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Would you let your 16 year old have a Jeep?

Would you let your 16 year old have a Jeep for their first vehicle?


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powelld353

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All 3 of my kids drove my TJ. Kind of like a right of passage for them to drive it then pass on to the next sibling.
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m3reno

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An average car has different handling characteristics vs a jeep. A jeep does require you to take different lines vs a car, that being said ....no I wouldn't make that a first car
 

10mmauto

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16 year old. New car.

No.
 

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Dkretden

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This is a very interesting thread to me and I am surprised by some of the responses......

When I was 16, the vehicles that we could purchase were, essentially, shit cans with non-radial tires. No safety features except seatbelts that nobody wore .... nobody......

I did have two high school friends die in two fatal crashes. One was alcohol related .... died as a passenger (drunk driver in his car) and the other fell asleep at the wheel and ran off the road as a solo occupant. I don’t know for sure but neither was likely using a seat belt. Both, as I recall, were ejected from the car that they were in. I did say “car”.......

by the standard of my teen years, a modern Jeep JL or JK is a nerf ball wrapped in armor and surrounded with a technology force field.

my friend, who is now 50+ has never had any other vehicle but a Jeep. Drove one as her first vehicle as a teen. She marvels at how safe her JK is (that she just gave to her 16-year old daughter) compared to the Jeeps she drove previously.
 

rickinAZ

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This is a very interesting thread to me and I am surprised by some of the responses......

When I was 16, the vehicles that we could purchase were, essentially, shit cans with non-radial tires. No safety features except seatbelts that nobody wore .... nobody......

I did have two high school friends die in two fatal crashes. One was alcohol related .... died as a passenger (drunk driver in his car) and the other fell asleep at the wheel and ran off the road as a solo occupant. I don’t know for sure but neither was likely using a seat belt. Both, as I recall, were ejected from the car that they were in. I did say “car”.......

by the standard of my teen years, a modern Jeep JL or JK is a nerf ball wrapped in armor and surrounded with a technology force field.

my friend, who is now 50+ has never had any other vehicle but a Jeep. Drove one as her first vehicle as a teen. She marvels at how safe her JK is (that she just gave to her 16-year old daughter) compared to the Jeeps she drove previously.
Not to mention time spent riding (beltless) in the wayback seat in our station wagon, and with a pile of kids in the back of a pickup truck. [we even felt safe despite not having a "baby on board" sign] No incidents ever - knock-on-wood.

Sorry, veered off topic.
 

SpeedKills

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My 15 year old will get his license shortly. He will drive my 09 2-door Rubicon manual. It has traction control, stability control, manual transmission, and only 200-ish horsepower. We wrench on either his JK or his mom's JL almost every weekend so he knows how things work.
 

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HendersonJL

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I wouldn’t necessarily poll public opinion for my family private affairs. However regarding the topic, it would depend on two factors: 1) can I afford a new car/Jeep? 2) is my son/daughter a responsible person?
 

sf5211

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I would say yes because at least it’s a safer vehicle God forbid an accident. I would stress how driving like an idiot could topple the Jeep because of the height and tell him/her of the stupid things I did and how people I knew were killed speeding around.
My first 3 cars were a Camaro Z-28, a Corvette and a Mustang GT. Are those safer than a Jeep?
 

GreyFox

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This is a very interesting thread to me and I am surprised by some of the responses......

When I was 16, the vehicles that we could purchase were, essentially, shit cans with non-radial tires. No safety features except seatbelts that nobody wore .... nobody......

I did have two high school friends die in two fatal crashes. One was alcohol related .... died as a passenger (drunk driver in his car) and the other fell asleep at the wheel and ran off the road as a solo occupant. I don’t know for sure but neither was likely using a seat belt. Both, as I recall, were ejected from the car that they were in. I did say “car”.......

by the standard of my teen years, a modern Jeep JL or JK is a nerf ball wrapped in armor and surrounded with a technology force field.

my friend, who is now 50+ has never had any other vehicle but a Jeep. Drove one as her first vehicle as a teen. She marvels at how safe her JK is (that she just gave to her 16-year old daughter) compared to the Jeeps she drove previously.
I'd definitely rather have my kids driving my JL versus some shit can. It's just a vehicle. It can be replaced. The kid, not so much:giggle:. My 19yo daughter drives my JL everyday to work. She pays for her own insurance (which isn't cheap) and gas. I tried teaching her to drive when I had my TJ but she didn't care for it. Once I got my JL, she was ready to learn:swear:
 

rallydefault

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My daughter is only 1.5 so... not gonna be an issue for a long time, if we even still have cars as we know them by then lol

But some comments I just don't understand. The people arguing against the safety concerns by saying "well we didn't have xyz back in the day" or "we didn't have airbags and I came out just fine - suck it up." I mean...yea... I guess? We also used to bleed people to death if they were sick and we were afraid to sail off the edge of the world. Practical advancements are good things, and this is coming from a guy who HATES all this new-fangled blind spot monitoring, forward collision sensors, etc.

Curtain air bags in as many locations as possible, more intelligent seat belts, even back up cameras - these things make sense to me. But as an owner, I'm big enough to face the facts: a jeep, even a jl, is simply NOT as safe as most other SUVs on the market. I wouldn't allow my 16 year-old to have one as their vehicle. Drive mine every now and then, especially if I'm with them? Sure thing. But as HER car? Nope, no way.

Now, I do agree with people saying kids need to stop having cars gifted to them. I saved my whole high school career to afford a 6,000-dollar Geo Prism when I was a senior, and I loved that car to death. It was paid off and it was mine. I agree that kids should need to save to get their own car. I would do a 50/50 deal with my daughter, even.
 

BrntWS6

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Hell, my kids have to buy their own phones. They do odd jobs when they want something. Pull weeds or shovel snow for neighbors. Neither has lost one or cracked a screen. I think parents who buy 1,000 phones for their kids are nuts.
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