MR2 For a First Car

[phzoinkMKII]

i have to agree with the first posts. I drove a volvo as my first car which prepared me for my mr2 when i turned 18, they both liked to spin all the time.

[sinESter]

thats not really relevent to anyone. unless u are retarted. that guy was just plain stupid.

[phzoinkMKII]

not completely true, it shows that a car with that power is hard to control. If he knew what he was doing he could have avoided that accident, not trying to start something just showing a level of exp. My bad if i made you mad

[sinESter]

lol no u didnt make me mad. sorry if i came accross mad. i was just saying. if u arent responsible enough to control your car, where u are showing off at, or what the consequences could be. then u shouldnt be showing off.

[phzoinkMKII]

that's what i'm trying to say. Let put it another way when a guy is 16/17/18 (i am guilty) we tend to show off when we have nice cars even though they are beyond our driving ability, that is the reason my car is still N/A.

[sinESter]

ha i know what ur talking about. im getting an mr2 this summer be a turbo or non turbo, but i live in a very small town so not much to show off to, and after watching my friend crash at like 70-80 mph on his rocket, im not too fond of showing off. plus ha ha just owning an mr2 and being in north dakota elevates me a lil compared to all the civics and crx's running around.

[CyFi]

i would remove that video, people will flame you.

[Gallagher005]

I've owned a 95 Celica GT(5spd) for 4 years without an accident. My previous car before that was a 94 Z28 Camaro(Auto). I also Drove a 2000 SS Camaro(6spd) for a few months and had fun throwing the back end out on that for awhile never lost control of it once. I Also drive my dads 2003 50th anniversary Corvette(6spd). I'd say i'm pretty safe driver and know my limits, and i'm actually purchasing my first MR2 today 91 Turbo.

[mikeswickednick]

none of those cars will act like an mr2

[jakobe]

nobody 16/17/18 needs this as a first car...buy something sensible and focus on school..

ask the insurance company why the rates are so high for a younger drivers in this car compared to say a civic or camry ...stats show that you will wreck it!..and boys wreck more cars than girls..

if it were my kid ..i dont care how much they whine about having a sporty car..they get a sedan until their driving skills are honed.

although my first car was a 280z and my second was a fiero v6
i wrecked them both to some degree..fender benders ,trees, ect.
i wouldnt want to put my child in that situation.

"stop yer frickin whining and do your homework and get a good job so I can retire early!"

[MrGrimm]

how much does insurance run about... im guessing like 150-200 a month?

[CyFi]

im almost 16 and i am getting this as my first car, it is an NA. I really enjoy doing work on it and such, and i drive responsibly. When i get my license im gonna drive like every other person and not take any risks, the last thing i want to do is hurt a tree. this is an important car to me and my parents think im mature enough to handle it, so it all lies in the situation, you cant stereotype every teen to be horrible irrisponsibly 2 wrecking balls

[Gallagher005]

Originally Posted by mikeswickednick

none of those cars will act like an mr2

yeah you were right there, adjusting to the turbo was really the only thing that took some getting used to.

My insurance is 100 a month with full coverage

[jakobe]

Originally Posted by CyFi

im almost 16 and i am getting this as my first car, it is an NA. I really enjoy doing work on it and such, and i drive responsibly. When i get my license im gonna drive like every other person and not take any risks, the last thing i want to do is hurt a tree. this is an important car to me and my parents think im mature enough to handle it, so it all lies in the situation, you cant stereotype every teen to be horrible irrisponsibly 2 wrecking balls

true that...
but its not a stereotype but more of a statistic..if a large percentage of teens who have fast sports cars wreck them, then its more likely you will wreck yours...as everybody has said the mr2 is a car that drives a little different than say a taurus or a camry..

imho no teen should have a fast car...at least not one as an everyday driver
at least your getting a n/a ..thats what i just bought and they are not fast at all..(i think my jeep XJ is faster).

and with the n/a i dont think that that car is really any different than a civic or an integra..

insurance companies charge these reates for a reason...and that reason is ..they have done the studies on who wrecks what..and sorry to say teens have it bad..because they have zero real world driving exp.

[sinESter]

you dont think that maturity, and respect for the car, come into play at all?

[phzoinkMKII]

Originally Posted by sinESter

you dont think that maturity, and respect for the car, come into play at all?

