MY MOM DIDNT GET ME AN IPHONE 6 FOR MY 1 WEEK RELATIONSHIP ANNIVERSARY IM SO MAD. /s People would laugh at you but a Toyota Camry is reliable from my experience. Family has one that's about to be 10 years old. (we also got a Mercedes E class that's approaching 17 years, but that's a little non-entry level XD)
You don't know. I've had 1500€ worth of repairs on my car in that year, so i'd say it was worth it Almost any car past 2005 is a safe bet when bought used. Our 2003 Yaris still runs just fine.
While i get all those "nobody gets a car with 18 and dont hate your parents" comments, i have to say that im totally fine with my parents and i can understand them. Though i just wanted to hear how you got your cars. And there are really cool story´s in this thread. Maybe i´ll get a job during summer holidays and i´ll be able to buy a car myself. It´s just a big dream i have...
Aside from being one of the dullest most boring cars ever made, Google "Camry" and "recall" and see what pops up. A Camry is like an ugly girlfriend, there's just no excuse for it. Also unfortunately there has been the growing trend from about 1995 onwards car manufacturers weren't happy that people were keeping cars for 10 years. Which is why most cars made after 2000 will fail catastrophically anywhere after 5 years now, costing multiple thousands to fix. I have a 26 year old Mazda as a daily driver, it has never leaked oil, coolant, or transmission fluid. Everything electric still works, no major parts replacement costing over $1000 (I have done preventative works like replacing old coolant hoses, flushing brake lines, replacing "O" rings in the power steering etc). Same can't be said for nearly every car made after 1995. Jap cars are great/awesome for reliability and cheap easy fixes. I would never touch a ford again, if I did ever have one again I would just drive it into the ground, no amount of money will stop a ford from falling apart. - - - Updated - - - Don't worry, some people are too quick to judge. I had the same passion growing up as you do models and video games I was all about cars. When I was turning 18 I couldn't tell you how many of my friends had cars bought for them because I lost count, even if they didn't have cars bought for them they would get the old family car. I had friends with parents on limited means still buy cars for them, at the same time I had friends with very rich parents that wouldn't help them for reasons I can only guess. Maybe they had to buy their own car when they were 18, maybe they think their kids might as well start finding out about real life and what needs to be done to buy a car. Some parents are cold and old skool, others can be very supportive. You can't choose your parents though. If you have friends whose parents are buying them cars it's hard not to feel left out and think, "My friend had a car bought/given them, why not me". I know I did, luckily they gave up one one of theirs and gave it to me about a year later. It was a rusty bomb that was nothing to be proud of but it taught me responsibility and respect amongst other things, 18 months later I bought my own car which was at the time a very proud moment. Here I am just under ten years later after 4 different vehicles and owning my dream car. You never know what will happen, good luck to you!
About the nobody gets a car with 18 thing, my sister actually got her first car on her 18th birthday. It was a Seat Arosa, wich my/her grandma bought her for 1000€. We got it that cheap (considering the fact that it looked brand new) because we bought it off of another family member.
New camry's 1990-on I agree are just boring family cars, but i dunno there was something special about the little 86' that i had. If i saw another like mine on craigslist for less then 1k id think about buying it as my daily and use the grand marquis as my weekend car
Well, I bought my first car around midnight, I was sleeping when my dad woke me up saying there is a car outside for sale and that he needed it I was confused and half-sleeping when I wondered outside to find a 1996 Ford Mondeo facelift parked. First impression was not too good. It was barely running(it was running on 3 cylinders) and had scratches everywhere not to mention the rust... Ended up buying it and then waiting 2 years to get my license. Meanwhile my dad was using it (he was the one in need of a car) and managed to crash it twice... Luckily damage was not bad, just the bumper. After I got my license I myself used it for about 4 years. Being a old and unserviced Ford everything and I mean EVERYTHING was broken on it. Still, it always started up( even if it meant bumpstarting it) and not once did it leave me to the side of a road. I do not recommend a first gen Mondeo to anyone but my god was it fun to drive To conclude, my parents did not buy me a car, I almost bought them a car will upload some nasty pics at some point.
