The best sorts of cars for young drivers

[jcp123]

Front wheel drive. Hatchback.

[clutch-monkey]

Don't think it makes much difference. Every week here in the UK you read about road deaths with slow and small cars.

so quite clearly they'll find a way to crash no matter what the car, rather it be an expendable hatchback then a good car.

[f6fhellcat13]

The cmcpokey route; asthmatic RWD pickup.
No weight on the rears teaches good throttle control, lack of frills keeps you focused, and a crappy engine forces you to manages your speed much better.

[pimento]

The cmcpokey route; asthmatic RWD pickup.
No weight on the rears teaches good throttle control, lack of frills keeps you focused, and a crappy engine forces you to manages your speed much better.

And if it's anything like the one I had at first, shitty brakes that will lock the fronts up really rather easily.. so you gotta stay on the ball and make sure you don't need em.

[cmcpokey]

The cmcpokey route; asthmatic RWD pickup.
No weight on the rears teaches good throttle control, lack of frills keeps you focused, and a crappy engine forces you to manages your speed much better.

lol... thanks for remembering me, and not forcing me to reiterate it.

[group c n b man]

Young drivers should be made to drive the scariest, most unpredictable and downright dangerous cars, so they're forced to drive sensibly or end up very dead.

Something fast but with unpredictable, lairy and scary handling. Good examples include : old 911s, Ferrari 360, Jag XJ220, Renaultsport Clio V6.

[jcp123]

Young drivers should be made to drive the scariest, most unpredictable and downright dangerous cars, so they're forced to drive sensibly or end up very dead.

Pretty much the route I took when I got a '68 Mustang at age 17. Taught me a lot about driving judiciously. The fact that I put a lot of work into that car helped, I didn't want to wreck it.

[LeonOfTheDead]

The list of young drivers dead after dad bought them the something fast and also too expensive is pretty long.
I can speak of Mini Cooper S, 1 Series, A3, Seat Cupras and so on.
You're not going to learn something from a car you didn't pay and that you don't respect.
That applies to an old Ford Fiesta as well, but generally, with a more expensive and fast car, they died in stupider ways, with all due respect.

Last year, a Modenese businesman let his just-licensed son (18) his Maserati 4200 GT.
The guy quickly went to meet three friends to share the event.
They were all dead a few minutes later.

Family's friends had the son dead after his father bough him a Cooper S, a relative of mine keeps crushing the cars my uncle keeps buying him (expensive and fast cars of course), and he always managed to walk away from the accident.

I'm pretty sure someone else died driving his Daihatsu Cuore after he just got the license.
Heck, I almost had my neck broken riding on my scooter because of damn wet white stripe on the tarmac.

The point is, it isn't the car that can save you or teach you something, it's all about your brain.

[group c n b man]

Most deaths here in the UK are in the typical small cars that I hate so much. Mainly Peugeot 206s, Corsas, old fiestas, and the rest are to blame. A few of the rich ones have Corsa VXRs which their dads probably bought them. In the UK, the Corsa VXR is like the ultimate "ned/chav/boyracer" mobile. Probably quite a nice little car but the audience which it appeals to ruins it's image. 190bhp 1st car... Now were talking.

[Ferrer]

I had 170bhp in my first car and I didn't crash or die. Horspeower has nothing to do with sutpidity. If you can't drive you are going to have an accident regardless of having 60 or 600bhp.

[LeonOfTheDead]

I had 170bhp in my first car and I didn't crash or die. Horspeower has nothing to do with sutpidity. If you can't drive you are going to have an accident regardless of having 60 or 600bhp.

Good summary.

I never had a car of my own, but my parents always let me drive whatever car was available at home, being the Clio (54 bhp), the 156 (105 bhp), the Phedra (128-136 bhp), the Stilo (115 bhp) or the Croma (150 bhp).
I had the pleasure to pass all my practicing period with the 156, but I can't really say it's excellent handling and feeling helped me how to properly know how to drive. It was even it's relative lack of power, as I saw with my own eyes a guy crashing really stupidly with a Lancia Y (82 bhp), while just starting moving the car, but in the direction of a road sign.
Perhaps with 100.000 bhp the car would have just spin and avoid the sign, or perhaps with 1 bhp the car would have turned off.

[Ferrer]

Good summary.

I never had a car of my own, but my parents always let me drive whatever car was available at home, being the Clio (54 bhp), the 156 (105 bhp), the Phedra (128-136 bhp), the Stilo (115 bhp) or the Croma (150 bhp).
I had the pleasure to pass all my practicing period with the 156, but I can't really say it's excellent handling and feeling helped me how to properly know how to drive. It was even it's relative lack of power, as I saw with my own eyes a guy crashing really stupidly with a Lancia Y (82 bhp), while just starting moving the car, but in the direction of a road sign.
Perhaps with 100.000 bhp the car would have just spin and avoid the sign, or perhaps with 1 bhp the car would have turned off.

Of course overdoing it in a million horsepowers cars is potentially more dangerous than a supermini with two horses for reasons we've already underlined. But I think that far more important than that is knowing where and when to brake, turn and accelerate and that a 60km/h corner is a 60km/h corner, no matter wheter you drive a Ferrari or a Fiat.

[cmcpokey]

no matter wheter you drive a Ferrari or a Fiat.

redundancy?

[Ferrer]

redundancy?

What I meant is that some people think that because they have a high performance car they can do a million in every corner. And that just isn't the case. Nor is the case that a performance car is going to solve everything for you and that is going to make you a super driver automatically.

[LeonOfTheDead]

redundancy?

More than what you think...or even less.

Just wait a few years and you could say that of Maserati.
The next gen QP will be/is more Ferrari than Fiat, could be different for the GranTurismo replacement.