Just because you're shallow doesn't mean you have an appreciation for something.My parents bought me an M3 when I was 16 and an ES350 when I was 18, and I've never seen someone appreciate their cars like I do.
Just because you're shallow doesn't mean you have an appreciation for something.My parents bought me an M3 when I was 16 and an ES350 when I was 18, and I've never seen someone appreciate their cars like I do.
Buncha young guns here !! HA!
When I was 16 I bought a 1957 Buick LeSabre..
Crusin' On Down The Road..
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.... so i guess the best advice for the OP is ....
I have no idea what is meant by this post.
Are you saying that because I had nice cars I'm shallow and therefore incapable of appreciating the gifts my parents gave me?
No, I'm saying you're shallow because you say things likeI have no idea what is meant by this post. Are you saying that because I had nice cars I'm shallow and therefore incapable of appreciating the gifts my parents gave me?
Though the way your parents raised you probably has a lot to do with your shallowness.I once made my girlfriend (at the time... haha) walk in the rain because she said she didn't like my blue leather seats. Another time I cried and had a "fender wake" when someone backed into my car.
Teenagers, as a group, are incapable of appreciating either the costs or the risks associated with driving a luxury or performance car. They are dangerous enough with basic transportation - why give them a bigger, more expensive weapon?
It is a universal problem faced by those born with a silver spoon in their mouth.
The point he is trying to make, is that you cannot appreciate the sacrifice required by some, to acquire what you come-by via birth.
Speak for the teenagers you know. I handled mine just fine. V8, manual transmission, fast.
You don't need my permission, and frankly I don't care what you drive - your parents gave it to you, enjoy it. But you aren't going to change anyone's opinions either with that attitude, and I'd advise you not to try. I know a young kid who died less than 48 hours ago in a fast car. He thought he handled his just fine too.
I could have sworn I addressed comments like that in my long post on the previous page (post #164).
I'm saying such blanket statements are inappropriate. And what attitude?
They would be if we all knew each others' life histories.
Teenagers, as a group, are incapable of appreciating either the costs or the risks associated with driving a luxury or performance car.
There's no need to become so self-rightously indignant over a little ribbing about being given expensive cars for free.
Maybe our parents gave us fast cars because they knew we weren't going to go out and wrap ourselves around a pole. I'd been taking cars to the track since I was 14 and on a formal race team since for a year before I got my M3. Some kids are just terrible drivers through and just aren't capable of handling a high powered vehicle. To be honest, I've driven Ferrari's and Smart cars and on the road they are the exactly the same to drive. It's not about the car you give someone, it's the driver. You can speed just the same in a Camry as you can in a Ferrari. In fact, whenever I take out a really fast car, I'm always much more careful because I don't want to muck it up.
I had friends my age who were given Vipers, GT500's, ZO6's etc for their 16th birthdays and none of them crashed them. From what I know and see, the only teenagers who crash their cars are the dopes who get 80's Camaro's or '90's Mustangs/Civic's and drive around like their in race cars. The same goes with speeding tickets as well. I have noticed that the kids who have less expensive cars are the ones that drive like hooligans because they have to work so much harder to impress people (which in reality, is what teenagers are all about).
No, they're just inappropriate. I would have agreed with you if you said "most teenagers are ill-equipped to handle a fast car", but instead you said:
Oh well, maybe it was just all luck I didn't wrap myself around a poll while I was driving 100mph through residential neighborhoods...
Or maybe, just maybe, there are teenagers who can accurately assess risk and drive responsibly, even if those are few and far between.
This is pretty petty, though.
Maybe our parents gave us fast cars because they knew we weren't going to go out and wrap ourselves around a pole. I'd been taking cars to the track since I was 14 and on a formal race team since for a year before I got my M3. Some kids are just terrible drivers through and just aren't capable of handling a high powered vehicle. To be honest, I've driven Ferrari's and Smart cars and on the road they are the exactly the same to drive. It's not about the car you give someone, it's the driver. You can speed just the same in a Camry as you can in a Ferrari. In fact, whenever I take out a really fast car, I'm always much more careful because I don't want to muck it up.
I had friends my age who were given Vipers, GT500's, ZO6's etc for their 16th birthdays and none of them crashed them. From what I know and see, the only teenagers who crash their cars are the dopes who get 80's Camaro's or '90's Mustangs/Civic's and drive around like their in race cars. The same goes with speeding tickets as well. I have noticed that the kids who have less expensive cars are the ones that drive like hooligans because they have to work so much harder to impress people (which in reality, is what teenagers are all about).
I think the facts bear me out on that.
Frankly it is just luck.
Driving is the most dangerous thing most people do on a dalily basis - even if one is a careful driver. Being young, male and in a fast car increases the risk enormously, whether you choose to acknowledge it or not. Your reaction to this is typical and frankly understandable, but that doesn't change the facts.
You can't take a statistic used to generalize the ability of a large group, and use it to judge the ability of individual, or two, or three people.
Driving is the most dangerous thing most people do on a dalily basis - even if one is a careful driver. Being young, male and in a fast car increases the risk enormously
I guess my main issue with this whole thread is the hostility directed at people whose parents were willing to trust their kids with a car and able to buy it. I don't really understand this kind of thinking. Sure, some kids may definitely be spoiled by thinking they're entitled to these things, but what about those who truly appreciate these kinds of gifts and use them responsibly? You're really going to start making assumptions of the personality of the kids and the competency and lovingness of the parents based off something so superficial?
As this thread has been misdirected.....
While it is great you guys seem fairly level headed, I will say I have come across many kids in my life who did not want to (or parents did not want to) associate with kids based off some superficial things....like clothes, cars, toys, whatever. Perhaps that is the cause that drives this attitude to some degree?
For example, one of my friends' family is somewhat well off and was complaining seriously to me (when we were like 24 mind you) that his family was going to the Florida Keys as opposed to Hawaii. Of course I just sat there and agreed with him lol
In regards to appreciating things...I will argue that being given something of value can not be nearly as appreciated as working towards it and obtaining it on your own. Namely since you did not have to work for it. I don't know about those who are well off but still to this day, my brothers and I equate buying things like a subway to amt of hrs worked to be able to even buy it. crazy perhaps?
Now with all that said, I don't care about other's people's business. If people give children nice things, I think that is the privilege the parent has earned by working for it. I know if I can, I would love to treat my kids to things I didn't have. As long as people are polite and nice to each other and not judgemental, they are golden in my book. However, I will say when people argue over getting a z4 over a gtr or something so superficial, it rubs me the wrong way and really makes me not respect them as a person.