996 too much for a first car?

I've got a thread going under the General Discussions, Other Marques heading asking for recommendations for a cool first car for my younger son who just got his learner's permit and will be getting a license in about a year. We bought his older brother a 951 for his first car and it has worked out great getting him a unique, relatively inexpensive enthusiast car. He likes to say that he's got the only red Porsche turbo in the high school parking lot. There have been a number of good suggestions on the other thread. But the question not answered there by anyone yet is whether I should hand down my '99 C4 996 Aero and upgrade myself to a C4S or 996TT. Crazy bad idea? Too much car for him? My '99 has 139k on it (but only 69k on engine). It's stable with AWD and PSM. It's not crazy fast compared with many newer cars. I've got about 9 months to decide and shop. What say you guys?

If you have to ask....

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Keep the tradition going. My first car was a Mercedes my brother had when he lived in Germany. I have to admit, I did drive at least 100 mph daily for years but I had been driving a toyota mini van on backroads at high speeds since age 14 prior to the MB.

Only you can answer that question. It is quite a car for a new driver, but your son may be up to it. My plan with my boys was to buy a beater first. Statistically speaking, most young male drivers will wreck a car in the early stages of learning to drive. It was the case with both of my sons. Now that they have some experience and they have calmed down a bit, I bought them each something newer.

My first car is my 964! and I keep it perfect, no accidents or tickets, food for thought

Garrett, how old were you when you got it? My 964 C2 had wicked oversteer if you did something stupid, so would not have considered it. I think the 996 C4 is pretty forgiving, but wonder if you ever felt your engine was going to pass you on a cloverleaf ramp.

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Both of my son's did total their cars. I have a rule that if you disrespect what I provide, I stop providing. Both of them now have cars on their own dime, although they often hint about inheriting the Porsches and tell me I am one Porsche short since there are three boys. I don't think the 996 is a poor choice for a first car if you believe that your son is mature enough to understand what he is driving and respects what it has to offer. I know that my middle son would get in some trouble as he would be show boating for sure.

My first son was given a 2001 Pontiac Grand Am. This was in 2009. He totaled it in 6 weeks. He went without a car for some time. I replaced it with a 1995 Volvo 850 with 150K miles. It was ugly and slow, but it was transportation!

Sorry but No Way! That's way too much car for a brand new driver, for the same reasons my dad wouldn't let me buy the three speed v8 Lemans we had on our lot as a first car. Instead I got a 1.1 Opel Kadette. If you do give it to him, better have the ticket doctor on speed dial and frankly that would be the least of my worries.

its your kid...only you know what he can handle both physically and mentally. I drove a 95 M3 and modified mustang cobra in high school without any problems, but it really depends who the kid is.

All depends on the kid. When I was 16 there is NO WAY I would have trusted me with a Porsche as my daily driver. That said When I was 16 (Dad owned a dealership) we had 1 Lambo, 2 Ferrari's, An IROC, A kit car with over 500HP, a Lexus, Buick Grand National, BMW 7 series, and about a dozen other cars. I was allowed to drive anything I wanted once in a while. But my car was a 1962 VW bug. I will say that I tested the limits of every car I ever drove. My brother on the other hand . . . . . Driving Ms. Daisy. So if your son is like my brother, sure get him a rocket. If he is like me. . .. 1992 Honda Civic Edit - If he is like me, I am taking the RX7 FD off the table

insurance company probably wont be to happy with that decision.

rglbegl, similar story here, we were actually a mazda dealer and all my life the only car i ever lusted after was an FD RX7. It was actually the only car that dad ever overuled and said no ****ing way am i giving a kid this thing, it's too tail happy and the impact protection is laughable. I did however learn to drive stick, or rather pretty much drive on my ol' man's 996 C2 (under his supervision as for the 1st year up here you have to drive with a fully licensed driver...and there's no way dad wasn't driving anything not RWD at the time). It was challenging for the first day or two, then once I figured out how the clutch worked, it was a pretty tame car till you stomped on the go-fast pedal. Once I got my "solo" license, i was given more or less free access to the Porka when he wasn't using it. Did I speed in it? Yeah, i'm not going to BS the OP on that, but did I do anything monumentally stupid in it? No because I knew it wasn't my car and that it had to come back in one piece. Trust and all that stuff. Not to mention that as my school's head car guy at the time, if anyone found out that I wrote off the 996, it would have been disgraceful. Not too long after, i bought my first motorcycle the summer before heading off to university, didn't kill myself on it either. If the OP has that kind of relationship with his kid, and his kid has some good values and self preservation instinct, then why not. Plus, the OP's talking about a C4...how much trouble could he really get into with one

Getting a young new driver a high performance car is a recipe for disaster. If you get him a nice slightly underpowered FWD sedan he'll be far less tempted to push it to ludicrous speeds and be far more likely to survive long enough to develop the skills to properly enjoy a 996 as his 2nd car.

