GOOD POINT. I'm afraid our young friend has lost all credibility. He committed the exact behavior he said teenagers are stereotyped for. LOL. Going 100mph in a totally unfamiliar car that is slightly bigger than a GO-Kart, shows an extreme lack of responsibility. He put himself in danger and EVEN worse he put others in danger as well. Enough said.

I'm tired out from following this thread! I have two teen drivers; an 18 yo son, a going to be 16 yo daughter and two Porsches. My son has driven the Box S on the street with my supervision and attended an autocross school with Chicago PCA. I've encouraged him to try the 911 (track set-up) but he's not really interested (guess I'm lucky).

When it came time for a car, he choose a slightly pre-driven Jeep Liberty; more his style. Yes, he has friends with sports cars, but most the kids prefer a small SUV. When he's off to college, he can load a lot more stuff in his Jeep than a sports car.

My daughter will probably want to drive the Box; kids!

Hang in there Adam and drive safe, but enjoy.

I'm 17 now, and have owned my Boxster since I was 16. It's been more than 8 months now I think, and I'm still alive.

The great thing about the Boxster is that it isn't super fast, esp if you dont get an S. I drive mine without traction control (didn't come with it) and I do fine. I'd suggest letting your teen know a bit about the road though, it's really easy to find yourself within a group of Mustang's revving their V8's for a street race at the lights, and very easy to get into a crash at that point.

I don't like to brag or anything, but I try to be as responsible as possible. I realize what I'm driving isn't a toy but rather an assembly of fine engineering and design.

If I had a car that could drive fast, corner hard and brake on a dime when I was a teenager I probably would have ended up dead. I am an agressive driver by nature or passion, but inexperience is an important aspect that is due appropriate respect.

I was a smart, level headed, high acheiving, well grounded kid with a zeal for driving. In my case, it was good that I did not start out with a sports car. Too many other people out there and too many wacky situations I wasn't prepared to manage.

Experience and professional training have given me wiser and likely more conservative decision making, but have not reduced my pleasure or aggressive enjoyment.


PlayersExpress - my advice to you now and forever is not to take things personally and try to shrug down the frustrations that are what they are. Sterotyping never works for everyone. Labeling never really works either. But people do it based on one facet or view. That's how it is. Such is life. It isn't personal. Be free. Move on. Etc.

Bwa ha! THAT is hilarious! What a nut [case].

Sad story on topic:

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Columns/articleId=124526

THat happened to the kid in an M5... this happed to an older driver in a Ferrari
Charles "Mask" Lewis

Your point?

You can be as defensive as you like, but if you're young, you're dangerous, and responsible parents will know it and take steps to reduce the risk to their children and innocent drivers. I was you, I know how you feel and I know how you will feel. Your attitude will change.

http://www.cdc.gov/MotorVehicleSafety/Teen_Drivers/teendrivers_factsheet.html

http://www.rmiia.org/Auto/Teens/Teen_Driving_Statistics.htm

http://dmv.ca.gov/teenweb/more_btn6/traffic/traffic.htm

http://www.driverzed.org/zedalert/FactSheet_Teen_Driving_Stats.pdf

I think this is taking it a bit far, blanket statements are never good. I agree with you for the most part, but I do know a few teens who I would trust my Boxster to without hesitating, and they aren't dangerous.

Facts and statistics are not everything, it ultimately depends on the person. There will always be that one in a thousand teen that can drive a car like the Boxster responsibly. And there will always be that one in a thousand 50 year old that will drive their Boxster into a tree (although I've seen that posted here a few times.)
:cheers:

I'm probably one of the younger fellas on this forum at 22, but I think it's all based on how your teenager drives and how willing you are to pay a ridiculous amount for insurance. I have a cousin who drives a Nissan 350z and he drives that thing like a maniac. That doesn't mean everyone drives like that though, when I was a teenager, I didn't drive anywhere near as crazy as that. Pending your teenager has a good sense of responsibility and has enough of a brain to not go and drive it like a maniac, I say go for it if you feel like you want to make that his first car.

