mudgeons' kids' first cars

[Alan]

Originally Posted by John V

I always felt like luxury items were what you bought when you had worked hard and could afford to reward yourself.

I understand you don’t relate but I get incredible pleasure and enjoyment being able to provide nice things for my wife and kids, nothing in my mind is better ...

[ZBB]

When I was in high school, I went to a school that the attendance zone ranged across all income levels.

One of my friends probably had one of the wealthiest fathers in the school... His first car was a '73 or '74 Chevy Vega. It was laughably horrible (this was in the late 80s).

There were a few kids with BMWs and Mercedes though. But most people had older hand-me-down cars or 10+ year old used cars...

[lip277]

Originally Posted by Alan

I understand you don’t relate but I get incredible pleasure and enjoyment being able to provide nice things for my wife and kids, nothing in my mind is better ...

For me - it is not a matter of relating... I relate very well on this item. And what you said touched a nerve with me - sorry for the novel that follows, but I have some experience with this - kind of a controlled experiment if you want to think of it that way...

My parents had three kids.
I am the oldest. The youngest was born several years later than the first two. I remember growing up and being very aware that we had to count our pennies (kinda) as my dad's business was taking a fair bit of our family resources. We had chores around the house and worked down at the office (both after school and during summer and... all that). I worked even during my college summers...
But things were getting better.....
By the time my youngest brother was in his mid teens (with the two of us older kids either finished or nearly finished with college), my fathers business was becoming successful and my parents had the ability to 'spoil' my youngest brother - and they did. One thing led to another and led to another and... well - you may recall we lost him a couple of years ago to alcoholism.

My parents regretted how they changed the way they parented - they thought that by giving the child 'things' - they were being good parents.
Us two older kids - we worked for the company. Sometimes we got paid - sometimes we didn't. But - I had a car, my tuition was paid - and all that. Oh - the car was old (yes, the Mustang - but that was a $2000 car then).
The youngest - he had an entitlement mindset and complained when he had things asked of him, he got a new truck and had my father co-sign his mortgage (two of them actually) after he failed out of college and started working for the company.

There is an analogy in life that I often use at work -
If I give you a fish - you are fed for today. If I teach you to fish, you are fed for life.
My youngest brother always angled his way to have things done for him - and that came to a crashing final end. And before that - my middle brother (who runs the business now) had to fire the youngest one due he just couldn't get past expecting that whatever happens, someone will bail him out. There are no Mulligan's in life - we kept telling him... But the bottle had taken hold by that time and.... Sucks, just sucks....

For the two of us older kids - it was like watching the ultimate slow motion train wreck. Even back in the 1990's - both of us took our concerns to our parents on what was happening - but.. Oh well...

I have no idea about anything with anyone else here - and I don't want to start a 'thing' in that regard. Just that giving a 16 year old a $40k brand new car stuck a nerve with me and I wanted to share a perspective from what I saw happen in my situation... that's all...

Oh, - and I saw this headline here that caught my attention as well....

[kognito]

Robert Vesco Nixon Scandal had a very nice home in our town in the late 60's early 70's. His son was a year older than me. When he got his license, he crashed everything his father bought him in 3-4 weeks. Corvettes, Camaros, Porsches, all came to him to die

[Alan]

Originally Posted by lip277

For me - it is not a matter of relating... I relate very well on this item. And what you said touched a nerve with me - sorry for the novel that follows, but I have some experience with this - kind of a controlled experiment if you want to think of it that way...

My parents had three kids.
I am the oldest. The youngest was born several years later than the first two. I remember growing up and being very aware that we had to count our pennies (kinda) as my dad's business was taking a fair bit of our family resources. We had chores around the house and worked down at the office (both after school and during summer and... all that). I worked even during my college summers...
But things were getting better.....
By the time my youngest brother was in his mid teens (with the two of us older kids either finished or nearly finished with college), my fathers business was becoming successful and my parents had the ability to 'spoil' my youngest brother - and they did. One thing led to another and led to another and... well - you may recall we lost him a couple of years ago to alcoholism.

My parents regretted how they changed the way they parented - they thought that by giving the child 'things' - they were being good parents.
Us two older kids - we worked for the company. Sometimes we got paid - sometimes we didn't. But - I had a car, my tuition was paid - and all that. Oh - the car was old (yes, the Mustang - but that was a $2000 car then).
The youngest - he had an entitlement mindset and complained when he had things asked of him, he got a new truck and had my father co-sign his mortgage (two of them actually) after he failed out of college and started working for the company.

