Why does a 16-year-old female have significantly cheaper car insurance than a 16-year-old male all other things being equal? I know males in their 20s that never had a wreck, and they are still paying higher insurance than a female and the have a CDL. Not right.
You should ignore replies from those who are not familiar with the automotive hobby.
I titled a car when I was 15 years old without a parent listed on the title. I registered and insured it at the age of 17 on my own merit.
$15,000 is plenty to spend on a project car, spending $40,000 on a late model coupe to work on would be foolish.
I think you should use that $15K for college expenses in a few years
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Car advice? Life advice? You are on the way to needing neither one. You had a goal and you saved money to accomplish the goal. I was 32 when I learned the last lesson about goals. You will learn it faster than I did. It will be different than my idea of a final goal. I’ll just put a question forward. How can I end up in a better position every year?
Other people ask; Where do I see myself in five years? Great questions. See if you can use them. I know you will learn a lot in the next two years. I forgot the last small detail. Never tell people how much money you have. They all want to get at it.
You are used to typing a certain way. We are all used to reading a certain way. You are asking for our advice. Who do you think should please the other.
I know the answer to that, so this will be my only communication to you.
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Because it’s the Internet and there’s no consequence for being rude.
I strongly suggest that you buy a car for $1000 or $2000 that has some problems and work on that. Learn to jack it up properly and safely. Drive that around for a bit. Once it’s fixed up then you can sell it for a bit more than you paid.
I really don’t think you should spend over $10,000 on a vehicle when you have very little experience and you could mess something up while working on it. Once you’re done working with the $1000 car you’ll have a much better idea of what it will take to make the 370z the way you want it. The 370z will be off the road for weeks at a time while you’re modifying it, so unless you have the $1000 car to drive around you will have no ride during that time!
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At 16 years old, I was thankful to have a beat-up 1988 Corolla, which I had to share with my sister. An expensive or sporty car would have been out of the question, and even now at 42 years old, I wouldn’t spend $15k on a car.
What you need at this point in your life is something inexpensive, reliable, and relatively safe. I would suggest a 1997-2001 Toyota Camry, and I can think of no other vehicle which delivers as much bang for the buck. This is one of the most reliable and easiest-to-maintain cars out there–especially if you buy one with the 4-cylinder engine. It delivers excellent fuel economy, very good performance, and excellent comfort and passenger/cargo space. It is also very cheap to insure, even for a young man.
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Another thing to consider, and I’m not sure anybody’s mentioned it yet . . .
Teenagers tend to show poor judgment, be wild and make many mistakes . . . including crashing cars
So I wouldn’t spend too much on my first car(s) 
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My teenage ski buddy had the equivalent car (at the time), 240Z. Singing along to the 8-track playing Country Joe and the Fish, have to say we had a pretty good time in that car on the way to the ski resorts. Of course my older Ford Galaxy also got us and equipment to the ski resorts, but no 8-track, no sing-a-longs.
And killing themselves, and innocent others as well. I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks that this could be a very bad idea. There should be 5000+ miles of normal driving experience, preferably having been in a moderate accident or close call already, before attempting to get a fast car at such a young age.
I don’t think a teenager would be interested in “Grandma’s old Camry” for a project car.
A kid at work has a Honda Civic SI that he is modifying and breaking. The car was more than $15,000, he is not poor and spends his money as he wishes.
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When my kids were young I watched many kids receive new SUV’s or used performance cars and promptly wreck them due to inexperience.
My “poor deprived” kid got my Dodge Neon stick shift instead of the performance car he dearly wanted and still managed to rear end a car stopped at a stop light. (Cute girl in the passenger seat, passing a BMW dealership and brakes "momentarily " failed) .
The HS girlfiend is long gone, he graduated Clemson where he had the time of his life (great automotive engineering programs), is happily living in his luxury condo with a great career and with his loaded Sonata instead of the Porsche or MB that “He just had to have!”.
It’s called Parenting. “Yes, I’m stupid and an ass but tough luck you’re stuck with me, so get over it!”
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What is $15k going to get at any college these days? 1 book and 1 class for 1 semester?
Vocational schooling would work out way better, especially while they are still in high school as these schools will take over part of their schooling for a diploma. Back when I went to my local vocational school, there were some programs that were “work release” where one could go work for a few hours of the day in that field. I can even remember a couple of kids talking about how they were able to bring their own cars in to work on- so the OP might even be able to do some of the work while they’re at school learning. They also had it where some could bring their cars in for routine maintenance/basic repairs so the students could learn on cars that way as well.
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I don’t know why you’re being so critical of my earlier comment. My comment was just a suggestion
Is it possible you got a little ahead of yourself there?
I never implied that $15K would go a long way towards paying for college
I also went to a vocational school, btw, so I know how some of these things work
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I wouldn’t say critical, just that college isn’t always the answer, and part of the problems we are having with colleges today stems from us(collectively) constantly telling our kids they need to go to college to have any hope of getting a decent paying job.
Apologies if it seemed I was being too critical, I just think it’s one way to break the cycle of ever increasing tuition costs by starting to encourage vocational/trade schooling where/when possible- especially since the OP seems to be interested in learning auto mechanics.
And, should the OP go the vocational route, they might find after a couple years they have a love-hate relationship with anything automotive and choose another path in life and aren’t out as much money had they gone to college.
No apologies needed
We’re all good
Fyi . . . I first went to college fir a few years, with the goal of getting a bachelor’s in liberal arts. At the time . . . I’m 50, so you can pretty much figure out ehen this took place . . . EVERYONE said I need to go to college
And I literally mean everyone. Parents, brother,friends, neighbors, school counselors, etc.
Well, college didnt work out for me and I didnt finish
Then I did that 3yr apprenticeship at a vocational school and havent looked back since
I might add something else . . . This blue-collar college washout has better pay, benefits and job security than many college graduates I know
You’re right in the sense that vocational school is a very viable choice
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I expect most already know this, but college expenses, at least for undergrad degrees, can be much reduced if the student takes advanced placement classes in high school. If they pass the test, they get college credit w/no fee at all. At least that’s how it worked in my college days. Most college also offered a test that, if passed, allowed an incoming student to skip much of the general introductory required courses, another big tuition/book & time savings. Of course this means the high school student has to stay home some weekends and study rather than going to the weekend’s party, it’s a compromise. If the student really studies in high school pretty good chance they’ll qualify a scholarship too, another possibility of reducing expenses. Even a one year scholarship saves a lot of money.
For reducing graduate degree expenses, many tech companies offer programs that pay tuition for night school courses toward these sorts of degrees.
And of course state colleges are considerably less expensive than privates, and not much difference in the job opportunities later. If a student desires a private college degree on their resume, that should be their final degree. So UC Berkeley for the BS, then Stanford for the MS. Not the other way 'round.
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I’d start with looking through a 370Z forum, the one I’ve found looks to cover multiple subjects including the mod’s you’re interested in. Might be a possibility to find a owners group somewhere in your region to get ideas and local specialists or parts suppliers
Nissan 370Z Forum (the370z.com)
The high school program offered here is only about half the school day but would give credit if you wanted to go on to one of the 2yr programs, you’d only pay a small claiss fee and use shared tools and get both HS and Vocational school credit at the same time. Not unusual at all for students to work on their own cars where I went,
It sounds like money is not a problem to them.