At the same time, he's also a teenager. If his peers notice that he's driving a Porsche, they're going to go crazy. I had a friend who got an RX-8 as his first car in 2004, and his car got keyed within a week of parking it. There's enough people that are going to get jealous and talk smack on him for having a car like that. In other words, he might get a little too much attention than he can handle from a car like that at his age.

If I was you, I wouldn't even considering giving a teenager a Boxster like that. Something like a Boxster costs far too much to give to a new driver. And we might be getting a little too off-topic, but I had to work for quite a while to save up for my Boxster. Knowing that I worked really hard to get a car like this makes it that much better for me. So being handed a car like that as my first at that age would totally ruin my sense of entitlement and would more likely make turn me into a spoiled d-bag for the rest of my life. There's way too many people like that around where I live. But, that's just me.

Brain Immaturity Could Explain Teen Crash Rate
Risky Behavior Diminishes At Age 25, NIH Study Finds

By Elizabeth Williamson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 1, 2005; Page A01


The research has been consistent, I totally understand the counterpoints made to stories like this one, as someone else pointed out I was eighteen once.

As I said earlier, there are exceptions. But, in the case of teen driving, relatively few. And, you never really know if any particular kid is one of these exceptions until he's on the backside of adolecense and makes it to 21/25.

But, the individual kid isn't the only issue here. How they interact with other teens makes a significant difference too.

As a group, teens are the ONLY driving group where carrying a passenger actually increases the risk that they'll have a crash. For ALL other groups, the crash risk decreases whenever they are carrying passengers. Those are the statistics.

Not only that, but teens are much more likely than other groups to be carrying passengers, and more likely to have other teens as passengers than any other group. Studies have found that their natural propensity for bad decision making actually compounds itself when groups of teens are together. Look at the M5 incident where there were 4 teens involved. How many of those passengers spoke on the side of caution vs how many who urged the driver on? Actually, I hate to label their decision making as bad, a better word is undeveloped.

Not only do teens lack an experience database on which to measure their decisions, but studies have shown that the development of the frontal lobes of their brains (critical in decision making) isn't fully completed until in their 20's. In many ways, they are simply incapable of consistent good decision making. This is especially true when those decisions are split-second, as is often the case in driving. They may in fact recognize a threat, and are armed with acute reflexes. But the whole process breaks down when they are forced to analyze and formulate corrections in a timeframe adequate to avoid the threat.

Sorry, IMHO, it's a mistake to give a kid the keys to a Boxster (or any car whose capabilities or flavor suggests fast driving and risky performance) and let them go unsupervised, and history and statistics backs me up.

:cheers:

LIL, what you elaborated on regarding brain development is exactly what I was referring to.

If you think deeply on this for just a bit, check out your experience, I think you will come to this conclusion. Teenagers are NOT well equipped to handle the allure of the Boxster.

Odds are not in your favor on this score.

All teenagers are unsafe, unless you grew up in Finland or your name is Lewis Hamilton. :cheers:

Finnish drivers actually have to go through a lot of tests to get their full drivers licenses which include being able to control your car when its hydroplaning, etc...

So I pretty much would trust most Finns with a full drivers license :)

My first car was a 1985 944, which I drove from 18 - 21. It was slow (145hp), it was ugly (by some peoples opinions, not mine) and I loved it. If you want my opinion, get the kid one of those ... they are cheap (by P-car standards) and a lot of fun if it is a well-sorted example. Also, it made the step up to a Boxster MUCH more fulfilling when I was ready to make the jump after college was done with.

Just another idea. Good luck with whatever you decide. :cheers:

The bottom line here is, use your own judgment. The fact that people are resorting to facts that survey ALL teens and opinions about ALL teens shows that on the whole people are either a) uncomfortable about it or b) don't know enough about the subject.

I for a fact am a teen and I've owned a Boxster for a reasonable amount of time. I also know for a fact that I don't drive irresponsibly, I don't street race, I don't try to beat Mustangs between the lights, I don't take corners at speeds I wouldn't in any other car.

I can't say all teenagers drive responsibly, and that's why I say that its up to your judgment to evaluate how your teen drives, nobody else can make that evaluation other than you the parent.