Support NeoGAF

[Echoes of Pink]

This includes someone buying a car for you or you buying it for yourself.

I was just wondering what was the average age that most people get their own car.

 

[Brian Fellows]

16

 

[Ninja Scooter]

when i got my license, 16.

 

[Tarazet]

16. It was a used '95 Toyota Celica, pretty expensive for a first car but worth it.

 

[fart]

i would never have learned to drive if i hadn't had to deliver tofu to the other side of the mountain every week

Spoiler

DORRRIFTU ARA ARA

 

[KingGondo]

2002 Accord V6, when I was 18. Drove my dad's hand-me-down '87 Accord until then.

 

[kumanoki]

Sixteen. Christmas, 1992.

I got a red Mazda 323. My mother made me open a small box with the key inside. I just stared at it. Then my step-brother walked me over to the front door, where I could see the car sitting in the front yard. I think he was expecting me to jump up and down or something. All I could think was 'responsibility, gas, responsibility, I am losing my youth'.

 

[snaildog]

19, and only because I pretty much needed one, coming back and forth from uni each holidays with heaps of stuff (5 hour drive). Americans need to get over cars.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

19, and only because I pretty much needed one, coming back and forth from uni each holidays with heaps of stuff (5 hour drive). Americans need to get over cars.

non-americans need to get over americans.

 

[snaildog]

non-americans need to get over americans.

Haha, sorry. I've heard stories from my cousin who stayed there that cars are a status symbol that almost define who you are, which is probably exaggerated. Most young people here either bike or get some old bomb that goes well enough for what we need it for.

 

[Tarazet]

Haha, sorry. I've heard stories from my cousin who stayed there that cars are a status symbol that almost define who you are, which is probably exaggerated.

Not much. Many Americans do consider it a status symbol. You see plenty of cheap shitboxes of course, and those are the people who have the economic sense to get the most out of the least. The rest drive lavish SUVs or overpowered sports sedans/coupes/convertibles.

 

[pixelated]

I bought my own motorcycle at 20. A car was given to me a half a year later when my mother bought a new car.

 

[The Shadow]

16 - Family bought a Chevy Chevet as an "extra" car on the occasion that my dad's van or my mother's car would break down and they needed a spare ride. This was said so my sister wouldn't raise a huge fit. I pretty much drove it exclusively though I never really considered my own car.

 

[Manabanana]

Hasn't happened yet. Paying for the bus/subway is just plain cheaper and gets me where I need to be. Maybe one day I'll really need a car AND have the money for one.

 

[KiNeSiS]

20 when I got my first hoopty

22 when I got my first brand new car.

23 I have no vehicle

Now like my pal Manabanana I rely on bus subway.

 

[demon]

At almost 23. Relying on public transportation and bike just isn't feasible around here.....the bus system blows donkey dick, and most of my destinations are too far for biking.

 

[ConfusingJazz]

15 actually, but it was an 1984 Honda Accord with 186,000 miles on it that lasted me until I was 18 when it finally crapped out. The thing had been in the family longer then me, and my parents just wanted me to learn on something that was expendable.

I called it the Blue Behemoth.

 

[AlphaSnake]

17. I drove the beater car for a month (92 Ford Tempo) just so I could better learn to drive and then I started driving my 2001 Maxima SE. I'm not quite sure what I'd do without my Maxima. I haven't really driven a car much like it since and I'm still holding off on passing it down, I have waaaaay too many memories with it.

 

[Trevelyon]

I got my license at 17.

My parents went halves with me on a 89' Pintara GLi for my 18th, and that's what I've been driving ever since.

 

[Kon Tiki]

Not owned a car yet. On my late twenties now. How much longer can I hold out?

 

[mrklaw]

Americans need to get over non-Americans not getting over Americans.

 

[Ecrofirt]

I'm 19, and don't have a license or a car.

I've got my permit, however. The only thing I've yet to learn is parallel parking. I wish my father would take me out so I could get this thing over with.

