Newbie Introduction and Question

[Brucelee]

Enjoy the dream!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Slayer]

Very good points about spoiled rich kids. I hate it when people get things and take them for granted, or act like they're better than everyone else just because they have an M3 when they're 16.

Luckily, I wasn't brought up this way. To be honest, I wouldn't view my family as "rich," and I wouldn't say we are too different from anyone else. My mom isn't putting in too much money for this one, and I'm paying for all other car related costs. I refuse to be the snobby spoiled kid who is unappreciative and a general a-hole. I just enjoy Porsche like you guys

[Perfectlap]

well 21 isn't that young (well nowadays). So Having a Porsche isn't too outlandish.

one thing, driving sportscars brought me to the world of Autocross/Driving schools which has made me about 1000X's the driver the average motorist today is.
actually,m After the first event I was a 3X's better driver then I was the day before.
I've avoided accidents that I highly doubt I would have avoided if I didn't have experience REALLY laying into the brake and a very sharp turn of the wheel.

i doubt you'll ever learn to do that with a big sedan. Does Lexus make a good second hand coupe?

So from a safety standpoint, your reaction time and sense of becoming alert to dangerous conditions become far more acute as a sports car driver
IF you make it your local Autocross. In the DC area they do them at the FEDEX Stadium. A huge course where Nationals are often run.

Other good used sports cars
Subaru STI
Mazda Miata
Honda S2000
Acura RSX
Dodge NEON RT(?)

Maybe wait a couple of years for the Boxster. Your insuracne will be cheaper and a low mileage 2000-2004 BoxsterS will be a sports car bargain. Honestly I think its a good car to move up to but not really one to start off with. Learning to drive correctly can be hard on your machinery and Porsche parts out of warranty can be pricey, much more so then any of the cars listed above

p.s.
a BMW 3 series coupe is an excellent safe and reliable car that's not too bad in performance terms.

[denverpete]

Originally Posted by Perfectlap

So from a safety standpoint, your reaction time and sense of becoming alert to dangerous conditions become far more acute as a sports car driver.

I'd have to agree - but I would also add that the safest driver's I know also ride motorcylces. Not that there aren't crotch jockeys out there - but if you RIDE - you quickly learn to be safe.

You don't take road conditions for granted. You don't take a right just because the oncoming car is a lane over. You never assume anyone is stopping at a light, stop sign, or intersection. You are constantly aware of every car around you at all times. You always know where your "out" is for any given situation - and you never put yourself in a position where you don't have an "out". And, you always assume that the drivers around you are idiots who will act in an completely irrational and unpredictable manner.

It may not teach you to handle a car - but it will make you a safer driver.

[MNBoxster]

Originally Posted by denverpete

I'd have to agree - but I would also add that the safest driver's I know also ride motorcylces. Not that there aren't crotch jockeys out there - but if you RIDE - you quickly learn to be safe.

You don't take road conditions for granted. You don't take a right just because the oncoming car is a lane over. You never assume anyone is stopping at a light, stop sign, or intersection. You are constantly aware of every car around you at all times. You always know where your "out" is for any given situation - and you never put yourself in a position where you don't have an "out". And, you always assume that the drivers around you are idiots who will act in an completely irrational and unpredictable manner.

It may not teach you to handle a car - but it will make you a safer driver.

Hi,

I agree with your premise, and I'm sure many motorcycle Riders do develop good Situational Awareness. But, there are lots of Idiots riding Bikes out there - sometimes I wonder where they learned enough to balance themselves. Riding a Bike does not automatically make you a Good Driver - Perhaps it's that the Bad Riders just get weeded out...

I used to ride Bikes when I was in College, in fact my '68 Triumph Bonneville (not yet a Classic back then) was struck by an old Lady running a Stop Sign at a Blind Intersection with me on it (nowhere to go and I didn't want to lay it down under her Electra 225, so I rode it out) and I had my Graduation Ceremony in a Hospital Bed with both legs in casts (turned out OK, because the Bike was totalled and I got a Norton Commander as a replacement).

My Sister and her Husband are both Surgeons, one a Trauma Surgeon, and from the stories they've told through the years, they don't call 'em Donor Machines for nothing.

But, back on point, it's partly our system. We teach people how to operate a Car and Obey the Traffic Laws, not how to Drive. No parent should hand over the keys to several Hundred Horsepower and a couple tons of sheetmetal to their Kid without much more practice and training than most people currently receive. I'm not picking on young people, but that's where all the lousy Adult Drivers come from, it's not a skill where one generally digresses...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99 (wishing he still had those Bikes of Yesteryear... )