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One buys a car to project an image. Why do people do this? Because it works. Driving a 2010 BMW 335I has a much different meaning than a 2010 Toyota Corolla. BMW marketers have effectively made driving a BMW mean being successful.</p>
<p>I think having your teenagers picture in the paper because of the present you decided to give him is a little icky-
but then when for some reason the local ABC affiliate wanted to follow my daughter around on her first day of school, starting when we got up 
:eek: 
I was horrified and turned them down flat-
When I was raised you only wanted your name in the papers: when you are born, when you get married & when you die.</p>
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<p>That’s a big generalization. D2 (college student) drives my old car (2002 Mercedes C-class sport wagon)–she drives it because it’s available and it’s free to her (she pays gas). She’s actually somewhat embarrassed by the car because it is a Mercedes, and since it’s a small station wagon, it’s definitely a suburban “mom” car. Retail value of the car is much less than that of her friends who drive newer Hondas, Subarus, or Toyotas.</p>
<p>2002 is old?
That isn’t even ten years old ;)</p>
<p>Am I the only one who had to drive a Ford Pinto as a teen? :(</p>
<p>At least you had a car when you were a teen. Some of us had to walk a mile to school everyday.</p>
<p>Some of us had to walk THREE miles- and it was uphill on the way home!
And we had to stop off at work and we didn’t get off until 10 pm!!
( however- better than driving a Pinto ); )</p>
<p>^^^Didn’t want to depress her.</p>
<p>EMK and oldfort - I’ll feel better if you tell me you had to walk 1-3 miles in the snow…</p>
<p>lilmom, I’m in the Ford Pinto club with you! 1972 baby blue (though rusted out around the rear hatchback) with four on the floor. Got it my senior year in h.s. (79-80) to drive to school/work. Also had to drive my cousin to sch.</p>
<p>I was in DECA. We were released from school one period before everyone else to go to our afterschool jobs. There was no public transport in my tiny southern town. My Mom was a single parent and could not take me because she was at work.<br>
The Pinto cost less than $600.</p>
<p>S2 has a friend (college soph)who got a brand new Hummer before school started this year.
The friend’s younger brother (h.s. senior) also got a new car, a Mercedes.</p>
<p>In the snow - NJ.</p>
<p>Lexus is advertising lease deals on the smaller models–something like $299/mo for the kid’s. Not that bad really. I would not be surprised if the car was leased rather than bought.</p>
<p>I will buy personal jet planes for my kids when they are first available. I don’t want my kids to have car crashes.</p>
<p>Kind of like Jetsons. It was one of my favorite shows when I was little.</p>
<p>The new planes are better. Have you seen some of them in Avatar? Even when they crash, you will have the suit to protect you.</p>
<p>My cousin bought each of her girls a new car when they turned 16. I thought it was excessive, till I realized that both of the parents are in sales and have company cars, so the girls weren’t allowed to drive either of their parents’ cars. As long as they had to buy a car, they decided to buy a new one that would last the girls thru college and beyond. They bought the older one an SUV - because Dad wanted the family to have one (the two company cars were sedans). When she graduated from college she traded it in and got a sedan with better mileage. I decided the Dad had gone too far when he bought the younger one a Lexus sedan. Seriously, a Camry or Accord would have been more than enough. </p>
<p>Our neighbors just bought their older kid a new Camry when he got his license, but they made it clear it will be shared with the younger brother when he gets a car.</p>
<p>My kids are sharing my hand-me-down 10 year old Camry.</p>
<p>No wonder people aren’t reading papers any more! I would have missed this story entirely if it hadn’t been for CC, and then my blood pressure wouldn’t being spiking! Are we supposed to feel good for this kid? He “kept his grades up” and step-daddy shells out more than the average American’s yearly income for a super-machine. A car salesman made his sale, and insurance salesperson is going to get a big fat commission and we can only hope that the kid drives responsibly. If not, do you think the Seattle Times will hit the news feed with a story about the resultant accident? The whole thing makes me ill.
BTW- my D graduated at the top of her class and still doesn’t have a car, while her 15 year old brother is just sure that his father is going to give him one rather than drive him to track practice.One can only hope that the man has some common sense, which he has never exhibited up to now…
My first car was a white Corvair-remember those??- which had to have an anvil and 100 lbs of oats under the hood in order to keep it from blowing off of the expressway! The engine seized up and died on the way to my college trig final- something my prof did not believe ( she was from another country and wasn’t familiar with the wonderful engineering of the Chevy Corvair, much to my dismay…).</p>
<p>We never bought our kids cars as gifts- although there was a time when we had one car per family member, all cars were and are still, family cars. I thought the distinction was one worth making, even though as I’ve mentioned, for all practical purposes the kids had cars in HS. But each family has their own unique situations and many kids really do need access to a car (whatever the model) on a regular basis. </p>
<p>Although I personally would not choose a luxury car for a teenager (for many reasons including cost! ), I don’t necessarily agree that luxury or entry level luxury cars are always, or even usually purchased for attention. For one thing, there are differences in terms of handling, braking, ride, features - or people would not be willing to pay the price in the first place. Also - if your top criteria is safety, and money is no object, some of the cars that score at or near the top of that range (crash plus real world injury and fatality index) happen to be in the luxury or entry luxury category. While the IS250 is in all likelihood based on the insurance stats a safer car than the Corolla, there are some well priced cars that are safer, especially for a young driver IMO, than the IS250. Also - certain cars can draw the wrong kind of attention in terms of theft or carjacking - a safety issue in and of itself.</p>
<p>PS I had no car in HS and really did walk long distances in the snow and ice (when the city buses didn’t show up on time, which was frequent)!</p>
<p>I did not have a car in high school either, nor in college. I got my first car when I was 23 and had gotten my first “real job.” But I didn’t walk to school in the snow either. I always mooched rides from my more fortunate friends.</p>
<p>First car age 37 with new house in the burbs and baby one month away from being born. (City living’s the greatest!!)</p>