What every teenager in America should drive for their first car.

"Josh Welton" (watchtheprettylight)
12/11/2013 at 16:17 • Filed to: GETOFFMYLAWpNik, safety, accidents, driving, old school, ford, f100, savethemanuals

An old car. Or an old truck. Like this 1954 F100. No power steering. 3 speed manual transmission. Straight 6, maybe 115 hp. 4.27 gears, you won't go much more than 55. Nor would you want to with the king pin front suspension. Drum brakes with no "power." No radio. No lighter. No back seat.

There is nothing to distract you from the driving EXCEPT for the driving. It takes two hands, two eyes, two ears, two feet, and a brain to operate. There is no time for even a quick text; you're either trying to fit it in the right gear, working the wheel to stay between the lines, or both. Apart from a hands-free device you won't be taking or receiving calls, it's two hands on the wheel or one hand on the wheel and one on the shifter....and even with it you'll be having fun talking over that bad ass tractor motor. No radio to fiddle with. It's an all immersive, all hands on deck, keep your head in the game driving experience.

I'm 35. My generation still mostly learned on manual transmission cars. We had radios, but nobody had mobile phones. Not to sound like !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , but today's kids have iPhones before they're in junior high. On one hand that gives them a head start on walking and chewing gum at the same time, on the other hand not many teens will truly get the "man and 4-wheel machine" experience I got as a 15-19 year old.

There are some, you know, flaws with this idea. My '54 doesn't have airbags. Or seat belts for that matter. It wasn't designed "safety first." Admittedly those are, potentially literally, fatal flaws. It's far fetched and probably not realistic, but why can't we build "starter" cars? Stripper late model cars with today's safety advantages and yesteryear's demand for the driver's attention. I hate to add more laws and layers of regulations, but learning to drive a car built in this manner will be safer in the shorter term and make a generation of better drivers in the long term.

Obviously some parents do this sort of thing when searching out a starter car, but others just want a "safe" rated vehicle, ignoring the fact that their kid will just put it in autopilot and use it as a mobile entertainment system. Safe for your kid, not necessarily for the people on the other end of a 4,500lb missile.

Bored old man rant off.

DISCUSSION (72)

Paul, Man of Mustangs > Josh Welton
12/11/2013 at 16:21

My '65 Mustang was my first car. One of the first projects I did to it after getting it running was adding shoulder belts and rear seat belts. Getting your hands dirty is a good way to gain appreciation for a car and learn that crashing it will mean lots of work to get it right again, so it should be avoided at all costs.

CalzoneGolem > Josh Welton
12/11/2013 at 16:22

My little girl will be car-aged in 2019. I'm thinking New Beetle 1.0, but maybe New Beetle 2.0 depending on price$

RMudkips > Josh Welton
12/11/2013 at 16:25

I'm assuming that when I do buy a first car, my parents will be fine with this. I like your truck suggestion, and this might go with that (so as long it has a manual). This suggestion addresses a few safety concerns (save for adding a radio).

Kinja'd!!!

Ryan Galloway > Josh Welton
12/11/2013 at 16:25

Kinja'd!!!

Nice touch of FREEDOM slid into the background! (Primo Product Placement)

Brian, The Life of > Josh Welton
12/11/2013 at 16:27

Funny you should say that. My first set of wheels actually WAS a '54 F-100 :D

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Josh Welton
12/11/2013 at 16:27

I'd only endorse all the modern safety features if they weren't obvious. A.k.a. modern safety features have an insulating factor from "reality" if they're allowed to. If a car "feels" safe, i.e. has heavy structural bars for A-pillars, nestles the passenger, has heavy "clunk"ing doors, a rounded soft dash with no edges, and is sound-isolated, it's much easier to not give a care toward driving.

If you purposely engineered a car to feel more raw (okay, fine line between raw sense and deathtrap) but maintained some more modern features, it might have a scare-'em'straight effect without the risk. A NASCAR is one of the safest vehicles known to man, but doesn't look or feel it.

Here's an idea: KTM X-Bow equivalent with no power and cheaper price. Roofs, long wheelbase, and soft surfaces are for the week.

