fredw1

My son is 23. His first vehicle was an '88 Toyota pick-up which he bought when he was 16 with money he earned while working at Kroger from the age of 14. He drove that until he was 19 and the rust accelerated (faster than the truck itself). His second vehicle was a '90 Corolla which he drove until last month. He just bought my 2000 Civic Si when I bought my 8, since he just got his first "real" job.

I guess some young people today expect to get everything on a silver platter and immediately. I'm glad my son is not one of them.

My advice to a 15-year-old on their first car would be to buy a used Corolla, Camry, Civic, or Accord, and learn how to drive before you learn how to drive a sports car. In this case, howver, maybe a new one of these would be affordable. Even a Mazda 3 or a Civic Si would be better than an 8 for a beginner. The glamor is not there, but the dependability and the ability to keep a person out of trouble are.

Like one other person said, probably nothing anyone says here will dissuade a 15-year-old from getting an 8 if that's what he wants. So, when you get it, InvisibleMonkey, it should be fine aside from the aformentioned idiosyncrasies.

XUrotaryrocket

oh lord, another 15 yr. old with a 33k dollar car. yes, it takes premium, yes it's reliable, and NO you should not buy it.

I had a used '89 RX-7 when I was 16-17 and I'm lucky I'm still alive. Also, it was a VERY dependable car. So, whoever was talking **** about RX-7 reliablility must either be referring to 3rd gens. or have their head buried way up his/her ***.

Redfusion3

iTrader: (2)

Do you realize what you sound like?

V_for_velocity

When we, the RX-8 contingent, remember the olden days when we were 16 and driving, many of us no doubt feel that we are lucky to still be alive. Having a sports car at your disposal at such an age might not be a good thing. I feel fortunate that one of my kids didn't get his license until his late 20s, and the other one STILL hasn't. But it wasn't a matter of depriving them of the privilege; they just weren't interested. Clearly, you're different. But you weren't asking for permission, you were asking about reliability. Yeah, the 8 is reliable. Good luck.

Redfusion3

iTrader: (2)

I concur!

Paul_in_DC

The car is very reliable, but the gasoline bill will be high.

Please resist the temptation and peer pressure to "get wild" with your car, whatever car it ends up being.

When you get wild anyway, please don't do it with anyone else in the car, or in an area where someone else might get hurt when (not if) things don't go exactly as planned.

For God's sake wear a seatbelt at all times! A seatbelt saved my life when I was 20, and the accident wasn't even my fault.

Enjoy the car. And study hard young man! :D




ps - Learn to spell dependable.

Roaddemon

I burn 87 octane always and have never had a problem with dependability. My wife drives the 8 to work everyday , it's 2.5 miles one way. Always starts for her. 87 octane might help prevent flooding but i would'nt know why. I move the car around cold all the time and never had a problem. I live in a cold climate. I think it runs the same on 87 octane as 93 octane. Usa Mazda on-line recommends to use the lowest octane within the range listed in the manual. That would be 87 octane.

Your a lucky young person to have the opportunity to drive an 8. Don't pass it up. It's an awesome car.

RX8CaliGirl

For a 15-year old's first car, I would really recommend you just get a Toyota.

And by the way, 10 miles to school? Kid, I drive 50 miles to work one-way with my 8! So far its been fine but I also live in SoCal and don't have to worry about cold weather but I do have to worry about ridiculously expensive gas. In three weeks, I burned $213 in gas.

So I really don't think this is an appropriate car for you, since you asked. I am a wee bit older than you and the temptation to do really bad things with it is too high. I think if I were your age, I wouldn't have the filter that I do and my 8 would last about, oh, two months. But the 8 is the hottest look car on the road, I don't care what any BMW or Mercedes or Nissan drivers think.

V_for_velocity

A 16-year-old with a Vette? Yi-yi-yi.

XUrotaryrocket

I totally agree with you, but it doesn't seem like gas prices are any concern for this kid. He thinks a 35k dollar car is not expensive.

124Spider

...And go to www.s2ki.com, and look at all the threads started by kids who wrapped their car around innocent trees, all the while proclaiming that they are responsible, skilled drivers, and it's the car's fault. There is a reason why performance cars have such high insurance rates, and that's mostly due to young male drivers doing stupid things with the cars, as young males are prone to doing. There's nothing evil intended by most of these kids, but it is as predictable as death and taxes....