For me, it's not the fact it's a very powerful car, it's the image. Of course our cars are relatively cheap, but they were close to $100k new. My 2 sons got cars when they turned 16 provided they had jobs and paid for gas and maintenance. The cars were provided to get them from point A to point B. When and if they wanted a sports car, they can buy it themselves with great satisfaction in doing so. In our community, there are plenty of teens driving brand new $50k cars. That just goes against our values and the thought of me giving one of my kids a Porsche 911 as a first car just doesn't sit well with me. A car like that, whatever the cost, should be earned. I gave my eldest a Jag S-type when he graduated college. It was 6 years old. I didn't want to rob him of the satisfaction of being able to buy his first car all by himself.

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Excellent point. When my son destroyed his Grand Am, the law in Indiana where we lived at the time required a new driver to be added to the policy and the default car selected for that driver was the oldest car. This was the C4S in our house. This resulted in a huge rate increase that was quickly remedied by purchasing the old Volvo.

It is not the car it is the kid...good kid then get him a great car....bad kid...get him a bus pass

No...unless the boy attends the drivers ed for youngsters first, put on by PCA, which teaches the limits of the vehicle. I'd also set a few expectations, such as tickets, etc. = loss of driving privileges for a certain period of time! I'd also have him enroll in a a few DE events. All great training in automotive handling. At least he gets trained on how NOT to make stupid mistakes. I don't have a son, and forgive me if this sounds preachy...but I do remember doing donuts at 100 MPH down a two lane highway after an S curve racing a camaro in my 914 at a very young age...that stays with you...and I still consider myself lucky.

I never had parents that could afford a car for me. My first motorized form of transportation was a Suzuki FA50 moped I got after working all summer delivering flyers door to door in Oakland when I was 16, I was paid $50 cash per day. 6am...until you are done. I then delivered food on that moped full time while finishing HS. Saved enough to buy a this , yes that is my actual first car. I paid $600 for it. It was a manual mazda 323, no power steering, no options. I was 17 when I got it. Learned to drive stick on it. Buying a Porsche for a first time driver very unwise. I would have probably killed myself if I had a fast car in HS. Appeal of *****, little life experience, and hormones don't mix with 170mph car. Now, I am 25. 996 is my 14th car. I graduated from Mazda 323 to V8 BMWs, to XJR, to Porsche.

Both of my daughters wrecked my cars shortly after getting their licenses. Neither of the girls are hot rodders, and neither car was particularly powerful (both were Hyundais). There is a reason why insurance is so high for new driers. They just don't have the experience, no matter what else their driving habits may be. Get him something safe for a first car. I've posted this before, but will again, because of the cautionary message to all parents. Here's my car after my daughter, a very responsible driver, came upon an accident on the freeway, tried to swerve, and flipped the car several times at 65-70 mph: .

If my kids were old enough to drive I would be giving a long hard look at an BMW E30 with a 5speed. Those things are built solid and easy to DIY.

My first car was an Oldsmobile Delta 88, and it kept me alive. Regardless of how responsible your son is, he will make mistakes because he lacks experience. Sometimes those mistakes can have permanent consequences, and having a great deal of car around you can make the difference between walking away and not. I was an honors student in high school, and I lived alone about half the time because of the businesses my parents ran in California, Chicago, and Mexico. Even so, in hindsight, a sports car would have been a terrible idea for me. One of the kids I went to elementary school and later high school with got an RX-7 for his 16th birthday, and he wrapped it around a phone pole six months later. Had he been in my Delta 88, he would have been paying for a new phone pole. Instead, his parents lost their son.

A guy near my home town let his kid drive his Ferrari 308 as a graduation, go nuts with your pals. His son got drunk and wiped it out at high speed, killed his pal in the passengers seat and went to jail even though the parents of the dis-ceased asked the judge not to. 5CHN3LL is right, you can't un-ring a bell.

When my daughter was 13 my brother got a new 2002 C2 Cab. He encountered the infamous 2nd gear problem while the car was just a couple of months old, and the dealer ordered him a new transmission. While waiting for it to come in, he invited my daughter over and taught her to drive a stick on his old transmission/clutch! Of course, I wouldn't let her anywhere near any of my Porsches at the time! But when it came time to buy the first car, it was a mazda 3 for her, which she got at 16 and still drives, having just finished grad school this spring.

