I wouldn’t even want to think what the insurance would be on even the most basic versions of those 2.
I’m 38 and when I bought my GT, I dropped to liability/comprehensive on my CX-7 and my insurance still doubled. If I paid each month, I’d be paying $143/month, or $786 if I pay in full for 6 months at a time for BOTH vehicles. And that reflects, according to my bill, a savings of nearly $600 for multi policy(2 cars plus home insurance through them), pay in full, safe driving club, new car and responsible payer discounts.
Could be worse, though, I could have no house payment and been able to afford the true mid-life crisis car- a Corvette. XD
The only thing with an SUV is that they have a higher center of gravity plus more buoyant tires. This means they are subject more to roll overs than a standard car. And sooner or later they are going to make an emergency maneuver and/or end up in the ditch. I’m more inclined to turn one of your cars over instead but doesn’t really matter I guess. The first car my son drove was a Buick Riviera that we had bought as a back-up car. He was a good driver but I did find out some years later that he put it in the ditch. Got the help of a farmer though to pull him out and never said anything about it for years. It was a very low to the ground and stable and safe car.
Yeah that happens. My wife had out Corvair parked on the street at the high school, across from the court house where the driver’s testing was done. She came out and found a note on the car that it had been side swiped while a girl was taking her test. Gee that was back in 74 or something and think I made about $100 fixing that one myself.
Yes, new driver will do dumb things. I had my first accident at 21. Actually, there were many close calls before then. That’s when i learned to leave an escape route whenever possible. My wife had her license for a year when I first met her. She ripped off half the bumper of our new car. I didn’t discourage from driving after that. In fact, she became more vigilant in tight spaces.
It’s unfortunate that many of us have to learn from our mistakes. I’m now kinda worry about what kind of cars our babies will be driving in 15 years. If I can find one, it will be a Toyota tercel, with manual steering and manual transmission. I test drove one before and I loved it. Not powerful enough to get into lots of trouble, but nimble(can’t say that about the Corolla I crashed) enough to steer away from it
Maybe not yet, but at some point manual transmissions become more expensive than automatics. IMO, that point came for Audi, and they decided to drop manuals. I realize that automatics are more of a US thing, but others might decide that if the cost is the same or marginally different, an automatic is preferable. This is especially true for dense traffic.
I got around on bicycle until I was 45 - lived in LA most of that time. It wouldn’t have occurred to me that my parents would have bought me a car when I was a kid.
@RandomTroll. I was relieved when my son got a driver’s license and was driving the car instead of riding his bicycle. Some motorists don’t realize that bicycles have the same legal rights on the road as cars. Our town has since put in bike lanes that should help.
In some ways, college students in some programs almost have to have a car where they didn’t in my day. I didn’t have a car when I was in college in the late 1950s and early 1960s. When my son went to college back in the early 1990s, I reluctantly let him take our 15 year old Oldsmobile since his college was about 50 miles away. The next year my son went on an internship 350 miles away,. I put him in a much newer Ford Taurus.
I live in Los Angeles right now, and have for about 20 years
I don’t know if you’re older than me, and when you were riding your bicycle . . . but right now I find the traffic situation to be insane. I wouldn’t feel comfortable riding a bicycle here
Albuquerque is notorious for its bicycle unsafeness. I stay off busy streets, assume no motorist will stop for red lights or stop signs, signal a turn, or turn if signaling. If I have to cross a busy street I cross where there’s a traffic light and wait for the motorists to stop. The occasional motorist who overtakes me and turns right into me gets me. I think it can be safe for everyone who rides safely - at least as safe as driving.
I moved out 20 years ago.
'Cause you think of it as a motorist. There are lots of lightly-traveled streets in LA. I moved from Pasadena to Santa Monica. I’d ride to Pasadena monthly to visit. I could make it all the way with cars rarely passing me. I had a Thomas Brothers of course, and took all sorts of back roads. I never felt unsafe. I wouldn’t drive that route
I would look at the overall safety rating. Outside of that I’d find something with no blind spots. Also something that’s less likely for peer pressure to push the limits.
I rode through all sorts of neighborhoods in LA - as you can imagine on my route from Santa Monica to Pasadena. I also rode to Claremont occasionally.
I lived on the edge of LA when I lived in SM - I was in LA in 5 minutes - and stayed there until I crossed the city line in the Highland Park neighborhood into Pasadena for the last few miles of this 28-mile route.
It was a metaphor. I meant that people inured to driving cars think of the routes they would take if they drove a car instead of the routes they would take if they rode a bicycle and wanted to maximize safety. I get this all the time from motorists - and I see bicyclists on busy streets.
pyrolord314, I agree completely. I was in my local Dodge dealership one morning having my old Dakota serviced and spoke with the employee whose job it was to dust the cars in the showroom. He said that year 3 different parents came it to buy a car for their child’s graduation and walked out with a new Viper. Which helps explain why another Dodge salesperson told me that 17% of all new Vipers never get home from the dealership. I mean, 18 year old boy, 600 HP supercar, what could possibly go wrong?
That is a reasonable source. I worked at several Dodge dealers, the largest had a 1000 vehicle inventory and had difficulty selling 3 Vipers per year. I find it hard to believe that 3 people in the country would be willing to pay for the car insurance for an 18 year old driving a Viper.
