Is buying your teen daughter one of these a parenting status symbol?

[Anonymous]

Wranglers hold their resale better than most cars. They are also cheap to insure. The best thing is for a teen to be able to have fun driving WITHOUT driving fast!

[Anonymous]

My wife just gave the 16 years old son her 2016
Lexus IS350. She now drives the Toyota Prius

[Anonymous]

The new one coming out in the spring is going to cost at least $2,500 more than current version, fyi

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My wife just gave the 16 years old son her 2016
Lexus IS350. She now drives the Toyota Prius

Is her son not your son? And why would she give new driver an expensive car to wreck? Is Prius not reliable?

[Anonymous]

How weird. These were super popular when I was in high school (of course I grew up where they were made so everyone had one) and I had no idea people liked them again. I agree they are super uncomfortable and personally find them ugly.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Yes, it is. If you want your message to be "I suck as a parent."

My DD is getting a car at 16 and it is about 2 years old, low mileage and a Honda and her comment was "If I get a car at 16, I am going to be excited about whatever car it is!" She is getting a car because I am tired of being the chauffeur and yet I want her to continue being involved in so many awesome activities.

But you're GIVING her a car?? She's not just borrowing the family car sometimes??

Yup. She’s mature. Has awesome grades and has activities that take her and her sibling around the area a lot. How can she borrow the family car to get to school at 6:45 am? How can she borrow the family car to get home at 5 pm from activities? And to her various jobs and such? I got a car at 16 and it was a great experience for me. And now I will do the same for my daughter but I won’t get her a 40k Car or some stupid perceived status symbol.

A Honda Civic can also cost 40K. A teen having their own car regardless of what it is, is about status. Drive your own kids. Sibling should not be parenting her siblings You should. She gets to school the same way she got there before age 16. 16 year olds don't need cars. Their parents want them to have cars as it makes your life easier. Yes, she can borrow a family car - you have three cars or share. I don't get buying a car at 16 given they are going to college (one would hope since you can afford a car, you will also pay for college).

NP. No, it can also be about convenience and not just status. Some busy teens need to get themselves to school and their many activities on their own. Call it their car or an extra family car, it's all just semantics. Hondas are solid choices. Very reliable and fuel efficient. If 40K were no big deal I'd much rather buy a Honda than a ridiculous Jeep.

I agree that getting a 3rd car when you add a teen driver can be about convenience. I think my parents handled it well -- although it annoyed me as a teen. Dad got a new car when my sister started driving. She was allowed to drive his old car which included driving me to school along with her. This was not "her" car. It was my parents car that she was allowed to use. When I started driving a year later I also got to use that car. It did not go to college with my sister because it was not her car and still needed at home for me to use. They did eventually buy her a used car when her college required her to have a car (she was in a nursing program and a car was necessary for public health home visits). About mid-way through college I was allowed to take the 3rd car (which was a different car by this point) to school to make it easier to balance my work and extracurricular activities. I was still not allowed to call it 'my' car. When I graduated they signed the car over to me and at that point it was "mine".

This is kinda how my parents did it but we drove the newer car for the safety features. My sister got a new cheap car for graduate school and I got a new cheap car for my senior year as I needed it for an internship. I always owned my car but they paid the insurance while I was away for college and graduate school. We'll keep three cars but we do now.

I'd rather have a Jeep over a Civic as they do better in the snow and bad weather.

Actually, 4WD doesn't really do anything for safety in snow or bad weather; it only helps you start. Every car has "four wheel braking" and "two wheel steering." If you want an actual safety feature for snow and bad weather, make sure you're using winter tires on every vehicle.

http://www.thecarcrashdetective.com/2015/03/5-reasons-to-buy-winter-tires-for-your-car-suv-or-minivan.html/

The 4WD does help. We have it on one of our three cars. We have snow tires for one car. It makes a huge difference when you are driving.

[Anonymous]

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NP. No, it can also be about convenience and not just status. Some busy teens need to get themselves to school and their many activities on their own. Call it their car or an extra family car, it's all just semantics. Hondas are solid choices. Very reliable and fuel efficient. If 40K were no big deal I'd much rather buy a Honda than a ridiculous Jeep.

All the kids driving nice new cars is 100% a status / ego thing for upper middle and rich families.

The truth is simple: new cars are safer and don't have the hidden issues of used cars. If you have lots of money and can easily afford to buy your kid a new car, its really no big deal. The only people, honestly, who make a big deal out if this are jealous people who cannot really afford to buy a new car. If you rereading this and saying "no, thats not it, its tacky," to yourself, try and be honest, at least with yourself. You owe yourself that. The only people who get upset about what other people buy their kids are people who cannot do the same.

+1, I always drove the new car as a teen as it had the better safety features. My parents preferred if I crashed that I had the air bags and other stuff. I always buy new and we drive them till it costs more in repairs than it does to buy new (which is where we are at now). I don't want to buy someone else's problem when I have one of my own. Sadly, for an SUV you cannot get much lower than $40K for a good sized one as I've been looking. A year or two old isn't a huge price difference.