You are crazy to even consider giving or even selling him a car let alone a 911. If he piles it up you will never forgive yourself. Let him sort his own car out and his own Insurance. Let him work for his car. Giving your son something that could kill him in an instance is beyond words in my estimation. Would you give him cigarettes or alcohol???????????? then why a lethal weapon if not handled correctly. Now if he was mid 20s and a good few thousand miles behind him. There becomes the horse of a different color. And you may think that your son doesnt drink alcohol or take some kind of mind altering drug well think again. I never new a son that at least didn't try. Did you?

WOW!! That is awesome to have the means to give your sons some cool cars!! My older two are driving age (17 and 15). I bought my oldest son a 1986 vw scirocco that we rebuilt together. He drives it and loves it! I just got my 15 year old son a 1988 Mercedes 190e that we are currently fixing up together. I have a $3500 limit that I will pay for a first car and they each chose unique cars to fix up instead of a new blandish car they could of gotten.... I am quite proud of them and their choices

Not only is a sports car a poor choice, but a sports car that is know (and relished) for its tricky driving dynamics, as a couple of those have mentioned, is an especially poor choice. A FWD sedan that understeers is a great first car... an RWD sports car that snap oversteers is not. Everyone on every forum I have belonged to that asks this question insists that their kid is uber-responsible. That may be true, but even uber-responsible kids are...kids. We all made mistakes and learned from them . Putting your child in a car that is less safe than countless other cars may earn you loads of "cool dad" points, but it ain't worth it.

All good points. I see the San Diego contingent is clearly in on the "No" side. Having lived in San Diego for 4 years (and loved it), I get that. The highways here are probably a little less intense. It is a C4 with PSM, so snap oversteer not an issue. Older brother has done well with his 951 and he takes really good care of it. We just swapped out brake pads on it together Thursday night. Both boys are really good kids - won't bore you with details, but if they weren't, they wouldn't be getting a car at all. But still, I think of the stuff I pulled when I was 16... With the price of these cars being so reasonable, it is an interesting topic. If I said I was buying him a $15,000, 8 yr old BMW 3 series, I don't think anyone would bat an eye (well, maybe Hurdi would still insist I have him ride to school on the back of a goat ). But the BMW could well be a faster car that could haul 3 or 4 buddies along to distract him.

A 175MPH Porsche as a 1st car? If my parents had done that I'd be dead. Probably have taken others with me too. Learning to drive on the congested roads we have today is challenging enough. Concentrate on the act of driving first. A high performance car is not a good idea at this stage IMHO. PSM/C4 etc can only do so much.

I was a model teenager but still a b*gger when I got in a car. I've had a number "near misses", in a low power front wheel drive, which could have had fatal results. No one else knows about this as I was always alone in the car when I pushed the limits. Think very carefully before trusting your kids in a high powered toy. ....and by the way I was known to my friends parents for being a good safe driver.

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Goat. Heh. Good luck, regardless of which way you go. Hopefully you'll have him do a performance driving school, no matter what he winds up in, to learn the limits of the car in a safe place.

+1 go with a beater. The car will get banged up and the image will mess him up, IMHO. PL 03 C4S

I don't think it is a terrible idea. If both kids are pretty responsible I think it would be hard to give one of them a 951 then the other a 10 year old Hyundai. I did some pretty stupid **** when I first got a car but I still remember my MGB being one of the cooler cars parked outside the HS.

Wow a lot of opinions. Here is mine. No matter what car you give him he can still do stupid stuff that will put him at risk. It was not long ago since I got my first car (1988 Volvo wagon) and I did some naughty things but nothing ever out of my control. Given I had been karting prior it was a very easy transition for me. My suggestion is this. Give him the 911, teach him he to work on it like your elder son. Take him to track so he can get his inner Schumacher driving out at a safe location. In my opinion it helps a lot. Slow or fast car what he needs to learn is car control not just if he wants to explore limits but also make him comfortable of others around him and build confidence to avoid accidents. It's just like anything, you train, you will get better. Train at the track, he will know where to speed ( at the track) learn proper car control and procedure on how to go fast... The reason why is, no latest how slow r fast the car is... It's just as dangerous. But if you teach him well manners of where to do it and how, it will go long ways.

Umm an older economical car is definitely safer when considering young driver habits. You won't be able to go as fast and they are definitely easier to control than a high performance sports car. Not to mention the insurance and repairs will cost WAY more if something happens. I'm glad I grew up on some **** cars like a 95 Ford Contour and made some mistakes on it instead of a quality car. And it makes you appreciate the sports car later on. You give it to him now and he'll never truly appreciate it imo.

