Sigh, some spoiled kids today. rant

[rp23g7]

So, my neighbors car is dead, and had asked if i could pick up his 17 yr old son from school the other day.  I say sure no sweat.

I go to the High School, get there about 30 min before school is out and park in the student lot.

What is up with some high school kids today.  How can they afford some of the cars they drive?

When i was in high school  81-84, the lot was full of 5 to 10 yr old cars.  I drove my 64 Dodge, my neighbor drove a 76 Datsun, another neighbor drove a 77 Bug, there were a few muscle cars but a lot of them were beaters.

Today, the lot is full of BMW's new Subaru SRX's and other pretty new imports and some newer cars, less than 10 yrs old.  Are these kids parents buying these cars for them, i know a high school kid, especially these days isnt making a $300-400 a month car payment by them selves, any of you guys have high school parking lots like this?

The cool thing?   I park the Coronet in front of the office, in the visitor parking.  Got a few "WOW"! remarks and stuff like that behind my back as i walked in.

I go to the kids lounge and let him know i am there and will meet him at the car in front.

I go back out and there are about 10 kids hanging out at my car, one guy in a ricer mobile checking it out.  They all wanted to know what it was and what engine and how fast.  The kid with the riced Honda says the engine really looks easy to work on, and maybe he should get a car like this.

Pretty neat.

[BIRD67]

Don't know where you live, but my friend nate drives an Astro van, My buddy rob has a 90 Grand Marquis, Mikey has a 99 S-10 and every other kid has an Accord, Nissan pickup or whatever.. Most of the cars are high mileage piles that are cheap to insure..

[rp23g7]

Seattle area here, seems like more parents would buy their kids things like that to drive as they would be less expensive to insure.  Dont know what a insurance on a 2008 or so Subaru WRX is, but its gotta be a lot for a kid under 25 to drive.

[Rolling_Thunder]

I was the oddball at my HS because I was one of the few people who drove an "old car" -  most of the other kids drove BMWs, Mustangs, Lexus, Mercedes...       Me and about 4 other guys drove Muscle Cars...    One 67 Camaro, One 1966 Mustang, one 71 El Camino, a 71 Challenger and My Charger

[PocketThunder]

I didnt own a car till i was 21.  In HS i walked to school 1/2 mile and i worked across the street from my house.  I got dropped off at college and was told, call when you need a ride home, got a job working on campus.  Bought my first car for $100, a 1986 S-10 pickup, then put $300 into making it run.  then sold it 4 years later for $450.    God i miss that truck, best vehicle i ever had. 

[WHITE AND RED 69]

I graduated back in 2000 and there were only a couple of kids with cars worth over 20 grand. But I had picked up my younger brother about 2 years ago and the parking lot was filled with BMWs, Mercedes, lexus, audis, and a bunch brand new lifted trucks. I couldnt believe how these kids could be driving these for there first car. My first car was a piece of crap and these kids have brand new luxury cars. Damn spoiled kids! I think everyone should have a piece of crap for your first car (unless you buy it or build it yourself), it makes you appreciate what you have when you get something better and you learn to fix things when they break down.

[Khyron]

I had a 76 Dodge Aspen SE i bought for $70, i miss that POS!

[ChgrSteve67]

1. Most people don't consider older cars safe.
2. Parents today worry about what others think about thier kids. (Like buying name brand shoes and pants)
3. As much as people complain about being broke they have no problems buying thier kid a new car to drive.

Realize that most of those kids are driving thier parents car not thier own car.

I drove my dads truck (72 Chevy PU) for two years before I got my own car. (Graduated in 85)

Others I went to school with drove either their parents car or thier parents bought them a car.
The range was everything fom VW bugs to firebirds & cameros to corvetts.
Mercedes, BMWs, Jags and Cadillacs were for your Grandma and Grandpa. Noone wanted to drive one of those.

[rp23g7]

1. Most people don't consider older cars safe.
2. Parents today worry about what others think about thier kids. (Like buying name brand shoes and pants)
3. As much as people complain about being broke they have no problems buying thier kid a new car to drive.

Realize that most of those kids are driving thier parents car not thier own car.