Josh Welton > RMudkips
12/11/2013 at 16:28

Exactly.

Radios aren't the devil, just one more thing that adds to the potential sensory overload. I don't miss it when I'm driving the old truck.

Josh Welton > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
12/11/2013 at 16:30

I know exactly what you're saying. I think a lot of cars from the late 80s early 90s fit this bill too. My first 2 cars were 86-87 Mazda 626s, nobody was confusing those with army tanks.

Josh Welton > Brian, The Life of
12/11/2013 at 16:30

YOU WIN

Josh Welton > Ryan Galloway
12/11/2013 at 16:31

Fed(oo=[][]=oo)uken > Josh Welton
12/11/2013 at 16:33

Kinja'd!!!

Also the right kind of ladies will want to ride shotty.

Josh Welton > Paul, Man of Mustangs
12/11/2013 at 16:33

Heck yeah. That's another good point...getting a car you CAN actually check the vitals on with basic mechanical knowledge.

HammerheadFistpunch > Josh Welton
12/11/2013 at 16:34

What every teenager in America actually drives

Kinja'd!!!

Brian, The Life of > Josh Welton
12/11/2013 at 16:34

I bought it for $500 when I was 15 after saving up from my first jerb as a busboy. I spent the next 8 months until I got my license doing the work it needed to make it road-worthy. I got a ridiculously good deal on the truck even for the times (ca. early 1980s)

Josh Welton > Brian, The Life of
12/11/2013 at 16:39

How long did you keep it for?

Brian, The Life of > Josh Welton
12/11/2013 at 16:44

Not long enough.

I was 16 and had a sloooow truck. I dropped a new motor in it after I threw a rod thru the side of the block (same I6 as yours but with the 4-speed - including granny - tranny). I traded it straight-across for a '67 Alfa Giulia Super. What a beautiful disaster that was. That car was best described by using a Comedy/Tragedy image. I loved it so very much and hated it so hard each time I blew a headgasket.

My Dad warned me I was making a mistake. It was a mistake that I would make all over again.

Leadbull > CalzoneGolem
12/11/2013 at 16:45

No.

She will drive a first gen Miata, and she will like it.

A3R0 > Josh Welton
12/11/2013 at 17:14

I'm very young. I can't drive and don't have a license. I do plan on getting a classic(kinda). I'm thinking early 90's era though. My parents rule is that it has to have an airbag. I'm afraid I already have a few exceptions (viggen ,2006-2008 9-3 Aero, 9-3 Turbo X), but I plan on getting a '93 or later Saab 900, or a '93-'97 Saab 9000 (hopefully an aero). You can tell I'm a Swedish cars kind of guy.Thanks for this post.

Also, I would tell you my age, but it tends to annoy some of the Opponauts at how young I am.

PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power > Josh Welton
12/11/2013 at 17:34

As a 15 year old, who learned how to drive in a vehicle similar to this, I applaud this!

My learning experience had a sharp learning curve. The first car I drove was a pretty well kept opel astra 1.4. Slow, yes, but safe, comfy, and relatively easy to pilot.

After this, my dad made me learn in "the tractor", a 1990 VW golf MKII Diesel.
it had a whopping 45hp, from it's 1.something liter engine. The clutch? was original, and this car had about 250,000 Km's on it at the time. The release point was so high, your foot would almost be off the clutch by the time you get there! the transmission was a 5 speed, so that made up for the lack of grunt.

Also of note is, NO: ABS, power steering, CD/Casette player, tires with legal tread. It had the inside, and the driver side mirror, that's it. The radio worked, albeit with just 1 speaker! It smoked, snorted, stalled, bucked, and had more wheel wobble that a semi with 6 flat tires!

It was an amazing driving experience, though. after driving it around for about 3 weeks, my cousin let me drive his MK2 GTi 8V, and it was probably the best car I have ever had the chance to drive.

So yes, old cars make for great learner's cars!

Dingers Ghost, Champion Jockey > Josh Welton
12/11/2013 at 17:42

Trust me, if I could've gotten a 54 F100 for my first vehicle, I would have jumped at the chance. My truck's old but not that old. It would be awesome to start out with a Gen1 or Gen2 F-series.

