Would you let your kid drive an '02 as a 1st car?

[skipsfcr]

I know this has been discussed here before and I know several '02ers whose '02s are / were their first car. I'm just wondering if you'd let YOUR kid drive an '02 around in a sea of poorly operated disposable transportation appliances. Why or why not?

OT-BTW I wish I was able to make O'Fest. Damn you, damn you all.

[Jared]

a 1968 was my first car about 12 years ago. The only modifications it had were a 32/26 weber and kyb shocks, but I still managed to crash it. It was a good lesson for me though, my parents wouldn't help my get a new car, so my dad and I pulled out the front end where I had smashed a park car. I guess my punishment was driving an ugly 02 around for a couple years, but that is still better than most cars.

Hopefully your kid is more responsible than I was, but I think it is a great car for learning to work on your own car and for learning how to drive better.

Throw a roll bar in and he is good to go!!

[02fanatic]

YUP, you bet, yes, indeed I would and "DID"! :-)

First car for our eldest son was an '86 325es (he still has it completely restored with "is" engine).

Our youngest son's first set of wheels was a '76 2002....he learned to drive in that car - 4-speed and all. What an absolute great experience. He's a better driver today because of learning "stick" "first"!

Unfortunately he wrecked it on a slick-covered road back in '99 and took out a power pole. He walked away unharmed.

I kept it, and restored it for "myself"! :-) It has daily driving duties as often as possible these days.

'02's are very safe cars...way ahead of their time (re crumple zones, etc). No air bag, but I'll put an '02 up against alot of the modern crap out there any day.

And then there's the "bonding time" associated with having an '02 as a first car...great fun fixing one up and learning about the car, not just learning to drive! I call that PRICELESS!

Good Luck,

John

[Guest Anonymous]

Having a 17 year old son about to be licensed, I actually think about this in more than a passing way. He's a decent, somewhat responsible kid, but very inexperienced behind the wheel of a real car, on a real road, with real other cars. (But he is a killer go-card racer.) The problems with a 2002 as a first car are at least three-fold from my perspective.

First I want him totally concentrating on the road and the other drivers, and if he can avoid shifting a manual, one less distraction.

Second, the car is too low and small to be easily seen by other drivers,and finally, and most important:

I want my kid driving the safest tank out there (read used Volvo) with all the possible safety features available, and but for seat belts, are viruually none-existant on a 1972 car. End of rant.

______________________

Roger

'72 Malaga

[landon]

1981 - 17 years old -my first car a $300 1968 1600-2. Changed my life forever. Would I let my daughters drive one? Good question but I think it could be positive with the right person. Teach and stress defensive driving as the car does not have the modern safety things like airbags and the avg. size of vehicles on the road has become so large.

[florida1600]

Although I learned to drive in my 1600, I wouldn't want it as my son's only driver - too old, too fragile, too much emotion if crashed, expensive body panels, etc. I will let him drive the 1600, but only after I know he knows how to drive with his head, not his hormones. I think e30s are a better bet - newer, stronger, but still a good car to learn on. E30s now are what 02s were in the 80s. By the time my son is 16 or 17, Minis will have drifted down to the price level of current e30s, so that is what I'll look to get for him. I have this debate with myself on whether I should hold onto my e30 to give to my son, but I've driven e30s most of my adult life and I really think I want to cash out and move onto to something different, like maybe a 128i

[Jim_75Sahara]

I did much of my early driving in a '72 Golf '02 (dad's car). It made me wonder why anyone would want to wallow about in a Buick or a Ford LTD, that's for sure. I had no accidents and learned a lot from driving the '02. My sister had a Pinto at that time and switching btwn. the '02 & the Pinto was an extreme change. Both were lightweight 4 cylinder cars, but there were not many other similarities! The Pinto's 4-speed tranny was pretty crappy as were the brakes, the handling, and the overall driving "experience"! It worked for me to drive an '02, but my son's gonna spend his time in a '93 Camry for the most part. When I feel OK with it, he gets to borrow the BMW.

[skipsfcr]

Thanks for the pros & cons all. I've got a "live in" nephew who is about to turn 16 and has the fever for an '02. I'm not too worried about him taking care of the car...Thst's easy too given my profession, and I'm not overly worried about him having a serious accident due to leadfootitis. I'm just concerned about the mindless throng of soccer moms driving land yachts talking on their cell phones taking him out at an intersection. I think he may need a little more "seat" time before I let him go "02ing" so he can become more fully aware of his surroundings. Doesn't somebody here (Steve J. in CA?) do the "street survival" school for teens? Maybe that'd help get him up to (safe) speed.

[BarryA]

I'd be out looking for a reasonably clean, relatively low mileage Volvo 240 sedan or wagon - preferably with an automatic trans (slow & safe). Once they'd put 12-18 months on the Volvo without trashing or wrecking it, THEN we'd start talking about '02's or whatever else the kid(s) really wanted to drive.....

