cathmag

Hello, I have been reading about the TL and I really like it. They are letting me pick a car as a present and I have narrowed the choice to an 2006 Acura TL - Aspec and the or the 2006 BMW 330. I am 17 and I was wondering what you all think is the best car for someone at my age range?

rbf351

get a BMW, only because it's less of a share to see a beamer get totaled than a TL get totaled

Phesto

your a lucky guy: I had two choice's also, Bus or get a job
Get the beemer it would be the bigger splash

CL Platano

do the bimmer ,it cost more

yohan81718

bimmer.. or if you could wait till september... twin turbo charged 3 serise coupe... 335Ci

invincible569

1976 Honda Civic.

jmbnova

colossus

or a 1980 Ford Fairmont like me


If you're 16 and you buy get a car that nice you have no real place to move up in life. After suffering through my Fairmont stalling 5x on the way to school each morning, driving the old Taurus wagon with power windows and door locks was like Heaven.


If your parents have money to burn well it's their choice ultimately (I guess they put the choice in your hands).

I would get something small and sporty but safe enough to keep me alive in a bad accident. I don't care how good you may be at MarioKart or Need For Speed, driving in the real world is a whole different ballgame. You won't pick up that ESP to know when there's a drunk following you or a some idiot about to cut you off until you've been driving several years. That's why teens have high premiums - oh that and they die in cars .

Get something like a MazdaSpeed or Civic Si and put the rest into stocks so you can buy a Enzo when you're 35 or just save for your college fund.

...crawls down from Soapbox

PaperFlames

The first question I have for you prior to making a recommendation, is who is paying for insurance, maintance, and fuel?

Ol'Fart

JERU

Get the BMW and make it the Coupe. Ah to live the life, if I had a BMW at that age, the booty I would have....Get the Coupe, sit back and watch people turn green with envy. Congrats.

Ol Blue Eyes

This reminds me of the chick whose parents bought her a new 330ci last year. I found it funny when she had it wrapped around a telephone pole in front of my neighborhood. Her mom didn't like my comment "guess you should have bought her a civic" as I pulled in. As her mom huffed and puffed at me, all while yelling at her daughter, I responded "don't worry mom, you probably can't drive your 745 worth a shit either"



the girl wasn't hurt btw

jmbnova

no offense to cathmag but damn... what are his/her parents thinking? there is no way my kid will drive a car that powerful to start....
forget the money... its when they decide to show off for someone and they get killed or hurt.. or they kill or hurt someone else...

There are some nice cars out there that are not that powerfull...

CL Platano

they never learn let him wrap it around the pole, its his parents fault for not making him earn a thing

Ka0tik

lol, you guys are all just jealous, i got my tl 3months after i got my license (when i was still 16)

palmultiacura

Get a VW, much less likely to get keyed in your high school parking lot and a hell of a lot fun to drive! Almost thought of trading in my TL to get an '06 GTI with DSG. Oh man, NICE ride!!!!!!

jmbnova

And you sound like it too....

Will Y.

Seriously, if you are in area where there is no snow, get a manual transmission BMW 325 and 4 days (2 weekends) of hi-performance or emergency street driving school lessons. Otherwise, get an auto TL (without the A-spec) and the driving school lessons.

The driving schools (McKeever, Bondurant, Skip Barber, etc. depending where you are located) will provide you with a lot of fun learning car control and minimize the chances of scraping or wrecking a nice car. Your parents will save enough from buying the 325 instead of the 330 or buying the regular non- A-spec package to pay for the driving lessons, and you will get an insurance discount.

Rpappi

im sure if there going to buy him a $30k+ car im sure insurance isnt a big issue.

gauravp123

oh yeah 16? more like 14 if you ask me

yohan81718

agree...

palmultiacura

Jealous, no.

Just that one should work for thier vehicle.

It is one thing to get a "new" car when you are 16, but not $35k car. Even if u (dad) has the bucks.

My Pops hooked me up with a nice car when I was 16. It cost $8000 ($10,000 in todays $) not $35,000, but was still better than most....and I appreciated it and made it my baby.

It was "flashy" enough to get the looks, but not enough to get the snubs from people who WORK for a living (and those in school who drove the Plymouth Horizon).

When I needed the extra flash I snuck out his M3 for a ride.........but it wasn't what I drove to school.

bibby

If your parents are that loaded, then get the BMW 330i. TLs are nice, however, if you have all the money to fix it in the long run (assuming you will keep it for a couple years), then go for the Bimmer. You're lucky, I drove an Volvo 740 when I got my license, and you're talking about BMW 330. Good luck.

SPYKER310

hahah

jmaikamon

I test drove 330CI on the autobahn after being jealous of my girlfriend's 325CI. It was a great car...BUT you don't have the autobahn here so I recommend the TL. I think its a better everyday car and the you won't have to sell a kidney to afford the services.

Will Y.

Not for parents, but there might be an issue if cathmag has to pay for insurance, gas etc. Also can be used as negotiating ploy for driver's school... Plus parents may want to save a couple of thousand $$ rather than tossing it down the drain.

I worked with an adult whose parents would buy her a new car only if it was a Mercedes, BMW or Toyota/Lexus; however, she had to pay for everything beyond the initial purchase price. She chose an E350 with sport package, but the negotiations over a couple of weeks were protracted to save a few hundred $$ cash for her parents.

Rpappi

jealous is not the word for it.
proud of my acomplishments yes. im sure that most of us can agree. earning someing is so much better than having something given to me.

your_mom

I'll spend your parents' money on the 330.

