it got me a discount on my insurance, like in the uk, i would be in*if you havent tracked a car, go try it*but to buy a car...are you serious if you can't handle the power of a particular car, then dont buy it, but dont think your stupid idea will become, or should become reality anytime soon

ok that makes it easy for you...dont buy anything with more than a mere .094 power to weight ratio*which your currently right around*

 

Thanks for noticing!

 

its find my self asking the same qestion. but its not like you couldnt get high hp cars back in the day either the l88 the zl1 just to name a few. but you have have always been able to get high hp exotics and you could modd your car to get up in hp to.

i think the key i was talking about in another thread would also help in this situation to. if you used a vallet key to learn on the car that limited you to 70 mph and half the hp it would give you time to ajust to the car before releasing its full potential.

 

i have to say i took the MSF course the basic im taking the next one next summer cuase there are diffrent levels any way it not only made me a better rider but a better driver.

 

I got news for you guys.

INSURANCE RATES ARE NOT DETERMINED BY HP.

Insurance rates are determined by the amount of cars they insure, the amout of people that have accidents in those cars, and the age of the driver.

So in essence, the thing that is going to make the rates go up is when a bunch of teeny bobbers start having accidents in Camaro's. My dad's 425hp SRT-8 is the cheapest car on thier insurance policy, and that includes his truck, a jeep, my mom's BMW and my younger sister's civic.

 

My 97 Mustang GT with 215hp was a lot more to insure than my 02 Z28 was even with over 100 more hp, sometimes it's not the power but the image you are insuring. I got pulled 3 times in my GT within a year never for speeding, usually for tags or something just so they could pull me. The Z went past the cops like a toyota camry, never even noticed me. It's not always about the pure power that gets you high rates, it often times the perception the cops have of you which lead to more pull overs by them. It's simple, a fully clad Roush mustang is gonna draw more attention from the cops than a base model Z28 even though it has more power.

 

I do like the "key" idea for a number of reasons although the problem is that any device that can be defeated (like say by junior) would still leave the manufacturer exposed to potential liability I would think.

And yes, high HP cars have been available for a long time; even back in the dark ages when I was buying my first cars. However, while people have always been able to modify cars themselves, that is, compared to the total driving population, a relatively few cars and not enough to rise to public attention. Likewise, the truly high HP cars produced by car makers were limited, often by price level alone - most of the truly high HP cars costs more than most people's houses and few would or could buy them.

The issue I’m more concerned with is truly high HP cars available to "the masses" and at a price that many, many people can afford if they want one – especially “masses” that are dangerous with a basic car/limited HP.

Maybe my concern is unfounded but I think that a few spectacular accidents in a fifth-gen Camaro is all the press and the public will need to make it a national crisis.

 

I'm sorry my idea was stupid to you, oh smart one.

You think it's stupid for drivers to better handle their high HP cars?

It's stupid drivers like YOU, with your arrogant attitude that's dangerous for the rest of us.

And, yes, even if I could afford a Viper or a ZO6, I won't buy it, until I know I can handle such cars. Call it responsible. You want to call it stupid, well, then it's you.

And no, I'm not holding my breath til the day a mandatory driving course comes.

PS - and yes I've tracked my car, thus realized what a bad driver I am and the benefit of a driving school is. But, I'm sure you think it's stoopid.

A.

 

I don;'t think his point was driving school itself was stupid. Just that requiring a course to be able to buy a car was. WHICH IMHO, he's 100% right.

Whether or not you can handle an ultra high performance car at it's limits or not is entirely irrelevent to whether you shoudl be allowed to own it. Why? Easy: It's totally illegal to use the capabilities of an ultra-high performance car on a public street anyway. A 505hp Z06 is infinitely safer doing just about any driving maneuver at anything near legal speeds than say the average minivan, for example, emergency lane changes, or driving a little over the posted speed limit on a highway on ramp curve.

If you're going to choose to do dumb things like high speed runs or really aggressively attacking turns, the best driving school in the world still isn't going to help you when you hit a patch of gravel mid-corner, or a pothole that blows out your tire at 165mph. AAMOF, taking a driving school might be a bad idea because then it gives you confidence to do things you really shoudln't be doing on the street where variables like gravel and potholes are more important than whether you know what trail braking means.