I taught my sons to drive in my 99 996. Tip. They loved it. But never drove it without me. Each had different skills. For their first wheels I got the eldest a Ford Ranger stick shift. Low power good to learn on. Sure enough, a few wrecks, one destroyed front fend, many low speed bangs and much parking curb rash later they have both learned to be much better drivers. I taught the youngest now 24 to heel and toe in a hot rod Carrera 3.2 him and I built together. One day my wife and I coming home in her car saw him side drifting the Carrera on a curvy back road. They still don't get to drive my C4 tho.

If I had been driving even my Dad's woefully underpowered Gen 1 RX-7, I would be dead now. I drove a beautiful but glacially slow '74 Capri (A/T, V-6) and wrecked it numerous times. Built, handled and accelerated like a battleship, but I drove it like an F-15. I'm teaching my 16 year old to shift on the 996 and he will get to drive it solo. He's very responsible but he simply doesn't have the situational awareness to drive, shift and keep track of the idiots who are trying to kill him on the road. We're looking at a Golf for his DD when he gets his full license. TC

I think only you know your kid. The rest of us are using our personal experiences to give you an opinion If you know your kid is mature, humble, respectful and won't let driving a relatively modern 911 get to his head and do stupid human tricks in it - then go ahead If you have any doubts - get him an older MB or Volvo with under 200hp and let him learn on that. You're his dad - not his friend. And you never want to have any regrets later for not trusting your instincts

I would choose a car with great safety performance, and limited power. Kids make mistakes.

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I have done a lot of karting in my time and can honestly say that it bears no relationship to driving a car on a road. Teaching kids on the track teaches them to handle a car at high speed on the track but doesn't stop them thinking that they are Maldonado on the road. Kids are kids, treat them accordingly, let them learn to cope with traffic safely before giving them a powerful car. Not all will die, but a bigger proportion will die in fast cars. If you lived over here you would see the grief that young driver's in very fast, very expensive cars causes; we have thousands of them on the roads.

A Volvo 240 wagon would be my pick.

16 when I got it, 17 now

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My position comes with it really depends on how you educate your kid what are the consequences behind the wheel. I'm reading a lot of post and a lot of you seem to be nut jobs behind the wheel when you were 16 and crashed..., and others ...with kids, getting into car accidents even with slow cars. I never had an at fault accident when i started driving. I was a nut job but an intelligent at that, i know the limits of what can and cannot be done. I never show boated to anyone, only to myself. I new what could happen if i drove over my ability. I learned to be very confident behind the wheel, but not an idiot and respecting the laws of physics and understanding them. That said, my wife, never has been in a car accident. Never crashed her first car, and is not a nut job. My siblings (2 of them) one older and one younger, are not nut jobs and drive like grandmas in my eyes. They also never crashed their first cars when they owned them at age of 16. One had a GMC truck(loads of power!) the other had a mini cooper. It is all relative on how the person is. If you are concern your son/daughter is going to get into a car accident well maybe as a father or mother you need to train them more under your supervision. Simple. Don't take yourself out of the equation. US PARENTS are the biggest part of the equation on how they end up driving. So my suggestion is not to be lazy, and take them out driving, have them drive more and more and more and more and more and more until they develop a very good base. Takes time, energy and $.

I don't think the car itself will be the problem. Even some modern average sedans will rival the power these cars have. It will likely be more of the "image" of a Porsche 911. I can see much more showing off, challenging, and attention from others generally that could elicit more dangerous driving. I couldn't imagine the attention having a 911 in high school would have gotton me, even more so how I would've handled that attention. I was bad enough with my first 2 cars: 1989 944 N/A, and 1989 E30 325i... Both bought for under $1,000 and even the 944 got a little notice.

IMO a 996 C4 would be a great 'performance car' for a young driver. It has the stigma of elite sports car, not much power, traction, stability, safety. A 10 year old Camaro Z28 makes more power, is faster, less safe, has less traction, and is cheaper than the 996. A WRX can easily be modded for cheap and WALK a 996 n/a. '02 WRX's start around $5k and are very popular 16-25 year old cars. My first car was a Grand National, which trapped higher speeds than a 996 n/a, had rear drum brakes, tiny front brakes, horrible suspension, virtually zero safety features. I rear ended a Jeep when I was in high school with it, just driving home in traffic. Then in college I was rear ended in it on my way to an exam. I rebuilt it both times; put a bigger turbo in it, supporting mods, lots of suspension and brake upgrades; and sold the car while in law school. My friends' with normal cars seemed to do dumber things with because they didn't care about their "beater" cars. My friends' with "specialty" cars seemed to take better care of them and do less stupid things. My point, your kid is likely to crash the car being a young driver. A C4 is an easily controllable car, with less power than a current Ford Taurus. The C4 is a specialty vehicle that your kid is likely to embrace and want to take good care of and not mess up, but if something does happen, he is going to be safe. Plus it looks cool.