IMO (and I am a parent of one 20 year old boy and two teenage girls) parents who buy teenage kids, especially boys, high power or high performence cars are just too weak to say "no." It's just too dangerous to let kids have a car like this. There are a whole lot of parents who have regretted having done so, when their kids did something really stupid with that car, and very few who wish they had bought their kid a more powerful car. I live where there are way too many people with gobs of money, and it's incredible to see how often overly indulgent parents buy their 16-year old darling a new BMW, and he wraps it around some inanimate object within weeks, and the parents just go buy him another one.

End of rant.

dmp

Very Nicely put. Parents sometimes are more worried about a kid 'feeling unhappy' than they are about 'doing what is 'right''.

NOBODY with less than several years of experience should consider a car with more than 'commuting' capabilities...Kids simply lack the wisdom and judgement to deal with performance cars.

aireyc

I just had to respond to this thread since I see all of the hate in here. First, give the kid a break, he wasn't wise enough to forget posting his age, but that doesn't mean you have to harp on him (even his parents in some cases). Yeah, his parents may spoil him and it may not be the best thing that he gets an 8, but what do you really care? If he crashes the car it's his parents' loss (and his if he gets injured). As far as referring to experience, my friend purchased a Porsche at 17 (own money, I'll explain) and hasn't had any problems in restraining himself or just handling the car. I myself am going to buy my 8 shortly, getting it in June when I'm 17. Not being able to control himself and quit the racing comment is just pure BS since every kid, spoiled or not, is not as immature as some of you were when you were younger. Let him get it, and leave your thoughts to yourself if all you're going to say is rude comments either to him or his parents.

To back myself and my one friend up, we both hold 50 hour a week jobs (7 hours a day on weekdays and Sundays, 8 hours on Saturdays) running a business. Since I waste most of my time working rather than going out with friends or goofing off smoking pot, does that mean I do not deserve the 8? It was implied by some of you that if you're a new driver you don't "deserve" such a sexy car. I don't care if I go out and crash, it's my money and my car, age is irrelevant. I know better though.

Now, to his question. Yes, this car is very reliable. I was discussing "the little things" thread with my father and he commented on how much thought the engineers put into designing the car and the many bells and whistles. The basic components (excluding the engine) are so common you really don't have to worry about things breaking down like if you got yourself a 1990 Toyota. As long as you let it warm up a bit and don't shut down right after a cold start you should be ok. I say get it.

Chris

dmp

I value human life. That's why I replied with truth. If some ppl view the truth as 'hate', so be it. Their viewing the truth as 'hatin' doesn't make it any less truthfull.

124Spider

This is truly an astonishing post.

"Hate?" Because I opined that a brand new driver shouldn't have a performance car, since they tend to kill themselves (and others) in them?

What do I care? Because I actually hate (there's that word used correctly) to see kids kill themselves because their parents were too weak not to put a dangerous car in the hands of a new driver.

The mere fact that not every kid wraps his performance car around a tree has no bearing on the simple, numerical fact that a remarkably disproportionate number do.

I specifically avoided discussing whether a kid "deserves" a fancy car, since I couldn't care less about a parent spoiling a kid. I did talk about the danger of giving a kid a performance car, because I actually do care about parents facilitating kids in dangerous activities.

rotten42

let's get one thing straight...It isn't HATE that people are expressing.....they are trying to pass on experience and common sense.

You may not care if you go out and crash your car but I care if an unexperienced driver with too much car crashes into me of my family.

khtm

Oh no...a 16 year old is defending a 15 year old's post. What are we ever going to do!?

PaulieWalnuts

Funny, I recall him asking if it was a dependable car, not if it was a good idea for a 15 year old to have it. I can't believe some of the narrow minded views here. I know teenagers that are the unbearable jackass type as well as some teenagers that are more mature and better decision makers than a lot of adults. One of my friend's twins as well as my nephews are very balanced and I would absolutely trust them to take care of something as nice as an RX-8. And so what if his parents pay for it? Does that absoutely mean he has no concept of earning money or respect? How does that affect anybody here? Jeez.

aireyc

Point proven.

And for the reference to hate:

hate
v. hat·ed, hat·ing, hates
v. tr.

