I totally agree.
I'm not a father... but the last thing you want to do is give your 16 year old son a car with power. Especially a front wheel drive car. Especialy his first car. Especially an import that's "cool" with the crowds.
No matter how good of a kid he is, he'll either end up in jail for street racing, or wrap him self around a pole due to lack of driving experience. I'm not going to tell you how to raise your kid or anything like that- but seriously, i think its a horrible idea.
When I was 16, i had the fastest car with 140 hp out of all my friends... and daily, we topped out our cars... taking S-curves at 110+. why? because we could. it was a rush. it was a new sense of freedom that turning 16 gave us.
I jumped my mom's lumina when i was 17 a good 100 feet over a street that goes up then drops off down a huge hill. had i hit it a couple mph faster, i would have nose-dived and flipped before the front wheels hit the ground, landing on the roof, and probably killing me and my 3 friends i had in the car with me.
While I haven't, most of my friends have lost their licenses for 3-6 months a peice for various "driving fast" related things.
and this was in 100 hp cars.
double or tripple that, and the car will be capable of hitting 150+ gear box limited. loosing it at 150 = death.
I'm 23 now, and far from old... but even at my age, i look back on shit i've done, and it's amazing how stupid I was. "boys will be boys" and there is nothing you can do to stop that. I shouldn't be here. I was lucky. unfortunately, I bet 90% of the people on this board can name someone they were close to who was killed in their car. I knew 4.
Well, I hope I scared you- but ultimately, it's your descretion as his father. If it were my kid- he'd have a paper route right now, saving up for when hes 16 to buy a $1000 piece of shit.
Kids respect shit so much more when they have to work for it.
if you hand it to them, even if he helps you work on it- its not the same. ultimately, you teach him two lessons at once- money/savings, and respect for what something is and the desire to not crash it.
honestly, i think thats why girls crash up all the time, and frankly, the majority of them are horrible drivers. Daddy buys them a car. they don't care- its just "cute". if they crash it, daddy will buy them another one.
but that's off topic....