I think the point of the thread is to discuss which cars are good candidates for a 1st car and not what other potentially unsafe cars are available in that price range. Camry or Accord with lower miles. Done... The potential upkeep and maintenance on the Pcar alone would make me shy away from it even if you are a DIY person.

One more point to consider - a fender bender in a 996 may total it (as far as the insurer is concerned), whereas a fender bender in a Camry won't.

I agree with the assessment, nicer car, he will take care of it...if he is not taking care of it, take it away. Most here seem to be pessimistic, instead of optimistic. Give the kid a chance. Dad knows him best... if he is considering it, most likely it is for a reason. I say evaluate his up keep how he is treating the car for a few months, and yes make him drive with you as much as possible so he can learn.

Thanks everybody for your opinions. Lots of good thoughts here. I think I'll let him drive it some over the next few months with me in the car. We'll see how he does in his mandatory driving classes. I've got several months to think it over. Interesting topic to discuss as these cars' value drop down into the range where high school kids can afford them. Was really good to see opinions from several younger Rennlisters.

The way I drove with dad in the car, and the way I drove with my friends in the car . . . . . . . . . . . . . . You don't think you are going to get an honest idea of how he drives, do you?

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I feel that you are missing the point a little, the vast majority of kids will survive their first cars and many do not have accidents however the best race drivers on the planet have accidents on a regular basis. Accidents happen and fast cars raise the speed at which they happen and the potential for their occurrence. Just because you and your wife have not yet had an accident doesn't mean that you won't have one today. As a father of 5 I can tell you that you know will nothing about what your child gets up to in a car, alone or with friends, until they come home in a broken car, you have to visit them in hospital or worse. You may believe you know your kids but they are not you.

Yeah, it's probably not a good choice for your first car, not earned, and not sensible :/

I have three sons. Helped all with getting drivers permits and teaching them how to drive. Did many tech walk thru's on the car mechanics and so on so they would be familiar with tires, brakes, engine components, etc. Did all the driving education courses, a year of driving training w/adult driver in passenger seat and finally working up to getting their drivers license. I would not buy them a car because I said they would not respect it. They had to work, get their own car and insurance. I thought with all the drivers education, driving experience and the fact it was their own car and insurance at risk, they would not do stupid stuff. They did. First one wrecked his car so many times I lost track. Second one flipped and totaled within a week (single vehicle crash...walked away). His second car was wrecked, rebuilt, wrecked again and now is on car number three, all within 18 months. Third one, mostly just broken tires, suspension parts (from mudding), batteries, blew the computer by jumping it wrong...etc. Final analysis - young men (even seemingly responsible ones) do really really stupid stuff with cars. IMHO do NOT give your son a Porsche....you will live to regret that decision. Get them a beater Toyota or Honda. If they want a Porsche, let them work for it and earn it themselves. It will take years (50 like it did for me) and they will hopefully get all the hormones and bravado out of their system by then.

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He'll be able to get an idea of whether or not his son's a good driver. If he has trouble with the clutch and throttle while Dad's in the car, it's a good indicator that he might need a slower automatic.

It's difficult to say one way or the other without knowing OP's son. But I know that when I was that age, regardless of the car I was in, I was determined to see what it could do. Also keep in mind, your son may be perfectly safe all on his own but what about when friends are with him? Peer pressure does odd things. I would probably have him drive a cheap beater for a year or so until I felt comfortable giving him the p-car. I would have killed for a Porsche at such a young age, your son sounds like a lucky guy.

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Well, it sounds like you've successfully done it in the past. If that's the case then why hesitate to give your other son a Porsche? While I agree with the comments from other posters that it really depends on the kid I still wouldn't/won't give my kid a Porsche for their first car. I was a Stepford kid in many ways but even I enjoyed mashing the pedal down on an open highway. My first car was an old e12 '78 530i. It had 90K on the odometer with a brand new engine in it when I bought it. It was fun and quick enough without being crazy and it was big enough that it was safer than a tin can. I'm not suggesting you should buy your kid a "Family Truckster" but even good kids are still kids. Maturity is relative and giving a teenager a 300hp Porsche as a daily driver is asking for trouble (IMHO). Ditto to ditto's comment. Agreed...but great doesn't have to be a Porsche. What about an older S4? Something he can tune if he wants. Right. What about a newer-ish Accord Coupe? If your son likes the look of a 997 you can even get him a car with the same tail lights... Those tail lights aren't off of a 997.2. Check it out! Good cars -- depending on your budget...Accord Coupe, BMW 3, Audi A4, Volvo S60, Infiniti G35/37...all are sporty and more than powerful enough to get into trouble with but also a bit larger and, therefore, more protective of their occupants. You don't want to be the father of the kid who flipped his Porsche with 3 other kids in it. Flipping any car is bad...a teen flipping a Porsche tends to get a little more attention, Mr. Attorney. Just my $.02, -Eric

