Fast forward some years (06-09) and I had that guy but with a 90's red dodge minivan affectionately referred to as the red rocket. He would incessantly try to race everything because you couldn't make that van go fast no matter what you did.
Actually.....I think the moral of the story is: get your kid a manual Honda Fit.
It's possible our parents knew something. We deserved the kinds of vehicle to which we had access. In a squareback, I came off a severe railroad crossing and landed hard enough to break the frame, or unibody or whatever keeps it from sagging in the middle. One of my friends had a 442 Cutlass that could push my big Plymouth wagon from a dead stop out into the traffic in an intersection, but he had a broken front shock absorber, so if we hit bumpy pavement he couldn't keep up.
I think it would be the opposite.
Yep. My son gets his learners permit next month, told me the other day he wants a V8 Fox Body Mustang.... lets see here, airbags? nope (at least not before 1990), traction control? nope, ABS? nope.
Oof, big no there despite the cool factor for all the same reasons but also add ability to speed. We did enough stupid isht in my friend's new edge v6 mustang. Torque and lightness of a 5.0? Nope.
A 1992 LX 5.0 was my first car, although I did drive my dad's car for a couple years before that. I'm sure my parents were worried about it, but I never actually crashed it.
Loan him the money. Let him buy something he actually likes and is passionate about. 5.0s are easy to find parts for, and easy to work on. He would learn how to change oil, do tuneups on basic v8s, all sorts of things. My first car was a 68 Charger and I learned how to do so many things on that car.
Nah, mistakes are made with first cars/new drivers. It's best to get the learning phase out of the way in some sort of relatively safe, slow economy car. Then he can get a job and by the time he can buy his own passion project, he should have enough experience/brain development that it isn't nearly as much of a potential disaster. Mixing the two together can too easily lead to distractions, and there's no need to rush that stuff.
Between 15 and 20, a boy probably makes more bad choices per day that at any other stage of his life. I'd have all kinds of reservations about him making those choices in something fast.
Hey, my 230k mile Escalade is a full BOF SUV, not a crossover.
It's the psychological effect of the car. You think its fast, it sounds fast, its a mustang, you're gonna drive and treat it that way. Additionally, while it isn't fast by today's standards those things will happily do burnouts.