It all depends on who buys the car, parents or the kid

[jakobe]

I hear this argument from my little sis all the time..she is a straight A student ...honor roll..top of her class...shes also very clever with tools in the garage..she is by far one of the most level headed responsible teens i have ever met...and she does drive my Envoy very well.

she wants us to buy her a car for her B-day(16).. a sports car.

abso..f*c*i*g..lutely not

she gets an accord or a camry. Until she learns how to drive properly.
Now, in this first year of driving ..if she takes a defensive driving course and maybe an Auto-x course
the by all means she will have the Exp. to operate a sports car.

having a fast sports car..the temptaion is too great to not tear around in it..I mean what fun is a fast car if you cant drive it fast? right

this is a temptation the whole world cannot put aside..(otherwise we woulnt have fast cars at all and racing would not even exist).
And somebody who wants a fast car has this tempation right on the tip of their tongue..otherwise they wouldnt want this type of car to begin with and would opt for a regular rattle trap.

To think that a teen with zero driving exp. can handle the temptation and drive the car slow and sane is totally naive

Soooo back to my 15 yo sis..sorry Sis no sports car for you!

..i dont care if she saved up all summer and had the $ to buy it herself...she does not have the driving EXP to handle a sports car yet...and she has been riding a motorcycle (dirtbike) since she was 10.

do you give a pilot a f-16 as a first plane to fly?
do surgeons work on live people on thier first surgeries?

of course not.. and why...because they dont have the exp. to operate either
it takes practice

its not about respect for the car or maturity and its nothing personal against you as a teen....its about decison making abilites and I'm sorry a 16 year olds decsion making abilites arent up to par with a seasoned driver..

HOWEVER there are exceptions to every rule and some teens may have what it takes to handle this car..x-specially if you are a die hard tuner or have racing in your family..
but as general rule ..probably not a good first car

if you think all of us old guys who say its a bad idea..then simply ask your parents insurance agent (the professional risk assesor) what he thinks., or ask a professional race car driver (the professional risk taker) what car they would choose for their kids.
If they say go for it then you have my full support!!...HELL i'll even buy you a tank of gas!...promise

an mr2 is great maybe as a second car or at the ripe old age of 18 but not as a first car..

oh and a quick question...the car that you drive in the drivers ED class at school...is that an MR2? or a sedan.

do we have a poll on this topic?

we should all vote

[Gallagher005]

two things that happen to make you become a better driver.

1. Time behind the wheel
AND
2. Getting in to your first real accident

I got in to my first accident when i was 17, i'm now 21 going on 22, i was a good driver then but after that happened i almost didn't drive for a month because i was scared to get back in the car(it was a bad accident) A car cut me off at an intersection i was going straight and they were turning left and apparently they never saw me. Was driving a 94 z28 camaro the car crumpled around me, the airbag nearly broke my nose, the windsheild shattered and had glass fragments all in my hand, black and blues across my entire chest(from seatbelt, PLEASE! everyone wear a seatbelt it saved my life and might save yours too!) and nearly broke my wrist. T-tops were out and placed in the inserts in the trunk, and they shattered on impact.

After that i became a very defensive driver, of course i do have those moments where i become offensive like when i bought my 2, but i still always focus on the road and my surroundings i don't really trust anyone on the road.

[phzoinkMKII]

So what about those of us that haven't been in an accident yet. Does that mean i'm not a good driver yet? Maybe being involved in an accident might make you more cautious as a driver i don't know, but i learned how to drive in an SUV in and around chicago and for those of you who are up there you know what traffic is like and how those people drive. I know that kind of traffic and amount of morons on the road helped me learn to drive with a little caution and can help, but that is all i have on that subject.

[MR-Fixer]

Truly well written and thought out post by David.

Sometimes you have to do what is intuitively the wrong thing to do to keep from having a wreck in an MR2. And that's hard to do for any driver of any age or experience. Case in point:

I was driving down a bumpy, narrow country road with a carload of hillbillies chasing me cause I was messing with their squeeze (sister). I was doing about 65 mph when I come upon a 20 MPH right hand curve, immediately followed by another 20 MPH left hand curve.
It was at night, and the very first hint of wetness was on the road from a dismal Oregon light rain. So I was unable to slow down enough before the curve. I thought for sure I was going to "hug a tree real good", die even. I down shifted to 2nd gear after I quit braking, turned the wheel and floored it. I felt like I was a marble just shot out of a slingshot. Then the 2nd curve came along just to keep it interesting.

I got lucky and made it through without a scratch. But if I followed my old driving instincts I would have continued to use brakes through the curve and wiped out. I owe the other board and its advice on MR2 handling for perhaps saving my life.

Almost everything in life and the universe boils down to mathematics. 99% of drivers in the U.S. would have crashed any car going through the same curves like I did. As a result of that incident, I look at curves and speed percentage wise. Now, . . . I never go so fast that on 1 out of a Hundred transits through any given curve would result in a wreck. That means holding back considerably on the car's potential.

In one small town I lived in a "Trust Fund Child" got a new Corvette for her birthday. She was going over 120 when she lost control and wrecked it. She's been in a wheel chair since then.