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A high school kid cannot afford a $20K car without underwriting from a parent - even with a job, nobody under 18 qualifies for financing. The 996 is old enough that most adults with good credit can't get financing for it. There is a tremendous difference in operating cost between a $20K Hyundai with a 100,000 mile warranty and a $20K 996 with no warranty. $200 for a set of tires vs. $250 for _a_ tire. A high school kid certainly can't afford the repairs that will be necessary for a 996 without financial support from a parent, and that car is going to NEED repair because it's going to be flogged by a teenager. There are two kinds of parents of teenage male drivers: the ones that recognize the fact that their kids drive like testosterone-fueled maniacs, and those that are in denial about the fact that their kids drive like testosterone-fueled maniacs. The fact that you're contemplating a 996 for your son suggests that he's not in the position to worry about how to finance the purchase or the maintenance, so maybe none of this applies in your scenario - except for the preceding paragraph. I believe it's a given that teenage boys are going to make errors in judgment. Once an accident occurs, physics determines the outcome. As a responsible teenager, I put a Delta 88 through the side of a landscaping truck, I put a Mazda B2000 pickup through a planter into a block wall, and killed the Delta by sliding sideways into a tree. In all three cases, an extra 20MPH might have been the difference between walking away and not. That you posed the question even though you're planning to proceed suggests that you understand at some level that this is a questionable decision, and you hope that folks will assuage this concern (and some in this thread have). I swear I'm not trying to be a tool - I just think this is a scenario that has only one possible good outcome but countless not-so-good possible outcomes.

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FYI, Audi B4 S4 is cheap to modify and will literally blow the doors off a C4. Even with light pocket-book mods will outrun 996T. Definitely not a good first car if you want your kid to not constantly be at WOT. The perk with the S4 is if he is driving it hard, it will break, a lot. G35/37 are both faster than C4. But a newer German or Sweedish coupe/sedan would probably be safer than a 996. I'm pretty sure the Volvo C30 prices plummeted and it's a cool looking car that has some tuning potential and is super safe.

Like I told my daughter (and, this morning, my son), the brain can only process so much information. Until driving becomes second nature--almost autonomic, a significant portion of your brain function is spent keeping the car between the lines. Add multiple other vehicles and the kid is saturated. Add a manual and they are overloaded. Something in the brain gets shed and you can't choose what an individual's brain elects to ignore. Could be ugly. TC

Think of all the things that have become second-nature after years of driving sports cars...how to correct for oversteer, how to tell when the car is about to come unglued, how to stay out of ABS to get the car to stop in the shortest distance possible, how the difference between a smooth hand on the wheel vs. a twitch can make the difference between saving a corner and losing it, how to load up the suspension for an upcoming feature in the road, and in a pinch how to get the nose up when you realize there's no way to brake in time for that dip in the road ahead. Factor in a still-forming mind that has not yet grasped the intricacies of culpability and an endocrine system that is bathing the brain in red mist. Add a dose of peer pressure...

Perfect first car for a 16 year old. A used Honda Civic.

Actually if we're switching to listing good alternatives - I think a good first car for a 16 yr old is a 2002 Volvo S60. It's NOT fugly, it's not a land yacht, and extremely safe. or even better - 1999 Mercedes C230 - quite 'sportlich'

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No I think you are missing my point and you actually made my point very clear with all the accidents from your kids. In 1 sentence. Porsche or no Porsche, if the kid does not get proper training & time behind the wheel, he is bound to crash.

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Ooooor...if you're okay with a little more performance (and, IMHO, a better looking version of that S60) you can always step up to a 2004 S60R. It offers the stability of AWD, performance of 300hp/295tq, an active chassis, amazingly comfortable seats and a 6 speed manual. -Eric

Maybe instead you could get your kid a tshirt that says "My daddy is richer than your daddy"? Makes the same point, but safer than sending him out on the roads in a car he isn't ready to handle.

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You guys are funny... this thing is just as fast as a 996 c4 and we are arguing that a Porsche is to powerful. What I think is the following. YES it MAYBE to much for most of the current posters on rennlist a 996 when they were young. Today's modern cars have equal to or within + - 10% power of the 996. Is it more dangerous if you give him a 996 vs a corrola. Well it depends but in 95% interval case, yes.