I could get my parents to buy me a pretty nice car when I turn 16, but I'd rather buy it myself. I was told that as long as I'm in school they'd be willing to provide me transportation. They'll pay for insurance year 'round and gas during the school year, but I'll pay for repairs and maintenance. I'm gonna have to foot the bill for gas when I'm out of school in the summer.
Both my uncles own 85 series Cruiser's, These old cruisers are the most reliable car on the market. No doubt about it. They never miss a beat, They've never let us down. The white one only needs it's Rocker Cover gasket re-done. That's all. These vehicles go though alot. They were built to be abused, And they do a bloody good job. I'm looking at buying a 75 Series, I've always liked the look of them. Now, Them in action (The following photos were taken awhile ago, That's why the cream coloured one has spotlights, Instead of a lightbar
My parents gave me their used 94 Pontiac Grand Prix to drive when i got my licences at 16. I think it was shortly after I turned 17 that I bought my first car, a used 83 z28 Camaro for ~$900. I bought it b/c i was really into older american cars and I wanted something as a project/fun car. I didn't buy it because I thought i would look cool or get chicks, (although those where nice bonuses ) I bought it b/c i wanted something to work on and i liked the style of the car. I learned a lot about responsibility and finances from owning my own vehicle, and I took fantastic care of both cars. I sold the camaro several years ago for more than what i paid for it despite some issues with the car, so that was cool . about 8 months or so ago I bought another Camaro nearly identical to the one i had as a teen, again as a project car. This one is far nicer, clean body, good engine (well as good as a smoged 4bbl 305 can be ), but bad trans and bad interior. Unfortunately i'm incredibly tight on money right now so the car has done nothing but sit in a garage since i bought it. at this point i'm not sure if i'm going to restore it and "flip" it for $1000-$3500 realistically or restore and keep. Its funny though, the guy i bought it from actually originally bought the car for his 15 y/o son who apparently "really" wanted a 3rd gen Camaro, so dad pays like 6-7k for the car which just underwent a professional documented restoration, gets it shipped from Arizona to Ohio, and BAM free car kid enjoy! Well apparently it didn't take long for the kid to decide that a 30 y/o Camaro wasn't as cool as he thought it would be and tells daddy he wan'ts a late model diesel chevy pickup instead. Now im no parental expert here but I think there's a few things wrong with this picture. I mean I think its crazy that dad goes to all this trouble and spends all that money for what is essentially a whim decision by his 15 y/o son who can't even legally drive. And his son is a jerk for having no appreciation for the car or what his dad did and paid, but im sure he knew daddy would get him what ever he wanted so why make a reasonable and definite decision. BUT WAIT the story gets even better! remember the restoration and the 6-7k price tag+shipping, well the kid put about all 20-30 years back on the car, although like i said still all in all a very solid car, the car now is covered in scratches and paint chips, interior is trashed, the windows were left down during a T-storm so now the carpet is moldy and the car smells like s***, there are more cigarette burns than i can count, and the radio looked like it was installed by a retarded gorilla. I could do a better job of installing it using a backhoe. So he managed to turn that 6k+ car into a 2k car. Great work son . Oh yea and now the kid has a 2008 Dmax truck, at least until he decides he wants a Mustang or whatever. Ok i know i'm ranting, but I think its crazy the lack of respect by the kid and the lack of intelligence by the father. Also this is an example of why you've got to work for a car. I feel your pain, unfortunately currently I don't have a "daily driver" car, I've been using my roommates cars to get around, in exchange i help pay for gas and do all maintenance and repairs on the cars, but I really need to get my own set of wheels after i get some money. My advice would be to work hard, save up, and make an educated purchasing decision. And once you get a car, take great care of it. And why not do some maintenance work yourself, you will save money, learn more about cars and get a sense of satisfaction.