Some of the above attitude comes from direct experience with a 16 year old & an '02 - about a dozen years ago, an old friend of my wife's gave us a somewhat tired 76 '02 specificly for her kids to use. He'd it had registered in a remote, low population county that (at that time) didn't require bi-annual smog inspections - all the smog stuff had been removed, so he couldn't sell it, but it had almost a year left on that year's registration. My wife asked me to get it in shape for her daughter to use - the daughter wasn't too thrilled with the prospect of driving a faded 20 year old car to school (she wanted her mom's new Accord coupe) but since we weren't about to turn over a new car to a 16 year old, she reluctantly agreed, and I did brakes, tires, and a tune up.

Unfortunately, she was merciless to the poor '02 - ran it low on oil, never washed or vacuumed it, got into a couple of minor fender benders, and ultimately ran it off the road and into a tree on a rain-slick road near our house. She was shaken up, but unhurt - the car was totalled. If I'd had my way, she would have been back on the bus to school the first time I found it 2 quarts low on oil.

[madpaddler]

My two cents, put in a third brake light, wide angle mirror and a large air horn...I love my new air horn it really gets the soccer Moms to pay attention. My 12 yr old son is already planning the take over of the 02...

[beast02er]

I'd say it depends on the kid and their maturity level. My first car was my current 02, a 73' with bilstein sports, the full suspension deal, 38/38 carb, ansa exhaust, racing seats, rear seat delete......it looked fast, felt fast, and was and is a blast to drive. I was mature enough though, to know that i'm not supposed to be street racing everyone and trying to impress them because its a fast looking fun little red car!

Another thing I learned pretty early on, is 90% of people on the road are IDIOTS! and that if I was in an accident, it would be because of them, so I need to watch out for them.

My brother is 16, and I don't think my car would be good for him. Impressing people and trying to be cool is more of an agenda for him than it ever was for me. I could see him speeding around and being a dufus in the car, and not looking out for the dumb drivers etc.

So, its just how well do you know your kid, and their driving ability, and do you think they are mature enough for an older car that isn't loaded in safety features.

Bryan

red73

10 years with my 02 as of this summer

[ClayW]

I know this has been discussed here before and I know several '02ers whose '02s are / were their first car. I'm just wondering if you'd let YOUR kid drive an '02 around in a sea of poorly operated disposable transportation appliances. Why or why not?

OT-BTW I wish I was able to make O'Fest. Damn you, damn you all.

Yes.....but with conditions.

Buy at least one beater. Offer to help build it, but make it their project. They're more likely to respect a car that they're invested in. They should also be used to the car....and see it as a daily driveable, respectable machine. If they're uninterested (like if you have the average teenage daughter), then they'd be happier with a Civic.

I don't know if I would have had the respect for my 2002 if it was my first car. After learning to drive in a 1970 VW Bug, I went through an `85 Fiero (lemon: lesson learned) and an RX-7 that someone had beaten to hell before I bought my 1969 1600-2. Though I fell in love with it, the respect came with time. By the time it met it's end 5 yrs later in the rear end of a Cadillac, I really respected the car and brand. After a short stint in an E21 320i, I bought a "restored" (read: scam-bondo) 1970 2002. That one was a lesson in used car buying and the crappy things that some dirtbags will do to turn a dollar.

For the last year, I've owned my 1976 Fjord BMW 2002. It had 108K miles and a blown head gasket when I picked it up cheaply. She's not perfect, but almost completely original.

The point is that my respect and care for this car comes from a rough road of car ownership. I've learned how to take care of her through years of hard knocks and, if I was lucky, good advice from those wiser than I. I'd like to pass that on to my kids one day and work on their project, but it will really depend on the road that they choose.

[Mike Self]

"the mindless throng of soccer moms driving land yachts talking on their cell phones taking him out at an intersection"... air horns--and not being afraid to use 'em.

I put a set on my 28 hp Renault 4CV in 1964 after a couple of near misses with Detroit Land Yachts (a 4CV is the size of a new Mini), and did the same with my 2002s. Can't tell you how many times a blast from them kept a drifting car out of my lane, or woke up a cell phone user that he/she was about to run a stop sign/yield sign/red light.

Air horns are inexpensive and easy to install--and you can keep one electric horn for quick toots--the air horns take a quarter second to build up pressure, and the OEM electric horn doesn't.

Correctly set outside mirrors on both sides are also a great help to both new drivers and experienced ones.

mike

[Mark92131]

Two words... No Airbags!

I had a close friend lose her life in a head-on crash in her 76 BMW 2002 on a foggy Thanksgiving night in Rancho Santa Fe. The other party survived in their airbag equiped Cadillac. If she would have been driving a car with airbags, she probably would have made it. This is the only reason I would recommend the 2002 for novice driver.

Mark92131

[dubois]

It is probably a good automobile to learn the basics. The one that learned on the 02 is by far the better driver of the two. He drove it for a couple years and then moved to SF, where he no longer needs a car.