Quotes source post: 10832343

+1 Finally, someone other than myself sees this. I really don't understand why would anyone give their child a Porsche when all other kids the same age are driving Corollas or sharing a Grand Ams with parents, that's if they are lucky enough to even have access to one. This is nuts. This can't be good for the kid.

Quotes source post: 10832421

Ah, when I went to USC (aka University of Spoiled Children), so many kids were driving new BMWs it was nauseous. I could just envision some of them getting ready in the morning... "Hmmm... Do I take the red BMW or the silver Mercedes... let's see which one matches my shoes..." Like Chsu74 said above: Unless your boy is a mutant, he WILL push the car's limits on more than one occasion, even if 99% of the time he drives "responsibly." And, a Porsche is much more likely to encourage him to do that than a Hyundai.

Quotes source post: 10832401

I was sort of kidding when I proposed the R...mostly because I'm selling mine very soon. BUT, while I agree with you, it's still worth noting that the Volvo is still a much safer car because it has the advantage of size. If it were my kid I'd be looking at an older Subaru Outback with 4 cylinders...not because it's tunable but because it's large, slow and AWD. -Eric

Way too much car.Remember....you will have to live with the guilt the rest of your life...enough said.

I spend 4 nights a week washing dishing in grade ten so I could get my first car when I turned 16, a 69 BMW 2002, 1200$ in 1985, what a fun car, my folks owned waterfront in a well off neighborhood but they made me work for everything. My dad giving me a Porsche ? Not even in my wildest dreams

Those of us with perfect kids need not be concerned by this: http://www.autos.com/driving-and-saf...e-and-location +1 on the T Shirt

Quotes source post: 10832343

Ouuuccchhh. Hey, c'mon fellas, be nice. If I wanted to spoil my kids, I wouldn't have bought my older son a $6,300 car (the 951) or be considering a car for the other one that will have 145,000+ miles on it and be 15 model years old a year from now when he would get it. There will be plenty of cars in the high school parking lot, and I mean plenty , that will be worth twice the 996 IF he gets it. Is it really a moral shortcoming to consider a reasonably priced enthusiast car? Hard to believe this idea is repugnant to Rennlist members. That's an interesting stat. I'm not sure how someone can be a "safer" driver yet die more often. Anyhow, according to that and this it looks like there are a lot of us out there that should be giving up our P-cars either right away or in the near future. Since I turn 50 in a few months, I've only got another 15 years of driving what I want before I trade my cars in on a Toyota Avalon or something equally disgusting according to the statistics. Lots of good points made against putting a fast car in the hands of a teenage boy. Period. I agree with nearly all of them. But, I don't subscribe to the "Porsche = only bad things will happen" theory. First off, the older son has had a very good experience with his 951. Yes, although he's had no tickets or accidents, I realize that he (being a teenager) is fully capable of doing something stupid in it and dying. But, I think he could do that in any number of cars. Personally, I think a Jeep CJ is a death trap for a teenager - top heavy, prone to rollover, poor handling and tend to be the teenage carpool vehicle of choice (could say the same about several SUVs come to think of it). Assume that after evaluating the younger brother's driving skills, habits and maturity over the next year, I feel he is responsible enough to drive something other than a slow, boring car. The thread topic is whether the 996 is a good first car, which includes several issues in addition to "Is it safe" (which of course is issue #1). We got the older boy a 1987 model 951 as it has airbags and ABS. But, I also chose it to teach him about how to troubleshoot and maintain a car himself with the help of forums like this, that enthusiast cars don't have to cost an arm and a leg, and also about how to drive properly. I find the "only 10% wear seatbelts" statistic hard to believe. The NHTSA says 80% of young drivers wear them (which is still 20% too low). http://www.nhtsa.gov/Driving+Safety/...+Seat+Belt+Use But, first time I see him driving or riding in ANY car without seatbelts, he'll be grounded for a month. Actually, all 3 of my kids (even my 5 yr old) are seatbelt ***** - they'll bark at me if I so much as put the car in reverse to back out of the garage without everybody completely buckled up. I'll bet if you took a poll over on the 944 board, you'd find lots of teenagers and early 20 somethings driving those cars mainly because, well, they can afford to buy them (although possibly not afford to properly maintain them). I think most of us here would agree that the 944 makes a great enthusiast car for a young person and a good first Porsche. Like it or not, with many early 996's dipping below $15k in price, you will start seeing 996's in high school parking lots. If I had to choose between a nice, sorted out, later model 951 for $12,000 or a high mileage early model 996 for that price or slightly more, I think I'd feel better about the safety aspects of the 996, especially an AWD model with PSM. I would probably say the same thing in comparing the 996 to many other enthusiast cars of all brands in that price range. Would you agree or disagree? That's probably the gist of my question to the board. But, if you must, feel free to ignore that and focus on the "rich daddy" thing (and keep in mind I'm so rich I bought myself a 996 with 135,000 miles on it).