BarryDanger > Josh Welton
12/11/2013 at 18:32

This is assuming the car is in stock, drivable condition. My first car was a full time 4x4 454 swapped 1947 chevy 3100 with 33s on it, a barefoot gas pedal, sidepipes and a three speed. My parents forced me to sell it because it was setting off car alarms and I drove over our front lawn.

BJohnson11 > Josh Welton
12/11/2013 at 18:41

I agree and disagree at the same time. I drive a '74 Chevy truck now, and while I love it because it requires pretty constant focus while driving, I learned to drive in my family's 2000 Ford Expedition. I love older cars, and I see your points about requiring attention to drive so that distractions are out of the question, but safety has to be a concern.

Airbags? Meh. Would be nice, but I dont see them as nearly as important as things like power steering and power brakes. For as much of a boat as the Expedition was, those features saved my ass when I was driving to school on the freeway once in a situation that merely not being distracted wouldn't have helped. When something sudden happens that causes you to brake or avoid an accident, you want those features. If I were a parent, I'd definitely want my kid to have those features.

I'd think a perfect starter car would be something from the 80's or 90's. Simple enough to make maintenance and repairs a thing that can be done at home (teaching maintenance is a good way to save money), has power steering and brakes, maybe has airbags, but has no where near enough power to get yourself in trouble, and no fancy gadgets to really distract yourself.

That all said, I love your 54. It's gorgeous. Love the white with red wheels. Sweet ride.

Josh Welton > BJohnson11
12/11/2013 at 19:13

I can see your point. I do also think that not having power steering and brakes forces you to drive a little differently. But obviously there's a reason we've advanced to ABS and power steering.

BJohnson11 > Josh Welton
12/11/2013 at 19:54

I totally agree. You have to drive a lot more defensively, and be much more aware of what is going on around you. Power steering and brakes though just make that 2% of situations that can't be prevented with just defensive driving avoidable.

Shiarlis > Josh Welton
12/11/2013 at 20:30

Boom. 16, no license yet, and a beat (although free) '74 CJ-5. One step farther than your example, as in no safety stuff, and no top or doors either, with my favorite part being the "sport bar", or a roll bar that is there for looks and does NOTHING.

Here's it being towed out of a field after 7 years.

leicester > Josh Welton
12/11/2013 at 21:09

Close - first vehicle i 'drove' was a '71 Ford F100 - I was probably 1st or 2nd grade - Dad would put it in first gear, and point me down the pasture while he would jump out and hop onto the hay wagon to feed cattle. I'd drive the pickup, turning a U at the end of the pasture, as he'd kick off bales. At the end of the process, I'd push down the clutch and pull it into neutral. Eventually, I moved up to putting it into gear too, once i could push the clutch and still see over the dashboard....

Then I moved up to the '48 Dodge wheat truck. Double-clutch.

Kinja'd!!!

Gimmi-Sagan-Om-Draken > Josh Welton
12/11/2013 at 23:29

I learned on an even bigger truck, I had to drive by brother down the dirt road that led to our house, to get a bus to school. I had to stand up with all my weight as a kid to get the clutch in, of course I didn't drive off the property at that point. Turning the truck around when we came home was tough!

Rein44 > HammerheadFistpunch
12/13/2013 at 18:20

15 years ago when most teenagers were from middle-class parents, yes. They scraped up enough cash by working summer jobs and maybe mom & dad threw in a bit to match their efforts and buy a nice used, basic car for $4,000 or so.

But not today. There are no more teenagers from middle-class families. Half the teenagers are spoiled rich kids who get a brand new Kia Soul as a gift, and the other half can't afford any car at all :(

camaroboy68ss > Josh Welton
12/13/2013 at 18:20

I completely agree. Being only 21 right now, but growing up around classic cars was a great thing. I was fortunate enough to grow up in a family with hot rods and classics where power steering and brakes was a option and a luxury. When I got my permit I was taught the vary basics in a newer car so that I didn't crash a irreplaceable car. The my grandpa stuck me behind the wheel of his 33 ford pick up. No power anything and way too much horsepower for light vehicle. I learned way more driving techniques and safety in a half hour behind that than in a new car. Plus it was soo much more fun! I then proceeded to learn stick in a 68 camaro rs/ss

Suuuubaru > HammerheadFistpunch
12/13/2013 at 18:21

Nah, it's too nice and not murdered out, lowered, fart canned, equipped with clear tail lights, or poorly rattle canned black. I know it's sterotypical but I go to high school and every day park near a murdered out cavalier and the world's worst sounding Honda Accord.

