safe indexed mutual fund as a seed investment for your future.
Even if I was filthy rich, I would never buy one of my children a car worth $22k, especially a small low sports car like the 86, especially if they were 16, no matter how much I trusted them. Too much temptation, too little life experience, too much delusions of immortality, too little fully developed frontal cortex. Not your fault...just life and science. I helped all three of my sons woth their first cars...we worked an all three together, they learned to wrench, they loved their cars, and held on to them much longer than I would have thought because of the time and care they put into them.
I'm 60. My sons are all in their 30s now, all married, doing well, providing for themselves and their families, and one wrenches professionally albeit as an enjoyable side job (mostly Miata racing setups).
Just my opinion. The fact that an 86 is not a fast car by today's standards does not mean you won't find trouble with it. I'm with your Dad on this one.
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I’ll echo this. The twins can still go fast enough to kill you when the RWD decides to teach your overconfidence a lesson. Nothing personal, but having been your age I know what it’s like. I’m not a big risk taker but if I had a lively RWD car back then I definitely would have crashed it.
My dad had a different approach than above. I had some money saved up and wanted to buy a 12-13Y/O BMW. My dad said I’ll double your money if you pick something AWD or FWD. I ended up with an AWD 1.8 turbo 6speed Audi. It was a fantastic first car. It was safe, handling was benign enough and smart enough to keep me in line, but still fun to drive, and it taught me to wrench on cars myself.
I’m with your dad too. A RWD car can bite no matter how much power it has, and us parents will do anything to keep our kids as safe as we can. I’d look for something AWD with a good online forum community. Then when you have more experience you could step into RWD.