SpeedKing

iTrader: (4)

labelchild: A good option is a 2nd gen. Miata. You can get a nice clean example for $11K. They're good-looking cars (similar lines to the FD), have peppy, high revving engines, handle great, and have bullet proof reliability (assuming you take care of it).

Crackers

Well, Label I hope you head out warning.. And yes going to a racing school will give you some pointers but it is not a street orianted corse its soly racing.. Driving on publics highways is nowhere neer the same as racing.. There is no subsitute for years of driving a crappy car on public streets before driving a SPORTS car..

You gotta think.. A race track does not have obsticales pedestrians crossing the roads.. Road debri to cause loss of traction.. Driving in rain.. Other road raged drivers.

Once again I will state that racing school is nice if you're only going to drive on a race track and even then I dont think you should just jump in an FD after that as a first race car anyways..

Driving period takes @ least two years of driving a car that take a good amount of intential BAD driving to cause it to go out of controll..


On anothe note.. I was told by some kid he could drive real good cause he was in carst since was 10.. Got his dads porshe 911 turbo and wrecked it.. cause of accident loss of control on off ram due to access speed, and incorrect stearing inputs.. So keep in mind that I dont want you to get an FD just because your a kid and I dont think you deserve an FD.. for all I care Id be glad for ya if you get one..

But the reason I think you should not have one is lack there of real world driving and lack of knolledge of what these cars can realy do to you if you cant control your need for speed..

Please do what I say get a beeter for two years learn how to drive and drive good.. then when you 18 get your FD and you wont be as unexspecting when it gets you into trouble..

Mazda99Nikon

A small bit of advice from an old man. Consider the impact on your long-term insurance rates if you get a ticket for speeding or worse, get written up for crashing that monster. My step kid learned the hard way. His insurance is $1,600 every 6 months. He's created a very difficult life for himself in college. He totally ignored everything I'm about to tell you.

Here's some practical advice from someone who loves fast cars and has lived to tell about it.

Get yourself 2 cars. Or better yet, you get yourself a car and have your dad buy the other one. You buy yourself a dependable Honda Accord. Maybe a 1998 with less than 100,000 miles on it. It will put you through college. They are good for 250,000 miles.

Then you get your dad to buy a 1982-1985 first gen RX-7. You can buy those for under $1,500. That car will never be put on the street and you have dad insure it under his name. Then, you and dad rebuild the thing, together for SCCA modified autocrossing. Kind of a father son, deal. He'll love it, and so will you. The best part is that you will learn how to drive a car the right way at a speed that won't endanger you, your driving record or anyone else. After college, you'll be able to buy anything you want and you'll be able to afford the insurance on it, as well.

See, I did just that when I was about 28. And I have since avoided countless accidents because I learned how to drive the right way. I also learned to respect how fast a high performance car can get out of control and that you had better never, never, never, exceed posted speed limits. I just wish my kid would have listened to me and taken up that invitation to go autocrossing.

johnchabin

iTrader: (2)

Why not get an old Alfa like your dad? He could help you maintain it, and they're loads of fun...

For example:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...&category=5356

Search on Ebay. Sounds like you have plenty of time before you can drive. Good luck.

Black97VR4

I'm 18 and I got the FD when I was 17, the VR4 was my very first car. AWD saved my *** more than a few times. I'm NOT a perfect driver but I haven't wrecked the thing yet. My VR4 did get totalled but by an old man not paying attention when changing lanes and side swiping me resulting in the car hitting a guardrail at 65mph. I had a unique situation in which I got a great deal on a FD and had money left over to buy back and restore my VR4. Both are modified and let me tell you, the FD is a lot harder to drive. I've been caught in the rain a couple times and its just flat out dangerous in anything but dry weather. The VR4 was probably the best high horsepower car you can own starting out due to the fact its very safe as far as crash ratings go and that AWD can bail you out of some sticky situations. I love both these cars but I could not own either if not for my parents being very gracious and leaving me on their insurance and helping with maintence along with letting me drive their vehicles on those days where you can justify driving a sports car. I've had the FD for about 3 months now and I'd say I've worked on it more than I've driven it. The car has more to it to go wrong than just the motor too, I've had to replace the clutch and tires which left the car down for awhile since my dad and I do our own work.

This car just doesn't make sense unless you have a second car and you or your parents have money to afford the thing after initial purchase. I don't care if you're spoiled or whatever because I am too, but you just have to be able to keep up with the car.

Good luck!

FD_Newb_1974

I'm not one to advise you on what you may or may not be responsible enough to drive. However, for 11K you can expect to get a GREAT car, immaculate inside and out......with a blown engine

In order to get a car like this in good order, expect to pay between 18K and 25K, pending how extreme you want to go.

Generally speaking.....(for most on these forums) if you can't research the other 100 topics on what costs for a respectable FD would be (mine included), your probably not responsible enough to own one. Or, you have a lot of cake to play with.

jspecracer7

Start off with an FC. I went from '87 n/a to '87 TII to FD. Trust me...I'm glad it happened that way.

raskol

FCs are great cars. More all-around fun to drive than FDs. Not so great looking tho.

dclin

iTrader: (4)

Your family has these cars, and you're on a $11k budget?

Look, whether or not one can afford the outlay for an FD (purchase price, insurance, and even some mods) is really irrelevant. The issue is - if you get one - whether or not you or innocents are at a (higher) risk of getting hurt.

A 'driving/racing' school teaches you how to handle a car on the track. It doesn't teach you how to behave on public streets, and certainly does nothing to provide the maturity a person needs to operate a vehicle on public roads.

You can interpret what we are saying here as simple 'hating', but the truth is the FD is not a car for a beginning driver. It just isn't. We've had a few tragic deaths in the last few years within this community, and who knows how many whose stories never made it on here. Despite how you might believe you are ready to handle one (don't bother arguing otherwise - we were all 14/15 once), the learning curve provides very little room for error.