DrivenChannel > Josh Welton
12/13/2013 at 18:22

I agree on most levels, but the problem with a vehicle with no safety concerns at all is it is dangerous when that idiot pulls out in front of you while texting and updating facebook all you have is non power assist drum brakes and a solid (spear) steering column to stop you. I own 3 vehicles my summer daily driver is an 08 Accord V6 sedan, and my winter driver is a 98 Montero sport, but my driving vehicle is my 1965 Chevy C-10, manual 4 wheel drum brakes, manual transmission (no hydraulic assist), manual steering (big steering wheel out of a 58 Impala because rat rod), and manual everything (no ac). I do use my iphone when im driving it though because the speedo doesn't work. When I taught my wife to drive it I told her that is she learned how to drive that truck she could drive about anything.

HammerheadFistpunch > Suuuubaru
12/13/2013 at 18:25

I guess its more a western thing. Go to any smaller western US town. Find me less than 50 of these in a day

Jay Lauer > Josh Welton
12/13/2013 at 18:35

Every teen should drive a Saturn SL2 because is the world's greatest car. Better than that, it won't make you look cool like an old truck will, and that's just the kind of ego shot a high schooler needs.

Suuuubaru > Rein44
12/13/2013 at 18:43

I beg to differ. I know plenty of kids that have worked up the money to buy themselves a car, including many of my friends. One gave up a vacation in Italy along with a few grand, and has to get up at 4 in the morning to plow his dad's buisness so that he could get a 2010 Silverado 2500. Similarly, I have two friends that worked countless hours washing dishes at minimum wage so they could scrape together 3 grand for a vehicle. I myself got a free 10 year old car but worked 7-8 hour shifts on my feet with no breaks in a pizzeria kitchen over the summer to cover the cost of gas. And there's plenty of kids, myself included, that spend 60-70 hour weeks on just school/homework/sports, and have no way to raise the money for a car because they want to get into their choice of college. Yeah, there are a few lazy kids whose parents spoil them, but most of us work hard for what we have.

Garland - Last Top Comment on Splinter > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
12/13/2013 at 18:47

There's actually a kit company that builds what are essentially street-legal stock cars. Haven't read up on them in a few years, so they might be out of business now.

AM3R > Josh Welton
12/13/2013 at 19:12

A kid at my high school has an F100, it's sweet. Got a built V8 and a nice stereo. It's barebones besides that, totally awesome.

LeftHook > Josh Welton
12/13/2013 at 20:43

Not just airbags. Crumple zones.

And consider that other cars will not give the additional cushion to the vintage vehicle either. You're the rock in the stream and trying to keep up with traffic can be disastrous. I grew up driving old cars, my first car was a 1968 Cougar.. in 1992.

Think for a moment how much brutally faster and more powerful a 2012 BMW 550i is compared to an e28 535i, which would be the equivalent.

My daughter is definitely riding in something modern.

shpuker > Josh Welton
12/13/2013 at 20:53

Personally my kid is going to learn how to drive on Go-Karts. Evasive driving much?

First car though? My vote goes to a beat up, stripped 95 Cherokee classic with the 5-speed and a roll cage. If you can't learn how to drive with that then you're shit out of luck. Plus it's safe!

Nedus > A3R0
12/13/2013 at 21:43

Well, your name has a 3 in it. That's my guess.

A3R0 > Nedus
12/13/2013 at 21:45

No...:)
Hahaha

trevster344 > Josh Welton
12/13/2013 at 22:42

"Obviously some parents do this sort of thing when searching out a starter car, but others just want a "safe" rated vehicle, ignoring the fact that their kid will just put it in autopilot and use it as a mobile entertainment system. Safe for your kid, not necessarily for the people on the other end of a 4,500lb missile."