You can get your kid a new $15-18K car that will last them ten years if they take care of it. That is what my parents did when I was in college.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:it's not 40k

I was at the lot recently and they had one for $86k!!

The Rubicon- there are 3 on my street (burbs) and all are the parents' car only

Its not a super high SES area either- houses are anywhere from 480-620 (SFHs)- Jeep peeps love their jeeps!

We have a lot in our neighborhood too and I only see adults driving them. We rented one and really liked it much to our surprise. The new ones are pretty smooth and comfortable. I'd pass mine to my child depending on what kind of kid and how responsible he is so I'd have an excuse to get a new one if we get one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My BIL owns several Jeeps. He calls them matchstick cars, because they get cheap fast and he replaces them a lot. M own teen drove his/nicer Jeep over the summer, uncle let him use it and he used the "junk" one and yes, my DS liked how it drove. No way we are buying that car. The best they can get is Elantra or used Honda and first 6 months have to drive our old junky car. They will scrape it and scratch it.
My DD likes these Jeeps, but she knows that Range Rover is the status symbol. She isn't getting that either.

It depends on the teen. I never scratched or scraped the cars as a teen. I took better care of my mom's car than she did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How weird. These were super popular when I was in high school (of course I grew up where they were made so everyone had one) and I had no idea people liked them again. I agree they are super uncomfortable and personally find them ugly.

Ohio?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My wife just gave the 16 years old son her 2016
Lexus IS350. She now drives the Toyota Prius

I did this too but our Lexus is much older and has better visibility than the Prius.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:They are not terrible safety ratings and they do not distinguish between the 2 and 4 door. One test had the doors off, so it failed that test. The 2018 are getting a lot more safety features in it. They aren't environmentally unfriendly. They get the same gas milage as other SUV's and some cars.

The safety ratings are pretty dismal: "Safety has some weak spots.The NHTSA gave the top-heavy Wrangler only three stars out of five for rollover resistance, while the IIHS gave the two-door Wrangler a Poor in side impact.Other IIHS scores were better, as both the two-door and four-door earned the top “Good” rating for moderate frontal impact, and Marginal in the difficult small overlap frontal test, while the four-door Wrangler Unlimited got a better Marginal rating in side impact.

The only standard airbags are the mandated dual front bags, while side-impact front bags are optional; we can't think of another vehicle that doesn't have standard side-impact airbags in front.Moreover, there are no available advanced safety features, not even a rearview camera."

They also call the on road driving "raw, archaic and sloppy.The old-school recirculating-ball steering is sturdy but dull, the ride is bouncy, and the vehicle leans a lot."

None of that makes it sound like a remotely good choice for a young and inexperienced driver.

Try the FJ Cruiser

o
I wanted one of those but they stopped making them. Look at the New 2018's which are being released on Nov. 29th.. they have all the new safety features including cameras and air bags... before you talk, know your cars. They are not bouncy and they don't lean or at least the 2017 we test drove a few weeks ago.

That's a review from Car and Driver or similar. I'm sure they know what they are reviewing. It's on Consumer Reports list of worst cars again, too. Cameras and air bags are not new safety features, just new to them--and far more than that goes into making a car safe. It's still not there. But go ahead and buy or drive it, I don't mind. It's your life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My wife just gave the 16 years old son her 2016
Lexus IS350. She now drives the Toyota Prius

Is her son not your son? And why would she give new driver an expensive car to wreck? Is Prius not reliable?

LOL. Yes he is also my son but I am just a regular white joe married to a tiger mom

She want him to drive the Lexus because of all the safety features and options on the Lexus
that the Prius does not have

[Anonymous]

Why would a teen or anyone else want to drive a boring Toyota? Or Honda? Why not buy a car that is fun at any speed! Jeep!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find the responses from non Jeep owners quite funny! We have actually owned a few. Currently a 2015 Wrangler Sport Unlimited. While we have only put 75,000 on it so far the only repair it’s had was the radio being replaced. I think this was due to the Top and doors being off during a hail/ thunderstorm. I can’t really blame that on Jeep! Jeep also has the best extended warranty out there at the moment. LIFETIME! Works great for us we keep most of our cars till the insurance company totals them. These are not the Jeeps of the eighties they have comfortable front seats great heat and air conditioning and ride much nicer than my 79 CJ5. My neighbor has a 2000 Wrangler with 480,000 on the original motor and transmission, he just put his second clutch in. I guess that considering he spent 23 years in Special Forces he keeps up on maintenance pretty well.
Also the Wrangler has been listed as one of the ten cheapest cars to insure for quite a few years now. We get close to 20 mpg when it was on stock tires. Now that I put 34 inch tires on it’s down to 18.5 on my wife’s 85 mile round trip to Reston.
Oh and one of my daughters friends would much rather ride in our Jeep with the top off than ride in her parents 130,000 Range Rover????

Judging from your writing skills, you are a moron, which only bolsters my general opinion of Jeep owners.