So your question should be - what would be the cost to my family should they have a son that gets hurt or - heaven forbid - lose? No pre-ordered Elise (or insert other fav car here) is going to take that pain away.

Recipe7

coming from a 17 year old, your gona miss ALOT of school days since your car will be at the mechanic for most of the time =p

not that it did for me, but it happened during winter vacation =p

dclin

iTrader: (4)

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...hreadid=127436

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...highlight=trev

I can't find the other one that I'm thinking of, but it basically was a young (18yrs IIRC?) FD owner involved in single vehicle accident. Basically he lost control and hit a tree, IIRC. It occured a week or two before the death of Brandon's father.

widebody2

I learned how to drive on an FC....even that was dangerous for an idiot like me at that age.

Sgtblue

iTrader: (16)

Uhh, a little off subject, but how can you be insured at all at age 14 when you can't even drive...legally... on the street? And I don't have any experience with them so don't take this the wrong way, but will Skip Barber or a similar driving school even take you at that age?

cloud9

iTrader: (4)

labelchild, a driving school is definately not a bad idea I don't think skip barber is the right aprouch though they focus more on open wheel driving, try www.bondurant.com you can't go there (or anywhere else for that matter) untill you have a drivers license. But I went to bondurant and it was both one of the greatest learning experiences and fun I have ever had, the instuctors are great and the equipment is top notch. It definately helped me to be a better driver in all situations track or street.

labelchild

After those stories, especially the one with the kid's dad i am seriously thinking about not getting a FD as a first, that story pissed me off so much because its just how it would happen if it happened to me, dad would try to push it, cept without the water...maybe a 944 turbo...maybe...

Crackers

Label, you're just not geting the point.. Even so this goes beyond the FD allthough its focused on that..

In general as a fist car you should pick a sports car period and definatly one that has a turbo charger..

First off Turbos are unpredictable.. Yeah Im gonna get flamed.. But under a turning condition and if you're not exspecting it and the turbo kicks in just enough you have your self a spin out.. Happend to me several times now.. Lucky enough I have prior exsperiance and realised it was about to happen and corrected my self before I loost all control..

Stick with a car thats not going to get you introuble.. some one mentioned a miata.. even though they are nice they are still light enough and have enough power to get a kid like you in deep crap..

I say get a light truck like a GMC sonoma or something that is RWD with not much power and a stick that you can learn how the rear end reacts to your driving inputs and go from there.. Also with that if you do wreck its not going to kill your/parents wallet..

good luck on what ever you do decide to do

MrRx

iTrader: (1)

im 17, with my FD....but i grew up with my dad's before i got mine, i also learned stick on the FD...the insurance on my truck was higher than on my FD....but that just my .2cents

rzograbian

hey, im now 17 and i have a 94 and 95 fd. i grew up around cars and i bought mine myself (75% but thats still alot for 16). i now have a blown engine on my 94 and i am well over 6k on the rebuild. i would have just got a jeep or something to start with but im in it way too much. also, even though you think you can control yourself, you cant. i was 16 a year ago and when i think of all the stupid things i did, i say to myself, "what the fu@& was i thinking!!" now im a little better driver and much more calm. also, with the FD, something alway's breaks if you drive it and if you dont, something breaks while sitting there

also, if its about haveing a cool car in your school, you are getting the car for the wrong reasons. please dosome more research and if you decide to buy, its up to you.
also, what school do you go to? im really close to LA, 10 minutes

good luck!

diablone

iTrader: (2)

He ment to say, as a first car you shouldn't pickup a sports car. (Or atleast I hope )

And he's right, get something basic to start off with. You wouldn't jump to a college level course without going through elementary or high school, and you shouldn't make such a big jump here either.

Also, this thread really doesn't need every 16 & 17 year old chiming in on how they havn't crashed their FD, we've already had threads for those.

Crackers

Woops


Yeah let me rephase my statement



Label, you're just not geting the point.. Even so this goes beyond the FD allthough its focused on that..

In general as a first car you shouldn't pick a sports car period and definatly not one that has a turbo charger..

Darn edit wouldnt let me change my first post.. I should realy proff read before I post but im too lazy

Crackers

There is a good old saying LEARN HOW TO WALK BEFORE YOU RUN

Vette454

Heheh , I started out with a 1000 dollar Golf Rabbit , Rust bucket heap! Fixed it up nice and started the step up process.

elmo908

I know it sucks man, I was about to get an FD and I still may get one for a extensive project and actually use it later on down the road (4 or 5 years) but insurance is a bitch and it isn't worth having an FD if you are going to pay the price of insurance while your 16. I bought a 240z and I don't regret it one bit at all. Fun cars and easy to work on. Just what a novice mechanic needs. But since you have your brothers behind your back maybe a more modern car perhaps 300zx tt or 240sx. The sr20 hype is slowly dropping so you could probably do a swap for relatively cheap and that would make an sx just as fast as any FD. Good luck, if you get an FD anyways I totally understand, they are awesome.

AREITU

I'm 19 now and i've gone through exactly the same phase the person who started this post did.

Let me tell you, if the FD is your first car, it will scare the CRAP out of you. I thought my mom's minivan was fast when I first started driving. As an inexperienced driver you WILL get at least ONE fender-bender ,even if it's minor. It's not a very good first car and heed all advice of more experienced people. It is NOT a good first car without a lot of financial backing, luck or all of the above.

I thought I knew fast until I drove a C43 AMG.

Takumi 86

I don't wanna get an FD now, I'm 16 and i was thinking in about 2-3 years. But i wanted to import it everywhere while i travel... But that would aprox how much?