 

[goodcow]

 

[SteveMeister]

When I got my license at 16, my older sister (who was 17) and I had my mom's '77 Caprice Classic station wagon and a '75 AMC Hornet available to us (the Hornet was "our" car, my sister's and mine). When I was 17, I bought my first car for $450 (in the summer of 1982). This was a 1971 Buick Electra 225. HUUUUGE car. A year later, after I graduated from High School I bought a 1980 Plymouth Horizon & sold the faltering Buick for $150.

 

[bjork]

16.

64 nova, still got it.

 

[Fowler]

23 and I still don't have a car or licence

 

[Rogerkiller]

24

 

[SteveMeister]

My younger sister is 34 and she has NEVER owned her own car, and didn't even get her license until she was about 30.

 

[dem]

15 I guess...
Had it before I got my license.



Oh Jeep... how I loved you so!

 

[8bit]

33 and never learned or wanted to. I've always lived in the city, so a car is an unnecessary inconvienience to me.

 

[Tazznum1]

17 - bought my own '85 Chevy S10 Blazer and pimped that mofo out as poorly as I could. :lol

Even got the Maaco paint job. In your face Xzibit!!! IN YOUR FACE! :lol

 

[tedtropy]

17 years old. A 1994 Ford Probe. DOHC power, whooo!

 

[EdLuva]

20

 

[sefskillz]

15, got it for christmas. birthday is in february so it wasn't long to wait. 7 years later, still driving it.

 

[fallout]

My parents could never afford one for me ... not that I ever really asked for one, but it's not like I ever really needed my own car. Now that I'm living on my own, I can't afford one (university being to blame). Not that I'm complaining, public transit works for me just fine.

 

[Synthetic]

Im 26 now and have just started taking driving lessons.
Financialy my life has been a hell, so i couldnt take any lessons until recently.

How much does it cost in youre country of origin anyways?
I pay 38 euro's for an hour of practice.
The exam will cost me another 210 euro's.
Thats in the Netherlands, and at one of the cheaper drivingschools (owned by a nephew).

 

[SuperPac]

I was 20. Bought myself a Geo Prizm, baby... chick MAGNET.

 

[KingGondo]

I'm 19, and don't have a license or a car.

I've got my permit, however. The only thing I've yet to learn is parallel parking. I wish my father would take me out so I could get this thing over with.

You could probably learn to parallel park just fine online--knowing where the car should be positioned is 3/4 of the battle.

 

[Lathentar]

At 16, I got a new 2000 Celica. I needed a way to get to summer school without taking my mother's car.

I just got another car (at age 20). A used 2004 Acura TSX.

A car is necessary when you live in Houston and Austin, TX.

 

[Tsubaki]

About 22-23. After I finished undergrad. My parents left me a brand new car in the garage. And passed me the bill.

 

[mrklaw]

24. Cars are a money pit so I avoided it until my work needed one. Plus living in a small city meant I could walk anywhere I wanted to go (or train to London)

 

[Forsete]

17, I still have it.

 

[Vicious]

.

 

[Suerte]

19 at the moment, 20 in June, hopefully going to start lessons around then and get a car by the end of the year.

 

[MetatronM]

Haha, sorry. I've heard stories from my cousin who stayed there that cars are a status symbol that almost define who you are, which is probably exaggerated. Most young people here either bike or get some old bomb that goes well enough for what we need it for.

They are status symbols of a sort, but unless you live in a big city, there's really no other way to get around.

Anyway, I got mine at 17, when I got my license.

 

[Agent Dormer]

16, Ford Probe. Don't remember the year. Good memories of that car... like the alternator belt dropping out on a drive home. Yeah, that was fun.

 

[Slo]

When I was 16 ofcourse. Living in the midwest it's hard to imagine even functioning without a car.

 

[bionic77]

16, my uncle gave me his old 3 series. Damn that car was a blast to drive and I think I like the feel of old brakes over antilock brakes.

 

[Azala]

I was 17 (almost), and I paid for it myself.