...my girl is five, my son is two, they both love cars and it shows. My little girl even knows the various Porsche models, she even recognizes Ferraris (we went to a Ferrari day once and she was overwhelmed with that many red toys...
). Her dream car is a red Cabriolet, no matter if Porsche or Ferrari. Guess what...she'll never get it. Why? For several reasons I don't want to elaborate right now but one major reason is: I love my kids and I don't want them to die in a damned car.
Yes, I'll buy them a nice car when they're 18, no doubt about it. Not because I want to spoil them but because I don't want them to drive with other people around in their (unsafe? too fast?) cars. I also want to teach them early how to drive in a responsible way and to learn how to avoid/handle dangerous situations. No, no Porsche and no Ferrari. But something little and something pretty safe. Maybe something their friends want to drive in, so I'm sure my kids wouldn't drive with other people in other cars.
Once somebody knows how to really drive, he'll never feel safe with somebody else driving. I'll buy them something cool but not something too fast. Something nice but nothing they would want to race. I know it sounds simple and I know it isn't. I also know that I'll have a hard time explaining to my kids why I'm driving 500+ HP monsters and they can't. I know it will be difficult and there will be shouting, crying and disappointment at a certain point. I don't care. I want my kids to live, not to die in a car. Buying a 16-18 year old a powerful car is irresponsible, sorry to say that. Buying a 16-18 year old a 2.5 ton Cayenne Turbo is irresponsible too, even more than buying a Corvette or a Boxster. DO NOT trust your kids, guys. I was a kid myself and if my parents would have known what I did in my cars, they would have died of a heart attack long before. I'm not kidding. Parents who trust their kids are STUPID. I speak from experience, from my youth and from experience with my friends. None of us told our parents the full truth, especially not about stupid things. No, I never was into drinking, smoking or even drugs, thanks god. But I was driving like a maniac at age 18-23, it is a miracle that I'm alive and that I didn't kill anybody else.
So PLEASE listen to me: if you love your kids, don't give them weapons in their hands. It is like giving them a loaded gun and waiting for them to shoot themselves or somebody else. I know that some people at younger age will hate me now for saying this but as much as a 18 year old wants to tell me that he is driving within the normal speed limits, I doubt it. Let some friends be with him/her in the car, let some drinking be involved, let some other people provoke them (a rice burner standing next to them at the red light), etc...and I bet that ANY 18 year old looses his self-control and goes for it. This is HUMAN, this is NORMAL for that kind of age.
I bought my first Porsche at age 31. Yes, I would have loved to own one at age 18. I was lucky enough to have wealthy parents, so all my cars were pretty powerful starting with age 18. But my parents were dumb, sorry to say that. At age 20 I was driving a Lancia Delta Integrale, a car which 20 years ago(!) easily outran any Ferrari or Porsche out there, especially the version I drove with 280 HP (tuned by AM Motorsport/Holzer, incl. water injection, etc.). My parents had no clue what this car was capable of, luckily I started professional racing in the group N in this car and I somehow gathered experience "in the field". Otherwise, I'm pretty sure about it, I would be dead by now.
Sorry, kids...no vroooomm, vroooom from this daddy...but a nice little car you don't have to be ashamed of.