Yea, I should want my kid in that.

Josh Welton > trevster344
12/13/2013 at 22:49

I'll repost this here, since you musta just skipped over it the first time:

There are some, you know, flaws with this idea. My '54 doesn't have airbags. Or seat belts for that matter. It wasn't designed "safety first." Admittedly those are, potentially literally, fatal flaws. It's far fetched and probably not realistic, but why can't we build "starter" cars? Stripper late model cars with today's safety advantages and yesteryear's demand for the driver's attention . I hate to add more laws and layers of regulations, but learning to drive a car built in this manner will be safer in the shorter term and make a generation of better drivers in the long term.

Josh Welton > LeftHook
12/13/2013 at 22:53

There are a lot of modern cars that are slow as shit. That part isn't necessarily an old car versus new car debate.

As far as the crumple zones, that was implied when I talked about the design of modern cars being "safety first." I probably should have been more explicit. But that's a big part of why my unrealistic ideal is a modern car stripped of distraction, built specifically for young drivers.

Janx38 > A3R0
12/13/2013 at 23:02

Why would it "annoy" any Opponauts? I actually think many Opponauts would appreciate having some young people on Oppo. :)

A3R0 > Janx38
12/13/2013 at 23:10

Yup, but sometimes people don't like to think about someone so young being on. I don't know, I just hinted at it on Tinychat and 3 people were not to happy.

Destructive Tester > A3R0
12/13/2013 at 23:19

There's only one way to fix that age problem, hurry the heck-up and get older so you can get your license so you can experience what everyone is talking about!

I'm kidding, it is cool seeing someone who (I'm assuming) isn't old enough to drive who is more interested in driving than 90% of people on the road.

Janx38 > A3R0
12/13/2013 at 23:30

That's weird, never happened to me and I'm 14.

Janx38 > Janx38
12/13/2013 at 23:35

Also, you have a great taste in cars! My personal favorite is the Saab 900 SPG, which I hope to own one day...

Kinja'd!!!

Grindintosecond > HammerheadFistpunch
12/13/2013 at 23:36

..It used to be their mom's car too. I swear every single mom where I lived drove a grand-prix or grand-am. they had that mid-western agressive spiky short cut hair that said all kinds of thing about them like "Check me out, i'm a 47 year old edgy hip mom"....in a cool sports-car (1990 grand-prix).

I'm so glad I left that town.

TA4K > A3R0
12/14/2013 at 00:26

I know how you feel bro, just got my licence and I'm restoring a 1970 Triumph 2000 as my first car.

Utsav Sharma > Josh Welton
12/14/2013 at 00:31

Not living in America has its advantages. Mostly everything here in India is a manual. Like 99.9% vehicles. I'll be starting driving in this next April; a 2002 Hyundai Santro. Small 1.2L 4cyl motor giving god-knows-how-many-hp-after-11-years mated to a five speed manual transmission. I think its reasonably good for learning to drive. The stereo doesn't take aux connectors or even CDs, so thats covered. It does have seatbelts and can't cross 60mph. My car does have a power steering, but models were available without it. Should work in the States too.

Kinja'd!!!

LeftHook > Josh Welton
12/14/2013 at 01:08

slow as shit is a relative term though. A 75 Chevelle was somewhat of a sportier/hotrod, not underpowered by modern standards in 1975, but it had a 17.7 quarter mile time.

The Prius does it in 17.4 seconds.

Philbert/Phartnagle > Josh Welton
12/14/2013 at 08:21

I probably drove earlier than most people. At 8 years old I was driving old (50's-60's) 2-ton hay trucks in the hayfields while my stepdad and assorted helpers loaded the truck. Yeah, I had to slide off the seat and hang onto the steering wheel while working the clutch and brakes (they had hand throttles), but I was pretty darn good at it for my age and driving everything else after that was relatively easy.

My daughters all learned to drive early too, in whatever car I owned at the time I taught them. Since most of my cars had manual transmissions they all learned early how to drive them and frequently embarrassed the boys in their high school when it came to banging gears, chirping tires and doing burnouts.

