my son is looking at some cas and fell i nlove with the s200 is it a good car...if not what would you recomend....thanks

post this up in general discussions.

I have an s2000 and a GX470. In my opinion, the s2000 is way too fast for a teenage driver. It's just too tempting to speed in it. Besides, there is limited storage space, no glove compartment, only 1 cup holder, and the radio sucks. Not real practical for anyone but the serious sports car enthusiast.

My semi- first car was a 1996 black on red Volvo 850R, rare and very fast (for a Volvo ). I loved that car, kept it as well as i could, until it was t-boned about 5 months ago by a drunk driver running a red light at 40 MPH.

I was hit on the passenger side, and that car pretty much saved my life. All the airbags in that thing deployed, 6 in total. I say semi first car because it was a hand me down from my dad, and then after the accident i realized that i didn't need such a performer, because i was only in high school. So then i got my Lexus.

Volvo's are well known for being extremely safe and last a very long time. My 96 had only 85K give or take miles when it was totaled. It easily had another 150K on it. My neighbors kept their 1991 240DL until last year; had close to 400k on it. They only got rid of it because they were sick of replacing the dash wiring on it because squirrels kept chewing threw them. (Moral of the story: If you have a garage, make the best use of it.)

There was a family in my area who bought their son a brand new S2000, and after 4 days, he was racing it. He hit 120 on the George Washinton Parkway and lost control- totaled the car, but was not badly hurt. 1 week later, his parents bought him the exact same car, and was out on the raod again. The reason i remember this is becuase it was brought up by the guest judge at my driver's liscense ceremony.

Good luck in choosing.:cheers:




This was exactly my car, except it had the 7 spoke rims and not the 5 spoke ones.

Only buy your teenage son an S2000 if you don't want him to come home one night.
That unfortunatly is the truth and bottom line.
Experiance and judgment is something a new driver cannot have ,combine this with testosterone and 100hp per litre and that is more than a deadly combination.

I love the S2000 ( i would rather have the Volvo 850 turboR canary yellow and 18 inch graphite rims in a wagon).
But it is totally impractical for a young driver.
A suburu impreza wrx is safer (not the STI, it is too fast) without being blindingly fast and uncontrollable.

How old is your son? Is it his first car? If he has no experience and/or is a student, then it is a bad car for him. Not that it is insanely fast. 1/4 mile in high 14s- but it is small and has no cargo room and can be tossed around easily. Also, not too comfy. I have been in one. Plus is has NO torque at all. It takes almost redlining to get going in that thing. Handles nicely though. You might wanna get him something that is sporty, safe, kiiinda quick so he can be proud, economical, roomy. 01+ IS300, 97-01 ES300, 98-05 Gs300, 92-00 SC300, Volvo C70 2.4 light pressure turbo, 98-02 Accord V6, 99-03 Solara V6. All of those cars have some decent pep to them and are still big and safe enough to not only avoid accidents, but to be protected on impact. Plus most of those can be modified to be faster as he grows older and more mature.

I hope you make the perfect decision,

Anthony.

Oh and I forgot to be specific and say, NO GERMAN CARS. They suck at being cars. Plus, he might become too arrogant with one of those. You don't want that.

Cheers,

Anthony.

well id like to thank u all 4 helping me decide but i think ill just wait until he gets a little older becuase he is only 15...your advice was very helpful...he doesnt have any experience so i might get him an SUV (toyota higlander) after a while...what do u think of SUVs...becuase after a thorough dscussion we decided no 2 seaters....so now he wants an SUV...or atleast a sedan...im want to get him a car in the ball park of 20k...and i prefer used...this is his 1st car afterall....but the highlander has bad MPG and eats premium just like my GX....wow maybe ill just cross this bridge when i get there...thanks for all your help...feel free to keep posting...and advice is greatly appreciated
-j

from working @ a honda dealer we don not even reccomend those cars for a teanage driver.. we had a teen spin one arround on a test drive and total the car.

haha thats funny...wat and idiot

i think an s2000 is a good car

In 2000 my son turned 16. There were many debates between my wife and i as to what his FIRST car would be. At the time he wasn't exactly one of the most mature kids on the block, so it was a hard decidion to make.

The first few weeks of his license i let him take my 99 RX300 to see if he could handle that. Whenever he thought i wasn't looking he was flooring it, speeding; pretty much what any immature teenager would do. So i knew that he couldn't handle a nice car.

