I am 19, and I pay for my car. My first car was a 1978 Saab 99 GL, and trust me it wasn't pretty. It smelt like gasoline, it barely ran when it did, topped out at 70mph, and wouldn't normally run more than 3 weeks until another problem occured. I say don't hate on the kid for his parents buying him a car. Good for him. I wish I didn't have to pay for my car. I am happy for him. Why do you care anyways? Not to be an a-hole, but are you jealious or something? I couldn't care less if his parents bought it for him. I have been working at my parents place for since I was 10, and have had several jobs other than that since I was 16. Let me tell you, work sucks. Let the kid enjoy his life while he is young. He has plenty of time to work.

 

if that was directed at me, then i am not jealous at all. i think the fact that my parents made me work for what i want was much better than giving it me.... and i chose to buy a house instead of a new car. again personal choices, nothing for me to be jealous about.

 

There's a heavy burden placed on a young person to try to act mature enough to recognize some people will be jealous of them. Not just with a Z at a young age but with anything in life. It's your responsibility to become more humble as you become more successful in life because no one likes a stuck up spoiled brat.

The most you can do to show your maturity would be to act more like "yeah I don't know, this is the situation I'm in. My parents want to buy me a nice car and I like the Z so that's what they're doing"

instead of attacking other older people saying 'well maybe you don't deserve one. I'm better than you and my parents make more money than you because our family is better than yours'

 

lol are you serious? . . Fellas, is he serious?


Without shouting rhetoric back and forth, suffice it to say that the intent of my first post was to try and help those of you fortunate enough to have a family with the means to offer you a great car, and pay for your college, to understand just how lucky you are, and to appreciate what you have, and that you are blessed.

Sorry if I came off sounding pedantic or condescending. Bottom line is, a very small percentage of the population is wealthy enough to offer their children the luxury of a new Z for their 16th birthday, and that for most people, their Z is there second (if not their first) most expensive/valuable asset they own, period.

Try telling some guy who sacraficed a certain lifestyle in order to afford his Z that he doesnt deserve a nice car because he is poor.

ffs appreciate what you got, and recognize it for what it is.

~AJ

 

I was directing it to sq40 since he started the thread, but now that I think about it, I guess it is towards anyone who even cares that some kid they don't even know parents bought him a Z. Your parents did it differently, and so did mine, but who cares. More power to the kid. Let him enjoy life to the fullest. Plus, you know how much tail a young guy can get driving a Z?

 

depends on what type of girl he's going for...

some girls will make up their mind that a young guy driving a Z is stuck up or really into money - be it true or not and not be interested

 

I think what gets most people is working hard to buy a Z on their own then seeing a kid get one handed to them thats the same or better.

Sometimes it gets me that my friends who are still in college are driving more expensive cars than I am.

But thats life. Its not always fair. I am not going to walk around with a chip on my shoulder b/c my parents would only buy me a used 4 door when I was 18 (had to share a car when i was 16 and 17). There will always be rich kids driving nicer cars than yours even when your driving $50k+ cars.

People who hate this need to get over it. And people who have the cars given to them need to stop saying our parents weren't as successful as yours. I would be willing to bet most people on this forum's parents could afford to given them a Z but chose not to.

 

It isn't about what your parents can or could afford. Not really. My parents could have afforded to buy me just about anything (well, maybe not a Ferrari). In fact my dad literally had (and has) so many cars, he stores them in a warehouse (he collects vintage Chevys and Fords). This is a man who carries an AmEx Centurion card (and last time I checked, they weren't giving those out ***** nilly; I know AmEx hasn't offered me one, and I make a great living).

There is a lesson to be learned and values to be taught by not buying your children something just because you can afford it. My parents' actions helped me appreciate what things cost and how rewarding it is to actually earn something. Heck, I would have been overjoyed if they'd bought me a 300Z back then, but I don't know if I would have appreciated the financial outlay. I even thought of myself as a great driver, but I might well be dead if I had been tooling around in a Z. Or maybe not.

Anyway, different people have different value systems. It is out of line with my value system to buy a child a 350Z, a BMW or any car like that. I'll pay for a trip to Europe so they can explore other countries and cultures. I'll pay for college, so they can get a great education and go on to great careers. But I would only buy basic, reliable, safe transportation. They can buy their own Z's and bring it by so dad can be proud of them.

 

I am sorry, but I don't know about you, but when I was 16 I wasn't looking for a wife. I am 19, and I am still not looking for a wife. I am looking for some tail. I am pretty damn sure that a kid of 16 or whatever is not looking for a wife either. As for the kind of girl she is, who cares. I just want to hit it. I'm not marrying her. As for the lady thinking badly of you because you drive a Z, is that the kind of girl you want to marry? A girl that makes judgements on you before she meets you.

 

I agree completely. You should be a debate mediator. That basically sums it up for all parties. I tried to mediate, but as you can see was not to sucessfull lol.

 

My point is this. Why does anyone care if a kid is getting a Z that his parents bought for him? His or her parents are taking a different route from yours or mine, and that is there choice. It isn't up to us to say the way they are teaching their children are wrong. They have the right to raise their children the way they want. And if anyone really cars about that kid getting their Z bought for them, that is just jealiously imo.

