My first car was my 87 n/a automatic. My mom was against it because of all of the wrong reasons (She told me the fumes from the engine would travel against the wind and get into the passanger compartment and kill me ) I really like that fact that this was my first car, but I also had a little extra help than most people get. My boyfriend is who got me into MR2's, our total count right now is somewhere between 7-9 mr2's, one being my yellow 91, rest are all mki's. He told me all about what to expect the car to do, and how to treat diving it in various conditions and a lot of other stuff, and I'm really satisfied with my choice. I was in one accident with it, which wasn't my fault, and happened at 5-10 mph when a lady turned when I was turning because "my car was so small she didn't see me". I think provided you're educated enough to see the flawls as well as advantages it can make a really good car. Like look at the advantages, if it's not all tuned up, you get really good gas mileage, it's sporty and relatively affordable, parts are a little hard to find but not impossible, it's unique, it's fun, you can't fit 4 friends in it so there's less of a chance to be driving around and joking around with your friends and get into an accident - less ability to endanger multiple passanger's lives if you do lose it, the insurance on the mki's isn't unreasonable, and why does a 16/17/18/19 year old need a ton of storage anyway, mostly all they're carring around is some cd's and a schoolbag. As for winter/wet driving. I don't really feel that that's much of an obstacle, looking around and seeing all the other people who can't drive in those conditions with vehicles that have nothing tricky about them, the inexperienced ones fit right in
I understand why maybe it isn't that great of a choice, but it sure is beating a lot of other alternatives.