How to talk my 17 year old son out of buying a camaro

[mrCide]

yep, if he's living under your roof it's still your rules, 18 or not.

 

[Azraele]

Have you tried voicing your concerns to him? At that age kids feel like they'll live forever. Perhaps he needs to be shown how bad things can happen in the blink of an eye. Speaking to someone who was in an accident, for example, or a sobering trip to the morgue.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Is he handy? Think he could do the repairs himself? It is an old-ish American car so it should be somewhat easy.

Just speaking from experience though, cars like that tend to be hobby cars. They need a lot of love and attention. My brother has become a Toyota Supra fanatic. But he also has a daily driver because he spends more time working on his Supra than driving it, and it requires premium gas and gets bad mileage.

I'm just glad my brother got into cars because it stopped me from wanting to. It's a terribly expensive hobby, one that sucks up just about all of his spare cash and time, and it's made me realize that getting a sports car is about the last thing I'd really want to do.

 

[LordMorpheus]

He'll be disappointed every single time he gets into the Honda if you make him go that route.

Besides, I'd be surprised if a 1994 Camaro is that much faster than a more modern Civic.

 

[SKORPI0]

17?

Saved his own money to buy a car?

I believe this is one of those times you step aside and let him buy what he wants, with the understanding that maintenance and etc is his problem.

This, he saved the money on his own sweat. Bring him for a ride on the car and see how he controls/handles it at specific speeds. Let him be aware of the maintenance cost and insurance rate for drivers his age. If he is disciplined, perhaps he can enjoy "that car". Good luck and keep us updated how this situation turns out.

 

[preslove]

God damnit, op, post some damn pics of your smoker!

 

[zCypher]

Sounds a lot more responsible than me at that age, and my first car was an 85 IROC-Z. Did all kinds of retarded things with it and it cost me tons of money, but I never regretted it and it was awesome. There was nothing my parents could have done to stop me from buying it, and I doubt there's anything you can do to stop him.

The best suggestion I've seen in this thread was to match the amount he's spending to encourage him to get something nicer/safer/whatever. I'm sure he'll be fine either way.

 

[amdhunter]

Let him get it. It's good for his penis to have a nice car at that age.

 

[Q]

I don't know about you guys, but I got my Ferrari when I was 15 and my helicopter at 18.

I paid cash.

 

[SandEagle]

one of my first cars was a camaro. i came close to buying one the other day, but SO didn't let me made a whole thread about it too.

 

[amdhunter]

I don't know about you guys, but I got my Ferrari when I was 15 and my helicopter at 18.

I paid cash.

They gave me my copter for free so I could show it off for them.

 

[Texashiker]

God damnit, op, post some damn pics of your smoker!

I have some new pics I will post when I get home.

 

[SandEagle]

They gave me my copter for free so I could show it off for them.

actually, they gave it so your ass could leave and fly back to India. :\

 

[Fayd]

My son is 17 years old, turns 18 in a few months, has a job and has the money saved up to buy himself a car.

Yesterday he told me he wants to buy a 94 camaro.

Fast cars and young men to not go well together. I have heard of too many kids dying after losing control of their car and running into either the ditch or hitting a tree.

A guy I used to work with was killed on the way to work on morning. He came out of a curve, gased the car, lost control, skidded into a ditch sideways, the car hit a culvert sideways, flipped, rolled over a driveway, the young man was thrown out and died at the scene. The culvert was maybe 24 - 30 inches tall, and it was a deep ditch he went into.

There is a honda civic 4 door I would rather my son buy for about the same price. After talking to him about the 2 cars, he still wants the camaro.

I tried the "get insurance quotes and compare prices" discussion, but since he has a job he thinks he will be able to pay insurance on the camaro.

i hate that line of reasoning. either do legitimate research to justify your prejudices, or let him do what he wants.

a honda civic can kill just as easily as a camaro.

 

[Fern]

Whew, Fern! How did you end up being such a square with a great beginning like that?

I got old :$

Fern

 

[zinfamous]

90s camaros are butt ugly, tell him he needs to grow a mullet to go with the car.

I'm thinking this angle. Also, if he is proud of the Redneck label, it might be a difficult sell.

 

[BladeVenom]

Just tell him, the Camaro's back seat is too small, and hotels usually don't rent rooms to 17 year olds.

 

[railer]

If you are dumb enough to kill yourself in a Camaro, then you're dumb enough to kill yourself in a Civic too. There's nothing inherently dangerous about a Camaro. It's rwd, and hopefully has a v8. Big deal. That's how cars are supposed to be. I would only be worried if your son is thinking about a v6 Camaro. My only other advice to him would be to save up for an ls1 Camaro, which was around 1998. But the lt1 in the '94 is probably a good starter car.

 

[Jaepheth]

Tell him he can buy a regular car after completing regular driving school.
He can buy a performance car after completing performance driving school.

 

[SP33Demon]

I had one as a teen and turned out ok, I did get a couple of speeding tickets in it but not enough to lose my license over. The women loved the T-tops, although the 305 was kind of a POS engine. I wished I had the 350 but they were too expensive.

 

[CrackRabbit]

A truck would be more practical, just as powerful and likely more reliable.
Plus he wouldn't have to give his lame friends rides.

 

[silverpig]

Tell him if he's big boy enough to make his own choice of car at 18, he's big boy enough to move the fuck out of your HOUSE!

*point down the road when you say this*

 

[SparkyJJO]

First off, is the Camaro he wants a V6 or a V8? Sorry if it was mentioned before, I looked and didn't see it mentioned.

If it is a V6, the 94 came with the gutless 3.4L so there isn't much worry about going that fast. And as far as insurance, well, liability insurance on a 94 Camaro is probably not going to be that much, at least not on a V6. For the V8 it will depend on the company, my insurance would have been the same for either one, which I thought was odd. Have you checked what it would cost for insurance on a 17 year old on a Civic? Some companies have jacked up insurance rates on young drivers driving a car like that. Cheap insurance is guaranteed if he got grandma's old buick however

Honestly I don't blame him for wanting a Camaro over Civic. Actually I'm glad to hear there are still more young guys out there who still like cars like that vs the "fast-n-furious" mentality. BTW, if he got the civic but drove it like I see so many young kids drive them, he could get in just about as much trouble as with a Camaro.

I guess the main thing it comes down to is how responsible is he with other things?

What am I saying? "so many young kids" dang it I'll be 25 I'm not that old but I suddenly had a grouchy old fart moment. Great...

 

[poopaskoopa]

I guess "I don't want you to buy" isn't working? I have a 2002 Z28, and I've driven a few Camaro V6s(mid 90s), and I think he'd be ok for the most part, especially if he's going to buy a V6. The only part I'd emphasize as being more dangerous than a Honda is if you drive it in bad weather with bald tires. This is obviously more true with a V8. But, really, you can kill yourself with a .22 caliber pistol even if a .45 is far more powerful, so in the end the biggest factor is your son's behavior behind the wheel.

I have a Honda, a pickup, and the Z28. The Z28 is easily the least comfortable(and least fuel efficient, but the gap is small enough that that'd be a non-factor), least practical, and most prone to scraping the bottom coming out of the driveway/parking lot, etc. For me those are good enough reasons hat if I had to get rid of 1 of those 3 vehicles I'd be choosing between the Honda and a Camaro, but I'm obviously older than your son.

 

[BladeVenom]

If you are dumb enough to kill yourself in a Camaro, then you're dumb enough to kill yourself in a Civic too.

Lets see a Civic do this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSPjC1Ek7vA