Drakkon- Most Glorious and Upright Person of Genius > A3R0
12/14/2013 at 09:46

Classic? 90s? To quote bugs bunny 'oooooooh I'm DYing!'
Saab will be safe and can be fun, but stay away from the Viggen. Far far away.

A3R0 > Destructive Tester
12/14/2013 at 09:52

Thanks, but yup, I'm 5 days away from having a couple years until I can get a license.

A3R0 > Janx38
12/14/2013 at 09:54

I'm 5 days away from that age. Please don't mention that on the main Oppo page or anything though.

A3R0 > TA4K
12/14/2013 at 09:55

Oh man, that's awesome! Good for you!

A3R0 > Drakkon- Most Glorious and Upright Person of Genius
12/14/2013 at 09:56

I more meant "classic" as in not 2000's or late 90's.

tubahero14 > HammerheadFistpunch
12/14/2013 at 10:25

I will have to disagree. I am a middle class teenager. The picture provided by Hammerhead fist punch is very accurate. In my high school's parking most of the cars are early 2000s sedans. with over 100000 miles. The parking lot is a good sample because the school is the 2nd largest in TX. Yes there are Bimmers that where inheirtated from their parents(e46) and hummers but those are 1 in 40. I drive my grandmothers accord. She died, I wish that i had gotten a different car(volvo drift wagon) under different circumstances, but there is not a day i let go by with out letting vtec kick in.

trevster344 > BJohnson11
12/14/2013 at 10:25

Let's not forget the part where we gotta turn the steering wheel three times over like my 70 El Camino.

Secondhand News > Josh Welton
12/14/2013 at 10:42

I did. Mine was a 1959 F100 3 on the tree and a roaring 6 cylinders of surging horsepower. It was used it to haul my dirt bikes and as a daily driver. Luckily I worked for my father who happened to own a automotive engine rebuilding shop. It needed it.

Drove that MANY thousands of miles and learned a lot from it. Some about the art of driving alot about the art of automotive repair. Ever have the steering column fall out in your lap while driving? I did, plumbers tape and a couple bolts fixed that. The steering wheel fell itself fell off into my disbelieving hands and vice grips got me home. No operable fuel gauge so you had to ping the tank to determine the fuel level. Vice grips also solved the irksome issue of the handle to the wind up windows failing in the winter, of course in a Lake effect snow storm. This was a vehicle you absolutely had to have a comprehensive toolkit for as well as jumper cables and a couple good shovels and a hawser to get pulled out of whatever had entrapped the Red beast. A sense of humor was also beneficial. As was someone with a 4x4 to pull my ass out when my skills and judgement were exceeded or impaired and the trucked ceased effective traction for the bald 6 ply retreads to gain purchase on.

The front end had a BAD shimmy that was cured temporarily by stomping the brakes to get things pointing in a generally forward direction. New Kingpin bushings didn't help so I just went with it as I suspected it was somewhat possessed and it enjoyed scaring the piss out of my hapless and often inebriated passengers/cockpit cannonballs (no seatbelts and little to grab on to).

It's rather simplistic worldview on electrical needs and therefore faults could usually be fixed with a screwdriver, real live electrical tape and wire robbed from another unneeded circuit (brake lights are nice because there is a lot of them to use). Headlights fail when the trip home was about 40 miles out in the boonies? No problem, just stick my head out the window like a hound dog and use my spidey sense to keep me between the ditches.

It didn't jump very well as much as I tried but it excelled one of our favorite games was seeing how many trees could be plowed down with out getting stuck (I got stuck more than a few times but NEVER a dent on the hood, fenders or bumper.

In the winter, a spare engine was carried to help with traction, at least until it flew through the tailgate and onto State street. It looked rather festive and tasteful there on the street, it being festooned with snow and ice and its garlands of rusty subsystem appurtenances so it was deemed necessary to the landscape moreso than as a traction aid.

If anyone has seen the truck let me know, Reno (its name) was carved in the steel dash with a knife. The engine on the road, you can keep... But I wouldn't mind having it back.

