<p>Volvo is so safe, it doesn’t move.</p>
<p>I guess I have not looked at the Lexus’ specs lately 
ES used to be a Camry in Lexus’ clothes, and the cheapest Lexus one can buy. Safe, reasonable, boring - just the perfect car for a HS teen form a family with a little money to spend.</p>
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<p>Why? Why shouldn’t it be linked to putting forth good effort in school and being a “good citizen of the household” (for lack of a better term)?</p>
<p>Pizzagirl - do you think kids should be rewarded for their grades? (I’m simply curious, I’m not throwing stones at anyone.)</p>
<p>My kids won’t get cars because I’m a cheapskate and because they don’t really need them. I do judge people somewhat by the cars they drive. (I think evil thoughts about people driving around in Hummers.) If I were somewhere where most kids have cars and public transportation or walking isn’t an option, I wouldn’t get a car that would tempt kids to misuse it, but I’d probably get them a car.</p>
<p>The reason I might give the kid the newer car and keep the older one is because the newer would have more airbags and other safety features. Some might judge giving kids new cars but I can judge those who send them out in old clunkers with no ABS or airbags so if they get in an accident, there won’t be as much property damage.</p>
<p>* Why shouldn’t it be linked to putting forth good effort in school and being a “good citizen of the household” (for lack of a better term)?*</p>
<p>Because it is external & it is not connected to the activity that earned the reward.</p>
<p>If you want to help your child or even if you want to totally pay for a safe vehicle to provide needed transportation, assuming they are responsible and will take care of it and have some buy in to the upkeep costs, then do so.</p>
<p>But school is separate, in my parenting book.
Something that would be more connected would be for instance a trip to tour colleges, either to illustrate the variety, or to inspire students who are fed up with high school.
But what I have observed is that kids don’t like things handed to them, at least many don’t , it feels yucky.</p>
<p>My first car was a used 1957 Chevy Bel Air with a fairly hot 283 engine and a floor mounted 3 speed. I think it had about 210 HP, no airbags, no seatbelts, and lots of chrome metal in the interior. I was a first time driver at 17 (Nj law). I probably was lucky never to crash it but I did burnout a clutch doing peel-outs for fun. The price then was not much ($1000 I think) but today that car is worth at least $50k. Sorry I ever sold it for something more “collegiate”. An MGB. Worth around $10,000 today.</p>
<p>I think this deal was a little bit much but within the range for the Eastside of Seattle. I don’t have a problem with parents spending money if they have it. We are a consumer economy and the Lexus saleman and plant workers like their jobs too.</p>
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<p>Yup, the IS is the newest in the Lexus line, and it’s the least expensive of the line. An economy luxury sedan, if you will…? </p>
<p>(No, I know, that sounds pretty dumb…)</p>
<p>Interesting fact: in Japan, it was originally marketed as the Toyota Altezza. Related anecdote: because of the Lexus reputation brou-ha-ha, I actually priced out importing Toyota Altezza badges and looked to see if I could pry the "L"s off of my car without damaging anything, but my husband and brother told me I’d gone off the deep end and that they wouldn’t talk to me anymore if I did that.</p>
<p>We are parents who do not reward our kids with money/cars/special whatevers for getting good grades. But I can see the rationale in doing so: In our adult “work” environment we are rewarded/or not with bonuses, promotions, and salary raises based on performance. School is our kids’ work. And if a parent chooses to give a bonus for outstanding performance…why not? It does mirror the outside world and gives a look to the future.</p>
<p>We bought our 15 year old a brand new car with massive amounts of safety features and airbags because we were worried she, like most new drivers, might get in an accident and we wanted her to live. Her car has enough airbags to puff up like an egg crate. And 15? Yes, that is the age they start learning to drive here, getting their drivers license as close to their 16th birthday as possible. As for why not drive our older cars. They are sports cars. Nope, not letting that teen drive something with that big of an engine.</p>
<p>Now, 4 years later, her car has been dinged, but she has never gotten into an accident. Turns out she probably didn’t need that safe of a car. </p>
<p>Now comes the second one, who is much more aware of directions and driving and merging and working in traffic as she has been “steering” horses since she was 5. I’m thinking the bigger sports car might work for her. We’ll see when she starts learning to drive next month.</p>
<p>As for the paper, I’ve had more than a few friends bitten by the local paper. Here you consent to an interview and picture thinking it was about one thing, and they totally turn the point of the story. I suspect that’s what happened here. They thought they were just being part of a story on people buying cars for Christmas and it turns into a hatchet job.</p>
<p>Its your own damn money spend it anyway you please before the govt grabs it.</p>
<p>(lol… feeling grumpy)</p>
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<p>I totally agree. For all the yapping about the new car, I don’t think “the old clunker with a few hundred thousand miles on it with no safety features that the kid picked up for $1000” is necessarily any better / safer / any more of a moral high road.</p>
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<p>Not as a general principle, or beyond what the natural consequences of getting good grades are (get to go to a better college, etc.). But I can’t really say that it’s “wrong” to say to a kid, if you get over an x.x GPA, we’ll get you a car.</p>
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<p>I think it’s weird you think that the family “dialed up the local newspaper.”</p>
<p>I have never rewarded my kids for their grades, but my husband got my oldest daughter a brand new car when she turned 17 ( driving age in NJ ) He did this without my knowledge , but it was also because she had worked for our family business , sometimes without pay , and sometimes 7 days a week without complaining.</p>
<p>He bought a car for his daughter recently , and I can honestly say I have never seen a kid less deserving of a brand new car. She practically demanded it ,treated him with appalling disrespect and vulgar language in order to get it. She has never worked for the business because the town she lives in is filled with rich kids that cannot be bothered having summer jobs…probably a few of them have Lexus and other extravagant cars</p>
<p>My middle daughter and oldest were supposed to share the first car , but that would have caused rifts , so I let her buy her own ( a used car that she chose )</p>
<p>I don’t understand why people assume just because a car is used, that it’s assumed to be an old clunker with no safety features. Once you drive it off the lot, it’s no longer new, did you know?</p>
<p>I do know one thing. The kid whose first car is a used car (gently used car with modern safety features and <em>gasp</em> even seat belts and air bags) is going to be that much more appreciative of the first real new car they get. Especially in this society of instant gratification.</p>
<p>I’m not making that assumption. My D’s car was used - an '05 with side airbags and ABS. I had to do quite a bit of searching to find it since the side airbags were not standard that year. I do see lots of kids driving cars that I consider unsafe and some of them got them because they saved their money and that’s all they could afford. I’d rather see the parents buy something safer or drive the clunker themselves.</p>
<p>cartera, I agree with you on the necessity of safety features. I’d drive a clunker before I’d take any chances with my child’s safety. We also researched extensively the safety reports before we bought any of our cars.</p>
<p>I used to embarrass my D by insisting on knowing what kind of car her friends drove before I would let her ride with them. That is why she ended up driving most of the time - I knew her car was safe and had new tires that were checked regularly.</p>