I drove my dads truck (72 Chevy PU) for two years before I got my own car. (Graduated in 85)

Others I went to school with drove either their parents car or thier parents bought them a car.
The range was everything fom VW bugs to firebirds & cameros to corvetts.
Mercedes, BMWs, Jags and Cadillacs were for your Grandma and Grandpa. Noone wanted to drive one of those.

I would much rather be t-boned in a 60s or 70s car than anything new.  I imagine they are not telling the insurance co that their 18 yr old is driving the brand new Mercedes, wonder what that would actually cost.

[moparguy01]

I graduated in  2001, my high school was one of those ones with the lot full of fancy cars mommy and daddy bought. I got lots of crap when i drove either my 1949 International or my 1964 Dodge Polara. I used to like flooding out the Polara so when i started it wide open it would set off every car alarm in the adjacent 2 rows.

[moparnole]

I have an 89 supra, my friends have things like an 95 astro van, 2000 ford trucks, and so on, but there are a few that have new trucks, and new camaros, a new car to me seems a bit much especially at the hight school level

[FLG]

1. Most people don't consider older cars safe.
2. Parents today worry about what others think about thier kids. (Like buying name brand shoes and pants)
3. As much as people complain about being broke they have no problems buying thier kid a new car to drive.

Realize that most of those kids are driving thier parents car not thier own car.

I drove my dads truck (72 Chevy PU) for two years before I got my own car. (Graduated in 85)

Others I went to school with drove either their parents car or thier parents bought them a car.
The range was everything fom VW bugs to firebirds & cameros to corvetts.
Mercedes, BMWs, Jags and Cadillacs were for your Grandma and Grandpa. Noone wanted to drive one of those.

I would much rather be t-boned in a 60s or 70s car than anything new.  I imagine they are not telling the insurance co that their 18 yr old is driving the brand new Mercedes, wonder what that would actually cost.

Much the same around here in Audi, BMW, Lexus...ect

A few of us have muscle cars, Fox mustangs, Camaros, Firebirds...the rest of em are into the import stuff.

One thing though, trust me you DONT want to get T-Boned in anything old. Look at any of our cars, the ONLY thing protecting us is the very very long doors that are basically sheet metal with little to no support. You get T-Boned in one of our chargers at a good pace and your lucky to come out of it.

[bull]

I think it's called debt up to your ears. People these days are all about image and creating facades of fake perfection. I think it's more about the parents worrying about their image than it is worrying about the safety of their kids.

Anyway, cool story about your car. It's nice when people acknowledge old school cars. No matter what your age old Mopars are still cool after all these years.

[Silver R/T]

rich kids around here drive nice cars. It's like that everywhere. Kids like me didn't have shit when I was in high school

[bordin34]

My school has lots of expensive car in it, its terrible. There are probably almost ten BMWs and Audis, about five Mercedes and one of them costs $80,000. I would say more than 90% of the cars are 2003 or newer. The students actually drive nicer cars than the teachers. Most of the kids get them because they want it. The car I usually drive is a 2003 Nissan Pathfinder and its my brothers, my car is my Charger that I paid half of.

[Cooter]

Well, if those kids are getting a $20K BMW, Is it still cool if the kid gets a $20K 1969 Charger?

Or a '66 Belvedere II?

Mine will be the only one in the parking lot With an Older musclecar. Yes, I paid the bill on it up front, but he's gonna get a J O B and pay my ass back...He walks in my shed and thinks he's in Wal-Mart Looking around on the shelves.....

[rp23g7]

I think it's called debt up to your ears. People these days are all about image and creating facades of fake perfection. I think it's more about the parents worrying about their image than it is worrying about the safety of their kids.

Anyway, cool story about your car. It's nice when people acknowledge old school cars. No matter what your age old Mopars are still cool after all these years.

I think that is the whole thing, worring about their image and the kids image.

[rp23g7]

Well, if those kids are getting a $20K BMW, Is it still cool if the kid gets a $20K 1969 Charger?

Or a '66 Belvedere II?

Mine will be the only one in the parking lot With an Older musclecar. Yes, I paid the bill on it up front, but he's gonna get a J O B and pay my ass back...He walks in my shed and thinks he's in Wal-Mart Looking around on the shelves.....

Dang right there,  I bought our son a 79 Monte Carlo, it was his choice, black of course, with tinted windows, and naturally he put wire rims on it, not expensive ones.  He paid us back.  And the thing is, all his buddies though he had the coolest car at school, this was just a few yrs ago.

