The Accord 4-cyl is not underpowered IMO. It has 160 HP and 161 ft-lbs. A Kia Optima would be underpowered at 138 HP and 147 ft-lb.
Your Accord is a fine car for them to learn on and take their driver’s test. If you really want a second car, consider a compact sedan or coupe with a small engine. I wouldn’t worry about how many people they carry. Your state might also prevent them from driving anyone outside family around for several months. After that, the truck might encourage them to overfill the cab if 3 or 4 of them want to go out for snow cones. Or maybe they might put them in the truck bed. Hey, the snow cone stand is only a couple of mile away! I think everyone is better off witha car with an automatic transmission.
A little research…then buy the cheapest vehicle you can find with the best safety record…emphasis on cheap. Sign over the title and put it in the glove box with a note attached. The note should read…“Dear Son or Daughter. When you wreck this car, and God willing you or others are not hurt, call the number below and tell them there is a wrecked car parked at (give location) and that the title is signed over and in the glovebox. Then call us and we will pick you up…no questions…no anger”. Then go buy another cheapee and repeat per above. I did this twice with two teenage girls.
They should learn to drive by using a Driver Education car with a qualified instructor. Don’t try to teach them yourself. Turkey training does no good at all.
Do remind them not to be bothered by the silly remarks made by their friends. Friends will complain about safe driving and can cause emotions to cloud their thinking. It’s difficult to avoid trying to outdo the risky behavior of friends too.
If you live where people have decent public transportation, let them get licences after High School. It may work out better that way.
Did What Twice ? . . .
. . . Bought two cars and put titles in the glove compartment or picked them up twice after 2 crashes that totalled the cars using your “School Of Hard Knocks Braille Method Of Learning To Drive”?
I hope the girls were thrown clear and nobody got hurt.
CSA
Anyone who can’t teach his kids to drive better than the training they will get in a government run driving program is in bad shape. They simply do not get the personal attention a parent who actually knows how to drive can give. Your comment tells more about you than us. In fact, the turkey comment is rather offensive.
I wanted my kids to have at least 1,000 miles under their belt, including day; night; quiet streets; Interstate; country roads; ice; snow; and rain, before they took driver’s ed. They simply don’t get that in most school programs. I cannot imagine it being better than what they got from me.
I am amazed how many people here think the government can do a better job than the people can, at anything. If it’s your thing, I guess okay, but it’s not my thing.
I am curious if anyone here has actually attempted to teach someone to drive a manual transmission after they become skilled on an automatic? Sure sounds like a bad case of theory.
The way one teaches manual transmission is hours spent in the car, no key except of course when it is needed to release the shifter, parked, engine not running, and they have to practice the clutch/shifter moves with no danger at all. That is how it used to be taught. The student has shifting down pat before a wheel turns, and so there is no distraction. Is this what “highly superior” school teaching programs have done to our ability to teach kids to drive?
I bet other older drivers here learned to drive the same way. We loved to be allowed to sit in the car, practicing shifting without the engine running, imagining we were driving down the road.
I am told the Marines started using video games to teach soldiers to shoot, after a crazed student hit something like 7 out of 7 kids he aimed at, with only video game shooting experience. Marine sharpshooters said when asked that it would be impossible for their best shots to do, so I read they started using the same techniques. Any recent Marines here to verify or deny this claim?