 

I don't really generalize young kids with nice cars right off the bat. I see it as there are two kinds. There are the ones that actually realize how lucky they are, appeciate the things that they are given, still work hard at what they do and will be successful with the values their parents instilled in them. The others are the spoiled little brats and just expect the hand outs. They have no real backup plan to their life and they pray that their parents outlive them so that they won't have to do anything the rest of their lives. The second ones are the ones that I can't STAND. They brag about what their mommies and daddies bought them and they whine when they don't buy them or do for them what they want. "If I don't get that new mercedes or BMW I won't talk to my parents ever again, I deserve it." kinda crap. The majority tend to be the second group. The first group I consider lucky...the second group I consider spoiled.

 

Once again I'm not trying to be an *******, but answer this question for me. Why do you care? When I see those kids, I couldn't care less. Great for them, I got my own life to live, and people much more important to me in my life to care about. A spoiled little kid doesn't even blip my radar. If some kid is spoiled, let him be spoiled.

 

No I mean if I know them.

Like say if I see some 17 year old cruising around in a Z I am not going to give it a second thought.

But if there is a kid that goes to the same school as me or works where I work. I am going to treat him just like any other but if he starts ragging on what I drive because his parents gave him a better car or something assinine like that, yeah, it gets under my skin. I am just saying not all are like that and I only ever really care if I actually interact with the person. Or say I am sitting at a traffic light back when I had my old rust bucket taurus. And some kid pulls up in a BMW and laughs at my car or makes some dumb *** comment about it because for his 16th birthday he got an M3 with a bow.

 

Oh, but we label behavior like this right and wrong all the time. It's the way the world works. It's the way communities reach standards on behavior beyond what we might consider absolutes of behavior. And some would argue that this behavior does have consequences for other people who must deal with the youth who are products of that environment.

No, this isn't jealousy. I'd probably be jealous if my neigbor rolled up in a Bentley Continental GT (and I'd tell him that in good fun), but jealousy just for it's own sake would be a waste of my time. There's a larger societal argument in play here that can't be dismissed by trotting out the "jealousy" card. That ignores the fact that people's actions ripple throughout our communities with repercussions.

 

hey that's cool we differ on that then. I was picky as hell who I dated - always have been. For me, the purpose of dating is ultimately to get married.

From a parenting standpoint, do you want your son to be out sleeping with a lot of people? Especially if they're underage, you'll have to answer for your son's actions and pay whatever if a girl gets pregnant.

as far as a girl making a judgment call about you driving a nice car, well it's hard to explain and I'm not sure I said it very well. There's a difference between a guy who buys a Z to pick up girls and a guy who buys a Z because he likes the car and wants to track it etc.

If the guy plays the car off and is always showing it off and making sure people know it's his and keeps it spotless even in the rain - that sends a different message than a guy who beats the hell out of it and doesn't try to make a big deal out of it. So in a way, I guess in both scenerios the guy will attract the type of girl he wants and repel the types of girls he doesn't want. So maybe my statement was wrong after all.

My girlfriend loves that I like cars so much. She's totally supportive of my hobby. But she wouldn't be if I was into cars to use them as a means to pick up girls. She wouldn't stand for that and I like that about her.

 

Its not a matter of legality, I could drive a tractor trailer to work if I choose.

I Just do not think It is wise or prudent to hand a Teen an expensive high powered toy to learn how to drive & as an example of how life will be.

 

That is much much different. If the kid is making comments to you then you have a right to know what the hell is problem is. I have a friend who owns a 05 S2K, 94 TT Supra, and an 96 accord for his abuse/ winter car. His parents are very rich, and get him what he wants, but he is a very nice guy. He has never made a comment ever to my knowledge to my other friends cars. He is great guy, and I happy for him. I am talking about when just the thought of a young guy driving a Z that his parents bought bothers someone because that is what seems the case with sq40, the person who started this thread. To me that is just jealiousy, and there is more important thing in life to care about is all I am saying. But yea, if the kid is talking smack, give him a smack.

 

That is what I am saying. People like your friend I consider in the first group. DAMN LUCKY! lol I would KILL for a supra but I can't see spending the same for a 10 year old car as a new Z lol even though the thought did cross my mind. Like I said I don't generalize young drivers as spoiled brats. I don't care unless they start being ignorant towards me or friends or whatever. As long as the parents raise them right and to work hard and not expect that treatment the rest of his life then he could end up very successful. I mean you would think since the parents are rich that they MUST have something they can teach there kids about how to make a decent living. They had to have done it somehow lol.

 

Who's to say that getting a nice first car will stick in the mind of the kid that that's the way life works?

I truly believe most of you are treating 16-20 year olds like 8-13 year olds, at 16-20 you should know what is right and wrong and be able to think for yourself...I would hope.

It's just a stereotype you are applying.

I also don't see why people who claim themselves to be "mature" care what happens with other people's lives and still haven't learned to accept things you can't change...instead of fussing over it...which, like this thread, is not going to get you anywhere.