Hey man, cheer up! You think it's normal for parents to give kids their first cars, but to be honest that's not the case for most people. I've worked on school's summer vacations since I was 14 to buy my first car when I was 16. It's not much, I raised a total of 900 euros and 200 of those were to pay the license, but I still love it, because part of the joy of owning a car is being proud for paying for it! Anyways, you just gotta find some free time, get a part-time job if that's a possibility, find a way to earn your own money! And you might not be able to get a good car at first, but even if you get a crappy one it's still better than nothing, you'll evolve as soon as you can! And trust me, no matter how crappy it is, I'm sure you'll enjoy it because you paid for it and you worked to get it! Here's something I wrote for a website a few months ago when I got mine: Since I've posterd that I've had the car break down on me and, because I had no money, I had to do a ton of work by myself. No regrets! Unfortunatelly my mom had to help me pay for a CV-joint because I was just too broke, but I try to pay as much as I can, and I'm only 16 and a student I'll leave some pics of my car now:
Haha, thanks! Uhh, just noticed I forgot to include the car's name on my comment, it's a 2007 Microcar Lyra Small as hell, but can be fun too EDIT: Can't resist posting pics for proportion, sorry:
Looked up a video of it, seems fun, but looks kind of unsafe, coming from a guy with a car that has half-working seatbelts.
The micro cars are kinda sketchy in terms of safety. They are not classed as cars in the UK and only require a motorcycle license to drive them. I found this: https://translate.google.com/transl...e-microcar-sono-sicure-come-le-automobili.htm This is a fairly old test so take it with a pinch of salt but it shows a microcar vs a Renault twingo, the twingo being classed as an actual car but still quite small (image of twingo below for you Americans). Of course you can also take a look at other cars from the same classification of vehicle that have been tested. Pay special attention to the seatbelt in this model... The worse thing is that on half of the heavy quadricycles they tested (4 in total) the seatbelts failed.
You can still drive these with a motorcycle license in the UK? That was changed here in Portugal in 2005, when people who drove bikes had no idea of the workings and different laws of a car. And yeah, these aren't really *that* safe, but they're not fast either xD And they're so easily controlable! Mine's got super thin wheels, rim diameter is only 10" xD, it understeers at the limit but if you flick it you can pull the rear end out farily easily. Thing is, because they do this while going so slow, you easily control them. The fact that it has no grip and even locks brakes fairly easily is a plus for me, I think everyone should have driven these as first cars because if so, some people wouldn't just freeze and not know what to do when the brakes in their ford focus lock up or when it understeers a tad bit on a round-a-bout (average person here). And, no matter how unsafe it is, it's still safer than a motorcycle I guess haha Mine's full fiberglass with an alluminum chassis + rollcage. The plastic ones I've seen don't have a rollcage because brands say the plastic is solid enough to protect the people. But that's usually a big mistake because there's no metal top-mounts for seatbelts and so on a crash-test they get ripped off :| Much better on the ones like mine that have the rollcage and the seatbelts are mounted on that.
Just checked, you can still drive one of these on a motorcycle license in the uk. While they cant go very fast they can still go more than fast enough to be fatal. The ones that surround you with metal tubes are far better but are still fatal in crash tests, the chassis on them actually hold up pretty well but its everything else that causes the issues. Lack of crumple zones mixed with 3 point seat belts combined with your vehicle weighing less than the other road vehicles by quite a bit is not usually a good combination. I think better driving tests would be a better way to go than killing off the bad drivers At least its not a g-wiz: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...t-killed-G-Wiz-electric-car-horror-smash.html That was in London so i can hardly imagine it being a high speed crash.
Yup, that's me! Check out my handbrake turn hahaha Jesus, that G-wiz!! That's awful! The body has no structural integrity what-so-ever! Seems like there isn't even a metal chassis there F*ckin' hell. People with normal car licenses drive those just because they're electric and all, but seriously, that thing should be banned...