But why a Porsche as a first car??? There has to be some pose value involved in that! I also find $15,000 a lot of money to spend on a kid's first car; but for that money you can get a brand new Ford Fiesta which has multiple air-bags and stability control and 120 bhp which is more than adequate for a novice driver. Insurance will be low, servicing probably free and full warranty. Is it boring.....who cares! I believe that this relates to the fact that, physiologically, older drivers are less able to recover from the injuries sustained in a car crash. And here's one to think about :

i wonder at what age the kid got his first smith and wesson. smh

Why do YOU want your son to have a 996 as a first car? You clearly have your heart set on it. All else equal, it is a bad idea. You know that or you wouldn't have started this thread.

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++1 A friend of mine lost his 19 year old son in a car accident, and faults himself till today for given his son a powerful car. In America you can drive at 16, other countries 18, and here you can only drink at 21, other countries 16. I would like my son to know how to control his liquor before he can drive a fast car. My choice as a first car for my son, the slowest Volvo or MB I can find.

Quotes source post: 10831329

might not want to speak in absolutes. A kid who works every day after school or has a particularly lucrative job (I taught tennis at a country club, and in two summers could easily have afforded a 996 at today's prices) could certainly pay for the car themselves.

OK. How about "the vast majority of"? 15-year-olds who work "particularly lucrative jobs" are the exception - and even if this hypothetical kid did manage to sock away $15K to purchase a car, choosing one that is 14 years old and has a reputation for requiring extensive repairs (which can include engine replacement that can easily cost as much as the car is worth) is a tremendously stupid financial decision.

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Hey - I resemble that remark! Not the age part - but I did sock away a considerable amount of cash for the "someday when" Porsche and then socked away some more and bought another "didn't need it" Porsche and therefore totally relate to your closing statement.

Heh. It's not tremendously stupid if you can afford it. However, there's a difference between "I have enough money/credit to buy it" and "I can afford it."

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Was driving a RWD E46 330d at 18, E90 330i at 20 and a 996 3.6 at 21..... It's all about the responsibility of a driver not the age

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Absolutely not the case. Responsibility is incredibly important - but so is experience. At sixteen, the former is suspect and the latter is non-existent. As I mentioned previously, a kid I went to school with died when he wrapped his turbo RX-7 around a phone pole. Within a year or two +/- of that event, one of the kids next door died at 16 when he put his car through a wall in the rain, and a sixteen-year-old came headfirst through the cinderblock wall into our back yard on his motorcycle. I saw him from time to time over the next decade puffing into the straw to drive his quadriplegic-friendly wheelchair around my neighborhood. "Responsibility" - operating safely given all of your limitations, the limitations of your car, and the environment. At sixteen, perception and reality for these variables are inconsistent. I'm sure if you ask ANY 16-year-old who just wrecked his car if he was driving responsibly, he'd assure you that he was.

+1000 This is the serious and grave reality completely unrelated to a 996. 4 years ago a coworker lost her 18 year old daughter in a one car accident. Eerily, we had a discussion just weeks before about our fear of losing one of our new driver children in a car accident. My co-worker felt that she put her daughter in a very safe car, four wheel drive Jeep Cherokee, but she feared that this only made her daughter over confident and unfortunately her fear was realized. My son totaled his first car whie driving during bad weather and lost control on the ice and nailed a guardrail. Thankfully neither he, nor his passengers, were injured. But his inexperience was glaring when he told me that he did everything right because when he felt the back end sliding he applied the brakes but no matter how hard he pushed on the brake pedal the car wouldn't stop. Duh. The frustrating part was that we attempted to disallow him to drive that weekend; but he insisted that he knew how to drive and that he didn't do dumb crap behind the wheel. While I was somewhat jesting about the financial aspect, the reality of the loss of life, especially a young life, has no potential for humor. This is pretty far away from the OP's ask of opinion, but again, it is a reality.

Quotes source post: 10837447

+++ I Agree 100% I my days (I am 46 now), the car I could drive was my mother's 240D Volvo Wagon (Diesel), no power lots of sheetmetal. I am certain that more teens will die at the wheel of powerfull cars than at the wheel of safe strong reasonably powered cars. If status symbol is an issue an entry level MB C class is a very trendy safe car IMO.