There is an analogy in life that I often use at work -
If I give you a fish - you are fed for today. If I teach you to fish, you are fed for life.
My youngest brother always angled his way to have things done for him - and that came to a crashing final end. And before that - my middle brother (who runs the business now) had to fire the youngest one due he just couldn't get past expecting that whatever happens, someone will bail him out. There are no Mulligan's in life - we kept telling him... But the bottle had taken hold by that time and.... Sucks, just sucks....

For the two of us older kids - it was like watching the ultimate slow motion train wreck. Even back in the 1990's - both of us took our concerns to our parents on what was happening - but.. Oh well...

I have no idea about anything with anyone else here - and I don't want to start a 'thing' in that regard. Just that giving a 16 year old a $40k brand new car stuck a nerve with me and I wanted to share a perspective from what I saw happen in my situation... that's all...

Oh, - and I saw this headline here that caught my attention as well....

What happened to your brother is completely heart breaking ... addiction completely sucks, I lost a VERY good friend to it and have seen and been there for family members as well as a few close friends who have gone and some currently going through it. I cannot imagine losing my brother to it.

Thank you for sharing your story.

[Terri Kennedy]

Originally Posted by Jeff_DML

For our boys first car, her perspective is why wouldn't we buy a car for them since we can afford it but I want them to earn it/have buy in. My older son is about to turn 15 so we will see how this works out.

I had to buy my first 3 cars unassisted, and my parents wouldn't add me to the family car insurance until I had shown I was responsible enough (in my father's view, this was by fixing an inoperable car to the point where it would pass DMV inspection). My first 4 cars were:

• 1965 BelAir sedan, black. 1974-1974. Got it for free from a friend because it needed a ring job, which at the shop was more than the car was worth. Rebuilt the engine but missed something and it grenaded after a few thousand miles.
• 1965 Impala station wagon, green. 1974-1976. Got it for free for towing it out of the field where a friend's parents had abandoned it. Did an auto-to-manual swap and put in a 427 V8. Sold it to a mechanic I knew who ran it in a demolition derby - twice -to pay for the Charger.
• 1966 Charger Fastback, gold/brown. 1976-1977. Did an engine swap to get it running. Stolen.
• 1977 Toyota Corolla, silver. (new) 1977-1979. Loan co-signed by my father if I got my own insurance. Car was $4600-ish, payment was $123.39/month after downpayment on a 36-month finance. Was run off the road by a maniac and totalled.

[robg]

Originally Posted by Terry Kennedy

I had to buy my first 3 cars unassisted, and my parents wouldn't add me to the family car insurance until I had shown I was responsible enough (in my father's view, this was by fixing an inoperable car to the point where it would pass DMV inspection). My first 4 cars were:

• 1965 BelAir sedan, black. 1974-1974. Got it for free from a friend because it needed a ring job, which at the shop was more than the car was worth. Rebuilt the engine but missed something and it grenaded after a few thousand miles.
• 1965 Impala station wagon, green. 1974-1976. Got it for free for towing it out of the field where a friend's parents had abandoned it. Did an auto-to-manual swap and put in a 427 V8. Sold it to a mechanic I knew who ran it in a demolition derby - twice -to pay for the Charger.
• 1966 Charger Fastback, gold/brown. 1976-1977. Did an engine swap to get it running. Stolen.
• 1977 Toyota Corolla, silver. (new) 1977-1979. Loan co-signed by my father if I got my own insurance. Car was $4600-ish, payment was $123.39/month after downpayment on a 36-month finance. Was run off the road by a maniac and totalled.

I've had a thing for charger fastbacks since that movie "big fish". Pretty cool looking cars.

[Terri Kennedy]

Originally Posted by robg

I've had a thing for charger fastbacks since that movie "big fish". Pretty cool looking cars.

One of the most appealing things to a teenager was the flip-down panel between the passenger compartment and the trunk. Good for bhiding eer and people (at drive-in movies).

[Alan]

We decided today to order the X3, My wife, youngest daughter and I went to the dealer and looked over the interior trims and made our decision after literally going through one car after the other in their lot where they keep the new cars.

It was fun and the decision has been made, will be sending the final build to my salesman on Monday and the car will be ordered.

Delivery should arrive right before my daughters 17th birthday.

She is so excited and so are we, it really is a beautiful SUV.

[Josh (PA)]

Originally Posted by Alan

We decided today to order the X3, My wife, youngest daughter and I went to the dealer and looked over the interior trims and made our decision after literally going through one car after the other in their lot where they keep the new cars.

It was fun and the decision has been made, will be sending the final build to my salesman on Monday and the car will be ordered.

Delivery should arrive right before my daughters 17th birthday.

She is so excited and so are we, it really is a beautiful SUV.

4cyl or i6? Let me know how you like it. We are 99% in the e wagon for our next car, but the 1% remains next x3 m40
Fyi, there is a pretty major lci comkng on the x3s in July if you can wait.