Well, you don't want to hear it, but an Evo is too much car for a 16 y/o. Any of those cars are. Perhaps why so many people are saying similar things is that they happen (for the vast majority of the time) to be true. Some great advice has been offered here. I really hope you take some of it and really learn to drive an ordinary car before you jump into any of these 'supercars'. I'd hate to see a thread in a couple of months titled 'so I wrecked my Evo'. We've all seen too many of those. Good luck, and choose wisely.
J.D.

 

Everytime I see one of these posts I think about one of my neighbor's kid. Parents bought him a new STi for his 17th birthday. He totaled it before he even got out of our neighborhood. The car was 2 hours old.

Does this mean it'll happen to you? Who knows, but now that kid drives an 89 civic. I'd buy a nice but sedate car, you don't want to total an Evo and have to drive an 89 civic do you?

 

both of them

 

Some kids can handle a car that has a lot of power. If you are one of them, than do it and just dont give into peer pressure / be a jackass. YOU know what type of kid you are so dont try and kid yourself by trying to convince yourself otherwise.

<---just turned 17 and has been driving a 400whp+ STi for over a year. No accidents.

 

Not to be callous or anything but you do have to face some inevitable truths here.

EVEN if you were a good driver with a spotless record and drove like grandma your car is at extreme risk of an accident simply because its in a high school parking lot. I got into 4 accidents because for some magical reason people wanted to run into the back of my FLATBED pickup. fortunately the tank/beast it was took it like a champ.

Its all you need in life to wreck your entire year by having someone dent your doors, key your car because they are jealous, break windows, theft, and whatever you can possibly imagine.

I'm no saint for a driving record myself here's a couple of the hard lessons i learned:
- If the person stops at a stop light and then pulls forward you keep watching them until they fully are away from the intersection. (rolled slowly into someone that way SUPER embarrassing)

- Looking over your shoulder in rush hour traffic to get in another lane isn't good. I was doing about 50mph when i looked over my right to get a glance at the other lane so i could cut in. Apparently the lane in front of me made an immediate stop and so did my truck... right into the back of a jeep. So lesson keep eyes on road.. yeash i should have known that..


Those may have happened years ago but i don't hold that in my favor on any means. I enjoy my car mostly because it has the potential to be fast not because I drive it like a maniac.

 

Well I'm also 17 and looking at getting a Evo IX MR. But from what it sounds like, you have no clue about cars.

Evo- Pure performance, no luxury or comfort
STi- Better balance of performance and comfort but not as cheap to mod and newer ones are a bit ugly in my opinion
G35- Very high level of comfort and luxury, performance is over-rated and lackluster
328xi- sensible choice, enough performance to get you around town (certainly won't win you any streetraces, but the luxury outweights it), also pretty safe

These are 4 quite different cars. Don't worry about having the nicest car in the parking lot. I'm telling you from experience. My first car was (is) a 2001 Audi S4 which I worked on quite a bit, bumped up to the near 400hp range, babied and loved, and then made a stupid choice to speed and wrecked due to another driver failing to yield right of way. Buy a car that won't kill you (if it wasn't for the Audi's safety, I'd be dead) like the 328xi or possibly the G35. I know you think your smart and safe but if you check out the Audi forums you will see I was exactly like you before my wreck. It sounds like your parents have some money so wait until you graduate from HS to go for the performance car. Also you will gain some experience behind the wheel and become a smarter driver. Im just worried because you sound just like me a year ago, and if someone would have said something, I wouldn't have had to go through losing my car for 3 months, traffic school, court, and the misery of not having my beloved car. Just my opinion, but I'm tryin to help you out.

 

Here's the problem, at 16 no one actually knows who they are. They may think they can handle a 300 hp but reality is something completely different. Saying "well some people have these cars and don't get into accidents, therefore it is a good idea" is very very bad logic. When I was younger, my sister's boyfriend and I thought it was a good idea to fill beer bottles with gasoline and put them in the fire since it made a wicked pillar of fire. Surprise surprise one day it went wrong. Thank god I wasn't there but another had to air lifted to hospital because a bit of bottle hit him in the neck.

 

I am going to post in a different direction....I personally have test driven all the cars you have listed....I went with the evo. The evo was the first manual car I have owned but I did learn on my friend's 400 whp trans am....I never wrecked my first vehicles like someone earlier posted that every new driver will wreck his/her vehicle.

You have to remember you are in a lancer/evo forum so opinions will be a little biased. Go for what you like and as well as comfortable driving. I just hope you know what you are doing and dont have any regrets when you make your decision.

 

Did i say "every" ? I said "extreme risk"

Look take it anyway you want but its highly likely ok? If you don't run into someone likely someone will run into you like they did to me :P

 

I totally agree with you roadspikea nd you make a great, valid point. The only way to gain knowledge is experience. Same to you ambystom

Jordans4- i totally agree with you, he doesnt seem like he knows anything about the cars he is looking into at all. Do the words 4g63, ej257 mean anything to you. How about Flat 4 or iron / aluminum block. What about AWD, LSD, Differentials. DCCD.

Learn about the cars you might get before you do.

 

Ok I know somebody already say this but here goes again....WTF? you're 16 and getting an evo? WTF? you're 16 and getting it for your birthday? Ok i'm done now does your parent consider adopting? hehe i'm just kidding If you're gonna buy it then get the evo IX MR edition, it's the top of the line evo and will turn heads anyday over a STI. Get it! Get it! I wanted one but common folks like me can't afford the damn markups so I went with an 03 evo Goodluck kid and PM me when you need to part out with your broken down car har har i'm just kidding again, have fun with it!

 

lol

 

Like I said. Ive been driving a M3 for about a year now. what i learned on and what ive done all my training on. Im used to power and speed. BTW i can speed in any car i get. My reasoning is why not get the Evo that i will keep for 5+ years compared to getting any of the otehr and keeping it for 2 or 3 and then getting an evo. I know the 4 I listed are different and thats why Im looking at them all. The other cars that i went and looked at is the new TL type S, and a CLK 320. I didnt care much for the CLK and I liked the TL but I still would rather have an evo. Dont sit hear and physcologically examine my parents based on what car they will allow me to have. Originally they said no, but I am slowing wearing them down. I am going to be responsible and be careful. Wether you chose to believe me or not, thats your choice.

And BTW I cannot have more than 1 friend in my car now. Ohio passed a great new law for every year older you are, after 16, you can have that many minors in your car.

For Example:
16 years old - 1 minor
17 years old - 1 minor
18 years old - 2 minors
19 years old - 3 minors.

You get the point. So it wont be so much distractions. I will be careful and most of my driving will be on the highway.

I do not care about having the nicest car in hte parking lot. I will be far from that. i just love this car and would love to have it for the next 5 - 7 years of my life.

I will drive careful bc i have to pay the dif. of the cost of incurance from my sister's. So i realize i crash, my a$$.

 

You just don't get it and you won't until you're older.

 

Maybe you just dont get there are responsible and experienced teenagers? Too bad youll never get the chance to realize this.