Be safe

Patty

Josh Welton > LeftHook
12/14/2013 at 12:14

My '54 pry does the 1/4 mile in a minute and a half. Maybe. But it has NO issue with normal acceleration in the city/suburbs. Only issue on the free way would be top speed. Pure power isn't really a big safety issue, at least as far as being a "pebble in stream." Even a SMART car isn't getting blown away stop light to stop light in everyday driving.

McMike > Janx38
12/14/2013 at 13:55

I was going to give you shit for being so young in here, but that wouldn't be fair.

A3RO is the youngest, so I'll direct all the "change your diaper" "Shut up, kid" "Mommy tucks you in a night" "When I was your age Michael Jason was still black" jokes for him.

/Kidding. I enjoy hearing what everyone has to say.

tehkav > A3R0
12/14/2013 at 23:05

Save yourself the hassle and buy a 9-5 or a Volvo if you want a good Swedish car.
I ended up with an 03 9-5 Aero as a great deal for my first car. I was hell-bent on buying a Saab, so here's what my advice would be (keep in mind that I live in northern California, which is chock-full of Saabs, so if you live elsewhere some of my problems would only be bigger for you).
The only good OG900s left on the road are either auto convertibles or closely cherished by their owners (in other words, not for sale).
NG900s, on the other hand, are absolute GM parts bin specials and have a lot of problematic electricals. Plus the parts support is not nearly as good as for any other Saab.
OG9-3s are great cars but susceptible to some of the same electrical issues as the NG900. Structurally they also leave a lot to be desired - if you want an OG9-3, look at the "Viggen Rescue Kit" and factor the purchase price of that into any 9-3 plans. It's a must-have, IMO. Having driven a Viggen, torque steer is only more dangerous than you could ever think. As a young, new driver, you might confidently think "sure, I can handle anything the car would throw at me, I'd know its limits and how to handle how it behaves", but even in my auto Aero torque steer sometimes catches me off guard, just as a reminder that driving a car with that much power requires respect, caution, and above all the underestimation of your own abilities.
A 9000 is a very cool car but what I found is that not only are they even more problematic than the NG900 in all the same ways, but it's very hard to justify purchasing one over a 9-5. The latter is honestly just the better car in nearly every way.
The 9-3SS or NG9-3 is also a very cool car, but leaves a lot to be desired. It's definitely the least "Saab", has lots of poor interior plastic and such, and the engine characteristics are uninspiring (even the 2.8t has a somewhat peaky power delivery and not quite the power potential of the 2.3hot).
I hope this is a help to you. The only more I could say would be about my experiences with my 9-5, but if you want to hear any of it don't hesitate to ask.

Nolsp > Josh Welton
12/15/2013 at 02:00

Or this one -

Kinja'd!!!

A3R0 > tehkav
12/15/2013 at 08:53

Wow, it really does mean a lot that you said that. Thank you! I'm about to turn 14, and I have to be 16 to drive... So I got a long way to go.
I haven't really told anyone my age on Oppo, so please don't tell anyone. Thanks again for writing that though.

abyssalvortex > Suuuubaru
12/15/2013 at 21:03

I'm in high school and I park next to a 30 foot tall F350 with DOT numbers for some reason and a house paint painted 3000 GT with a rusted out exhaust.

LeftHook > Josh Welton
12/16/2013 at 03:42

definitely wouldn't put my kid in a SMART car unless she was never leaving surface streets in it.

DiveBomberBraking > Josh Welton
12/16/2013 at 17:09

I've been licensed for a year now. I drive a '98 Grand Prix GT and it's an absolute hoot! I'll be honest I run the shit out of it and it's amazing that the 3800 keeps going. It's a shame GM threw it out.

Suuuubaru > abyssalvortex
12/16/2013 at 18:20

I guess I can understand the f350, if it has DOT #'s it's probably a lawn care or contracting truck. But the 3000 GT...yeah....I've seen quite a few of those

thebigbossyboss > Suuuubaru
12/17/2013 at 19:07

Kinja'd!!!

Fart Cannon Cavalier reporting for duty!!!

wabbastang > Josh Welton
12/18/2013 at 11:32

hi5!