My wife and i discussed it over and over again, and came up with the solution that a used, not very popular, safe car would be the best solution. So, i went to a Volvo dealer and bought a 1998 Volvo S70, white (which i knew he hated).

When he graduated high school in 2003 i decided that i would get him something a bit nicer to go to college with. 2003 Lexus LS430, black.

But......since then he's gotten in 5 accidents.

#1: The second week he had it, he went through a stop sign and hit a car on the side. And of course it had to be a Jaguar!!

#2: A week after Christmas he must have been speeding (police said he was going 40mph on a 25mph zone), tailgating someone, they smacked on their brakes, my son couldn't stop and rear-ended someone. Fortunately that car was only a small car!!

#3: That easter he was backing out of our driveway (which is a long journey LOL) and must have been going too fast, didn't see the truck going by, and backed up into it.

#4: He was driving on the highway with his girlfriend in Flroida, for some reason he wasn't looking ahead of him, the person in front of him stopped, he swerved to the left, and someone else smacked into the left of his car.

#5: He was "stopped" at an intersection on a GREEN light, and someone smashed into the back of him.

But he didn't get a scratch on him, thanks to the safety of the LS430. I don't have one regret, dispite the insurance bills and the car repairs!!!

And his car is still working as if new. he must have over 100,000 miles on it by now. I was glad he was in an LS not some tiny sports car.

After all this happened, last year when my first daughter turned 16, i bought her a 2004 ES330. I would rather her beat it up and get into accidents, then her get hurt in an accident. The safety is all i care about.

I would never put an inexperienced driver into a sports car.

good advice but i think ill wait a year/2 to get my son a car
thankss guys espescially lex kid..took some time on that entry

4 cylinder, front wheel drive 2001-2005 Toyota Highlanders get 30 MPG at 60-65 MPH. It's the same 4 cylinder engine that's in the 2002-2005 Toyota Camry's.

1st car - Get him a used camry, Safe, Reliable, Toyota, 4 cyl. easy on gas. insurance, and will hold some value when he decides to upgrade after gaining driving experience. So NO to the s2000.

i bought him the a back s200 last week and he totaled it yesterday after he lost control goin 120 on the freeway at night......that is what you would expect to hear...so NO im not going to buy a s2000...lol...im going 2 wait till he "matures" lol...ty guys

Another thing i would also suggest is not giving an unexperienced driver an SUV to start out with.

They are harder to get used to, and are very tippy. for all of you who drive SUV's, you know how hard to drive they are, especially at higher speeds. Cars are easier to handle.

I would have to agree on a 4 cylinder toyota Camry as well. They have enough pep, are very safe, and will last forever if taken care of correctly. You can beat them up and they still won't die!! And, they aren't very expensive.

Let him look around at different ones, until he finds the right color etc. Make him feel like it's his call; he'll take care of it and appreciate it more.

Just some things i have learned throught the years

why do you think "a" (not "AN") Lexus GX470 would be a good first car? They're extremely tippy, aren't they?

This lexus ls4302 guy is just trying to pose as lexus ls430. He should probably be removed.

yoooo, dont be bad mouthing german cars mannnnn, im just a student with his temps (getting my license in beginning of nov.) and my dad gave the down payment on an 2001 Audi A6 2.8 (i gotta pay the rest off ~20K) and he has a Lexus GX470. I love my audi and would not give it for anything else... thing is spacious and not to slow or fast.... if you want to get your son a nice car get him an A4 1.8T. its not to fast and its got quattro awd, so he can be safe and have some nice pep. or even an passat V6......

While Audi's are good cars performance, style, and ergonomic wise, reliability is just not up to par. My friend used to drive his mom's A6 Avant, until he was given a 2001 S4. Suprisingly, the A6 was/is the worse of the two, with constant lights staying on like ABS, Service Engine Soon and the oil temperature light. The information pod inbetween the tachometer and spedometer went blank. Cost $600 to replace the cargo cover; had to be shipped from Germany. His S4 is running fine.

Granted, there will be problems, big or small, for any car. You just have to accept it.

i apperciate the suggestions but as i mentioned earlier im just not ready the kid doesnt even have his permit...im just thinking ahead...lol srry but keep posting i luv the ideas