JERU

Civic? Truth be told, I would rather my kid was in a BMW or Acura than an older car with less safety features. As for wrecking, you can do that regardless of the car. So it brings us to Fender Benders, parents can afford it, so no big deal. Who the hell wants to grow up like me, riding the bus? Anyone that age with those choices, more power to them. Money makes the world go 'round.. :gheywave:

Head over to the BMW forum and see what options you should get..

subinf

i'm sure everyone out there has stories about how hard life is and how much work they did for their first car. this isnt one of those, no one gives a shit about that in this thread. a 16 year old is getting either a TL or a BMW...putting him in a 1985 Ford isnt going to save his life when he slams into something (there are some exceptions obviously). A newer car has a much better chance of saving his ass and thats what his parents are putting him in.

TacoBellSauce

dont mean to sound like a dick, but id recommend you get something with a little less power
believe me man, ive been that age, though my parents didnt have the finances to hook me up like that and i believe that its probably one of the reasons im alive
my first car was a Nissan Altima, with 155hp
my boy got a Mustang GT on his bday, tried to peel out, lost control, and wrecked his new car
about $10,000 in damages and he fractured his collarbone

try looking at a TSX, its got all the nice features you need and not as powerful
drive it around for a year or so, get a hang of it, then trade it in for a nice TL or beemer
and dont forget to thank your parents

pttl

No. I don't know if you're seeing the point. The issue isn't safety. It's another case where in our society, a kid is being taught everything is free. The concept of "worth" and "earning" will be foreign to this kid, probably for his entire life.

Jealousy - no. Just a sad fact that we live in a society where consequences don't exist. Even if mommy and daddy have billions, handing over a 35000 dollar car, doen't instill any responsibilty in this future adult. This is why "Mexicans fill jobs that Americans won't take".

trancemission

I gotta say I agree with you on this...

KaMLuNg

iTrader: (5)

wat type of response did you expect asking this type of question on an Acura enthusiuts forum???

TailsToo

My first car - it was 11 years old, over 120k miles and a real POS - but I did learn about cars... I needed to just so I could keep it running.

VeeralS05

I gotta 03 CL-S for my 16th BDAY

Laxplaya11385

Wow...this is very deja vu of another thread.
Anyways....the kid hasn't even told us what he did to deserve it (of course the chances are that it's for a birthday gift or something of the sort). I had a friend who, upon getting his license, got a brand new ML350. Of course everyone, and their parents, started talking about how spoiled he was etc. etc; how he hasn't done anything to deserve a $50,000 car. What no one knew was that he's been handling his parents business since he was 14. (His parents own a lot of land and real estate. They moved here from Taiwan and their english is very poor.) In doing so, he has learned pretty much everything he needs to know to continue the family business, so in a sense, it was a deserved gift.
Now, while I can see why a lot of the "older" people on this forum don't agree with what his parents are doing, you also have to remember that you aren't his mom or dad. If his parents don't feel that teaching their kid the value of money is important, then that's their "problem."

My advice, kid, is to invest the money. You really don't need that nice of a car in HS.
1st off, if you have one of the nicer cars in the HS lot, it WILL get keyed. HS kids tend to hold a grudge (especially if you do something to piss them off). Either of these two cars will cost a lot of $$$ to fix. Plus, if you're gonna love your car as much as some of us on the forum, you'll be paranoid about it.
2nd, there will be MUCH nicer cars coming out soon. I don't want to say that you'll ultimately regret the purchase, but you might feel that you should've waited. (Kind of where I stand at the moment. I looove my car, but the 335 CI is just... )

3rd, as many of the older (notice i say older, not old ) member have stated, learn how to drive 1st. No matter how good of a driver you think you are, there is a lot to be learned: How to drive in tight situations, how to be alert for certain things, the list goes on and on. I've been driving for 5 years, and I still feel that there is a lot of driving to be learned.

Having said all that (sorry bout this guys), the decision is still yours to make, but try to take some of the advice of the older/wiser members into consideration when making it.

leedogg

Keep in mind you're off to college soon. I'd get a pickup truck or small suv/car hybrid. Like a magnum or matrix. Mazda has some interesting suv types - the 5 or the cx 7. Carry all your shit, carry all your friends. Save the rest.

cathmag

To answer everyones question here, my parents will be paying for insurance etc. Work, I just go to school, I haven't worked yet. I don't think I am spoiled, it is just a present that my parents want to give me. Of course, if I get into an accident, an old 1970 Cadillac that weighs more than 2 TLs, together will protect me better than a TL.

leedogg

Are you male or female? thats a negative on the cadillac protecting you better. The TL has one of the best if not the best crash protection in a passenger vehicle out there.

KOIBOY

as one of the younger poster's on the board and also someone who received the TL as a gift I would say get the TL. The spoiled kid in the BMW is a well worn cliche that is best avoided. Get it tinted nice and dark and noone will no it is a teenager driving it.
I would also suggest you ignore those poster's who pulled out their soapboxes. You should be happy and proud that your parent's are succesful enough to provide you such a wonderful gift. You have obviously earned it or your parent's believe you are worth such a considerable investment. If you aren't, and are completely spoiled oh well.
Be forewarned the car is deceptively fast. So don't go wrapping it around a tree or nothing.
The next question's you should be asking yourself is if you wan't A-Spec, Navi, Manual or automatic, and color? Don't rush into any package or car you aren't completely satisfied with.