[1969chargerrtse]

In 1974 I drove my 57 Nomad to HS.  My brother had a 67 GTO conv, his buddy had a 69 Z/28 that he raced at the track on weekends. Otherwise most cars were mid 60's into 70's.  Today I drop my kid off there and most cars are newer within 10 years .  It's a different time my friends.

[snagm z]

I drove a 1972 dodge charger 318 car. Then the car was almost 18 years old. My friends drove nice sporty imports. One day Charger was in an accident with Mr.Honda. After a couple of weekends in the junkyard and a rubber mallet charger was back in the parking lot at school. While Mr Honda was riding the bus with a broken leg. Good Times

[Manfred318]

Its that way around here too. When I was in HS I drove my Charger for the most part while I was working on it. While I was having it painted I had an '88 Z71 with 300k on it and drove it for awhile. I sold it and bought an '84 Ram. Most of the kids I went to school with drove rice rockets. Mitsu. Eclipses were the big thing then. There were about 7 of us that had old cars. A good friend of mine drove a '68 4 door Satellite, and another friend drove a '69 Fury III until it burned to the ground one nite. I remember a 71 Mustang, a '68 Galaxie 500, and a '73 Nova as well. I graduated in '05 and work at the school now, and just about every vehicle I see now is a Lexus, BMW, or some big assed new SUV or new jacked up truck.

[oldcarnut]

I graduated back in 2000 and there were only a couple of kids with cars worth over 20 grand.

I graduated in 1977 and I don't remember hardly any cars close to over 10G's let alone 20    My 1st was a 71 Charger 500 ($1200).  Most drove their Moms station wagon, Dads 60's -70's truck or a Mustang, Maverick, Vega type hand-me-down. The more you could carry the more friends you had ride with ya. Just thankfull you even had a ride.  The "heads" all had muscle cars--too cool for anything else  .  Only knew one girl that got a new 76 Silver Anniversary Vette from a rich daddy for her 16th birthday.

[69bronzeT5]

It's all about the school. My old school on the Island was full of older 4X4 pickups and Jeeps and that kinda stuff. The kids who had Imports usually had older ones. A couple of kids had done up ones with wings and one even had Lambo doors. However, nothing was too expensive. My one friend drove a Pontiac Fiero GT that he fixed up or he drove his 80's GMC pickup. My other friend had a '71 Valiant but sold it and now he drives a '81 Malibu.


My new school is completley opposite. Full of brand new cars. One girl drives a brand new charcoal grey BMW convertible and when it snows she drives a brand new Range Rover. I assume the Range Rover is her parents but the BMW is her's because she drives it everyday. I don't think she paid for the whole thing though. I live in a rich area so like I said, most of the kids drive new cars. One kid drives a '95 Mustang SVT Cobra and he can't even drive the 5spd properly. I'm totally the odd one out with my Duster (well until I graduated early). Most days I drove the Durango though.

[wayfast1500]

I graduated in '07, I was driving a '98 f150 I bought on my own, and a '81 Suzuki gs750 I bought on my own at the motorcycle shop I worked for.  There were a lot of beaters, rice, and a few that drove the mommy/daddy bought me audi, bmw ect.  There was one kid whose dad owned a dealership and would show up everyday in a different $50k+ car.  His "beater" was a new Audi s4.

[draftingmonkey]

Part of the problem is parents wanting their kids to have it "better" than they did when they were kids.  Here in south Orange County you see lots of BMW's, Audi's and other performance cars.  Parents have the delusion that buying a well made, safer in an accident car will be better for the kids.  Problem is buying a higher performance safe car for a kid who just got their license is not the best thing to do.  Just look at the number of accidents around here involving kids who do not have the experience to handle a rocket mobile. I.ve seen more than one accident with dead or seriously injured teens involved.
Back in the 70's when I was in HS the norm was older vehicles.  I could not afford a car until after I graduated and went to work full time.  Had to pay for my own insurance and fuel just to borrow the family car on my part time wages.  As I lived just inside the 3 mile limit to catch the school bus, I walked to school and back most days.
PS - Anyone familiar with Spokane will know what a fun walk from L.C. to near Manito Park would be.