Been looking for a starter car (street car) for my soon to be driving teenager. Only want to spend 2-4K for this first car. Been looking at older BMW's, 240sx type cars thinking that with some work he could use them for track days should he be interested in that. He is also 6'4" now at 15 years old, and still growing strong. Leg room is important.

However, my thinking has been colored a bit lately by input from some of the guys who I workout with. They are all fire fighters, emt's etc. To a person, they refuse to drive small cars themselves, and refuse to allow their spouse/kids to own small cars.

As you can imagine they have seen the ugly side of vehicle accidents, and their theory is the more mass the better. Even better is if you can provide more mass w/ airbags.

They don't make a lot of money at these professions so you don't see them buying new lexus or suburban suv's for their kids. They buy older, larger vehicles. At a minimum the car has lap/shoulder belts of course, and if it also has drivers side airbag that's a bonus.

What do you guys think about this issue? What will your teenager drive when they first start out?

BTW, I realize that driver training (beyond the minimum) is a good investment. But even the most skilled driver in the world can't avoid the other idiots on the road 100% of the time.

Wayne