 

Oh I understood his post. Just calling it stupid w/o reasoning is not contributing to this great thread. That's all.

I have no problem at all w/people disagreeing with me, as long as they tell me the reasons, like you just did.

You responded with great reasons why you think my idea was bad. Did you call my idea stupid and told me what to buy? No. But you presented clearly why you think it's bad, and frankly that's what I like to hear.

I agree w/ your reasons, that mandating a driving school is not going to stop irrresponsible drivers from being, well, irresponsible.

But, what about the benefits? Those who never knew not to treat the throttle like an on/off switch? Those who want to know the limit of their high HP cars so they don't crash just getting out of parking lots trying to make the light? (I've seen it happen to a Viper). Those who want to know how to feel the car just before the tires lose traction? Those who don't know what to do if their 500hp cars oversteer, heading into a ditch?

Crashes that involved high HP cars don't always involve irresposbile people, but also include drivers who didn't realize how powerful their cars are, didn't know how correct the situation, and crashed.

That's why I think a little knowledge and experience before driving cars like a 505HP Z06 is mandatory. Or a 500 HP Viper w/no traction control.

Although, I also agree w/you that some drivers might think they're Mario Andretti just because they took a driving school.

Thanks for your helpful response, notgetleft

A.

 

"Too much horsepower"...
Hmmmm....
I keep repeating the phrase, and it still just doesn't make sense.

More seriously; I'm not sure I get the insurance angle, either. Maybe my ins. company is strange, but I'm paying more for both my '00 Ford Excursion (55K miles) and my '97 Ford F-250 (75K miles) than for my '02 SS Convertible turbocharged Camaro (21K miles).

I think the truck is probably because my 16 y.o. son is listed as an occasional driver but I really don't get the Excursion: it's older, slower, safer, and the book value is about the same as the Camaro. ??
The ins. co. says that's just the way it comes up in their computer and they don't have an explanation either.
Anyone know why this might be the case?

 

becuase you do much more damage when you hit something with a truck then a car

 

Is the camaro listed as a pleasure vehicle? If the excursion is listed as the primary vehicle (daily driver, etc) it may cost more simply becasue it get driven more, and thus at a greater risk for an accident. If the Camaro is listed as a pleasure vehicle, secondary vehicle or etc then the rates will be lower. I know when I lived in chicago my wife's Civic was listes as a secondary vehicle and we paid like 50 bucks a month for full coverage. When we moved to Indy the agent said he can't list it that way becasue of the number of miles that would be put on it from her commute to work alone and thus it was bumped into the daily driver category which greatly increased the rate (we now pay like 83/mo)

 

You are so right! I have a 16 year old son , we bought him a '91 RS small block 305 V-8 and that was bad enough, so bad that I had to take it away and let him have a little 4 banger truck. Most people, if they have that much power they are going to use it or try to here in Ca. the traffic is so bad I wonder sometimes whats the point of having so much HP when you can't even use it. Then there are the people who see you driving a car like mine for example who think they have to try to make you race.l dont but I know many who would which brings up your next point- insurance. Thanks for bringing up this topic I for one could'nt agree with you more!

 

As a 16 year old with a massivly underpowered vehicle and a need for speed, I disaggre. All teenagers that like cars think they know the basics of how to not get hurt, and then end up getting hurt. Kids think they know how to drive fast cuzz of what they saw on the movies, what their friends have told them, and when they have seen in video games.

The first day i had my liscence i discovered that if you mashed your foot to the floor in my truck, the throttle stuck. I got it home, my confidence in myself getting higher. I was involved in my first acident 16 days after recieving my liscence. I went into a 25 mph corner pushing somewhere between 60 and 70. Needless to say it was a good situation, and i was lucky that there no other cars on the road.

Now imagine im on of my friends who has a fast car, not a cheap truck. Things would have been much, much, much worse. Now, if instead of having my head filled with "All you have to do is steer into it" and other BS, and had acualy been taught how easy it is to loose control, i wouldnt have crashed. I believe this is true for alot of sixteen year olds. I think that if everyone took such a class, the roads would be safer, even if people were going faster.