2. To feel dislike or distaste for: hates washing dishes.

Fine it's used as a verb in that sense, but you get the point.

I even thought of posting the comment about everyone's safety but I chose not to since that would assume that it is mostly (as in more than 50%) teenagers that cause the deaths of others. If you're just talking about inexperienced drivers, check out how many people cut you off (aggressive driving in this case) or don't pull into the intersection on a green light. There are something like 40,000 deaths a year that are related to car accidents in general in the US. Just because you have a sports car at any age doesn't mean you're going to kill someone. I could buy a Pinto and accidentally harm your family. If you're that scared of people harming you don't drive at all. The amount of assumptions really wouldn't make the argument valid to an extent that the kid shouldn't get the car he wants.

The car is only dangerous if used in a manner it was not meant to be used. Any car is a weapon. He could get an automatic and that won't even be as bad as the Stratus I drive now. :-)

Chris

InvisibleMonkey

THANK YOU!! all i asked was if it was a dependable(yeah...i learned how to spell it) car (someone said something about the RX-7...it was a 3rd gen. and he put 8k into it to fix it up) and just because i have the ability to get a car(it's not like it's one of the things i want for christmas, i'm paying for some, it's counting as a birthday & x-mas present...and i'm not complaining) and just because a 16 year old was defending me, you diss both of us...just because of our age? WTF?? and you're worried about your "family", don't be, noone that has replied lives in new jersey, so i guess you and your family have nothing to worry about. and so what if i posted my age, i was just stating that i was going to be getting a car in the next year or two, and wanted it to be my first...is that a sin? if you all loved it so much, then you'd see why i wanted it...and you have no right to call me a spoiled brat...you don't even know me, and you judge me, just because of my age and what my parents are offering me...i may be young, and not have as much "wisdom" as you claim to have, but even if i was in a car like a fierro, i'd probably still try to push it to it's limits...at my school, if you have a crappy car, your reputation just sinks, i think there are only like 3 or 4 somewhat crappy cars...but only because the owners lack responsibility and they honestly don't care...so please just shut up...one simple yes or no question, and it turns into a 3 page thread

khtm

How?

This huge paragraph jumps from one (attempted) point to another. I'm confused. Are you trying to say that there's no proof that teenagers are in the highest-risk group for auto accidents/deaths? What the heck does your comment about "how many people cut you off" have to do with anything?

Now your case is obviously different than the starter of this thread because you're (a) paying for your car yourself with your hard-earned $ and (b) able to write a coherent sentence. I don't see why you're so offended that guys with years of driving and life experience are trying to offer some advise (albeit negative).

Man there's no reasoning with you youngins...and this is coming from an old 23-year-old

InvisibleMonkey

how does that not have a point? or can you just not understand english?

InvisibleMonkey

khtm...i just noticed...if you read on the first page, you ask if i'm paying for it by myself, right after i tell you that i'm not, you tell me to not even think about it

124Spider

Actually, a car can be dangerous if used in a manner it was meant to be used, if the driver does not have the skill ore experience to know how do deal with situations as they arrive. With the exception of kids who have been driving on a track since well before they turned 16 (a vanishingly small number of them), no brand new 16 year old has that skill and experience.

As to your statistical "analysis" of accident data, it is a statistical fact that kids are greatly more likely than older drives to get into an accident. Kids cause serious accidents in much greater proportion than older drivers. The fact that there are far fewer young, male drivers, so that they don't cause the majority of such accidents, does not change the simple, inarguable fact that a 16 year old male driver driving a performance car is frighteningly more likely to cause such an accident than an older driver.

Funny, I don't remember forum rules forbidding the giving of opinions.

Narrow-minded? There's no question that most kids are "good kids." Nobody said otherwise. Now, let me ask a question: Do you really think that, just because a kid is "mature" and/or a "good decision-maker," that many of them, when given a performance car as a daily driver, won't see what the car will do? Especially with three of his friends in the car? To "absolutely trust" a kid not to do that is simply closing your eyes to reality, especially when the consequences can be so dire, both for the kid and for others. If recognizing the reality of human nature is "narrow-minded," I'm guilty.

dmp

I've only met one or two kids in my life who can take advice without getting their panties wadded. However unsolicited the advice, the smartest kids read, accept, evaluate and move on.

:-/