Tumbleweeds… we have not seen much regarding the G87 lately. G42 production was originally scheduled to begin this month, August. Allegedly that has not happened and from my understanding the ordering guides have not even been released to centers as of yet. My center source also informed me that there is currently only twelve allocations in the entire country for the new M240.

Wow. My son now has his learner’s permit. Gulp. And he keeps asking for me to take him out in the 2. Um, no. The Mazda or nothing, buddy.

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When my son had his learner’s permit (15) he attended the two day teen school at the performance center. They were mostly in M235s or F30 335s. I highly recommend this school for any teen driver. FYI, paying parents receive 15% off if they are a BMW CCA member.

I was about 17 when my dad started having me do deliveries (in a 4 ton flatbed). By 18 I was driving one of our 2000 gallon delivery trucks https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...7711ed55_b.jpg
Like this - just nicer - it was almost 40 years ago after all - lol

I also drove our new-ish Mercedes 300SD and Ford Country Squire wagon as well. I remember one time my dad's partner had me go to the bank driving his R107 Mercedes... now - THAT was nice!!!

For a current example - I am working with my 16 year old niece to let her drive the 997... with me along... both to let her know what driving a stick feels like - as well as show her a bit of confidence on how she is doing and that I trust her....

YMMV as always....

There is also the Tire Rack Street Survival School. They are hosted by a variety of clubs (BMWCCA, PCA, SCCA, etc). There's one coming up next month at Atlanta Motor Speedway. I've been meaning to get both of my kids to one.

https://streetsurvival.org/

That is pretty awesome. The truck. :D

They livery is fantastic!

I've been trying to get my 17yo daughter to try driving the Camaro, but she's still afraid of it (and me, I guess).

Great ideas, guys. And very viable for us where we live. (Except Kevin’s suggestion, LOL.)

Right now my son is toggling between the Mazda and the ex’s Tesla. Quite the toggle!

Of course, he’s pushing both of us for the BMW and the Porsche!

I’ve been slowly introducing K1 to driving. She’s still 15, so it’s only parking lots at this point. I miss having a big driveway and/or school campus; that made it a lot easier when I was that age.

So far she’s only been allowed to drive the sticks; the Porsche is ironically a lot easier to learn on than the BMW, so it’s been mostly Porsche time.

Still need to figure out what the long term solution is for when she gets a license. Probably not a Blackwing?

how is the e46 working out for you guys?

My daughter turns 15 in Jan and can get her permit then. We’ve been toying with buying something with a stick to teach her on. But realistically, she will never drive a stick car — everything will be an EV and won’t need any shifting…. But I’ll keep looking…

One Tesla tip…. Create a driver profile for the kid. Tesla now saves almost all settings in each drivers profile. Then set acceleration mode to chill while the kid is learning. It reduces acceleration speeds by 20-30% - so still faster than most other cars, but less risky for someone learning…

Looking back at how I learned to drive…. I started driving when I was 6 — we had a ranch and I could drive an automatic ‘56 Chevy pickup we kept at the ranch as long as an adult was with me and we didn’t leave the ranch. When I was 7, I leaned to drive stick on a ‘69 Ford pickup we also kept at the ranch. But we sold the ranch a couple years later… Then when I got my permit at 15 1/2, my grandmother insisted I visit her at their summer house so I could learn to drive. They had a ‘67 Beetle that we’d spend a good couple hours in each day, and by the end of the week, I could do hill starts. She even let me drive her ‘83 Supra (also stick) by the end of the week…

Checking FB marketplace a few times a day for a long time until the right cars at the right asking prices showed up worked for me.

Great! Still need to do bushings. And we discovered that one of the headlight housings needs replacement due to a non-stellar bulb replacement under previous ownership that melted the housing enough to prevent proper seating of a new bulb, so I'm probably going to add projectors.

She's loving driving it. She added a bluetooth module, fixed a flat, replaced cabin air filter, engine air filter, windshield washer pump, replaced headliner, and watched me change oil and oil filter. Couldn't be much happier with how it's worked out so far.