Vn v8

[Ls2_307]

'P' Plater, VN V8?

well its that time.... my son turns 17 early November, and im looking for a car as he will also get his 'P' plates. Now here is my delema.....

He is set on a commodore.. no doubt about it, and preferably a VN, VP, hard thing for me.. is that i would prefer he had a manual box to gain as much experience as possible, plus i want to drive the bugger too!!! :whistling

Anyway its hard enough to find a VN/VP V6 5spd manual in Australia, let alone Western Australia..... so i pose the question...

There are just so many Vn/vp v8s with a 5spd for sale, including a couple for $5k... which i am looking at, at the moment. 165kw.... and an 15 y/o car.. so its bound to be down a tad on power. Fuel wouldnt be a problem as where i live at the moment unleaded is at $1.65, thats normal unleaded too!! and where moving to the city, and having learnt to live with high prices, it doesnt pose that much of a problem.

The only problem i really see is finding someone to insure the car?

So what do you think.. an old 304 injected motor for a P plater?

 

[hakhawk]

hmm, hope you've taught him well how to drive and not be an idiot on the road, as the v8 will be very tempting. but saying that, the old v6 can be just as dangerous as the v8.

id say let him, as long as he will respect the car, thats the biggest thing, some people can have a car given to them and if they didnt pay for it, they really dont care too much if it is damaged, as its not comin out of their pocket.

as for insurance, maybe find out what it would cost to insure it under his name, or under your name with him as an added driver.

 

[253@7k]

As long as you are confident that he will not get into trouble with that amount of power, then yeah p/platers and V8's are fine. Possibly consider a defensive

driving course. I did one (with AHG) last year, one of the best moves I made, taught me a lot concerning what to look out for on the roads and how to handel

a car. Just to let you know there is a bueat vn ss in a car lot in vic park, exelent cond and uns great. (I checked it out the other day)

Good luck with it.

Steve.

 

[sircruisealotVS]

i couldnt help but notice that you yourself have a vp exec (which i imagine is a v6 auto?)...why not give him your vp and buy the v8 manual for yourself? he could still have access to driving a manual for experience, and you would score a sweet new car...win, win.

 

[greenfoam]

If I was a kid and my dad bought me a 5 liter commodore for my first car I would think he was the best dad ever!.

But..... I have a VP 5 liter and I if I had a kid (I don't grrr @ wife ) Then I wouldn't want them in a 5 liter for a first car, it's not a safe car to learn to drive in without someone there to slap you around when you are sideways down the road heading for a pole after you decided to give it some in the rain :0, the V6 is more than enough. There's lots of manual lpg Falcons around too

 

[Demons1964]

A P-plater in a V8 VS stato last night decided he'd race me at the lights (I was in my WH V8 on my way home from work and seeing the V8 badge he must have assumed I was an idiot as well). I detest street racing and will never do it. He tore off at the lights, losing traction through the intersection and before getting the thing sideways at a curve and clipping the curb before continuing on his hooning way. I don't want your son to become a road statistic like that guy will end up.

Only you can judge how responsible your son will be with a 304. Of course if you ask him, the response will be a "Sure Dad, I promise never to get it sideways. Now give me the keys."

I was 23 when I got my 304 VS. I'm a responsible driver and yet on greasy roads (travelling under the speed limit) I've had a few minor scares where the back end has drifted out before I corrected it. An inexperienced driver may not have done that. Because the huge torque is available down low in the rev range the accelerator pedal is very touchy and it's so easy to lose control. It's far too tempting for the young driver, especially when they're wanting to push the boundaries of the car. I don't recommend it for your son, I suggest a V6. Once he's got a few years of experience then consider a V8.

 

[Ls2_307]

cheers for the responses, having a big think about it now, if we get lucky we will find a 5spd commodore before november anywaY!

 

[UtelemO]

Hi, Im a P plater and i drive a 5L ute, however this isnt my first car... and its not a $5000 car its a $15000 car and i bought it myself, Personally I wouldnt let my son get a 5L for their first car, however I have heard my parents thoughts on the situation several times over although slightly different situation, they said that me owning and paying for the car gives me a huge responsibility to look after it and not do anything stupid and or damage it because it would basicly screw up my life in a matter of a few words, If my parents had have bought the car and payed for repairs then I would have never earned a sence of respect for either the road rules or the car which in my opinion is a good reason for P Platers being in a higher majority of crashes. So what I am trying to say is safe driving has alot to do with respect for the car and the road rules, hope this gives you another view to look at. and just letting you know that your son will speed, drag, do burnouts, almost crash and drift if hes in a 5L v8 or a 4 cylinder piece of snot.

thats my 2 cents.

 

[Torquen]

id agree with Utelem0 it dosnt matter what car you giv a p plater they are goind 2 test its boundries. i myself being a p plater know this 2 be true. this dosnt meen i hoon round evry corner and do burnouts in evry dead end road but what im saying si that yes youir son will most likely 'try out' the car and see what it can do. this can be ok if he realises that yes it has power and yes it is fun but fun = danger and thus must be drivin responsibly. my 2 cents worth, buy him the car and if you see bald tyres, bald side walls, gearbox/ torque converter playing up then take the car of him. it isnt hard to see wether a car has been thrashed or not so just moniter it. if he drives it well then all good, if he drives like a tool then take it of him and giv him a pink dihatsu chirade

 

[jdd]

I’m not going to enter into the debate about whether it’s appropriate to let a P plater drive a 304 as their first car or not. One point that hasn’t been raised in favour of the V8 is that they have better brakes than the V6, how much better is debatable, but they are better.
Having owned both a V6 and V8 VN’s (still own the V8), one thing you probably also need to factor into the equation is fuel economy with the ever increasing petrol prices.
While there is little difference cruising at 100km/h on the highway, there is potential for a big difference in city driving, depending on how the car is driven.
I know I’m generalising here but many P platers are reasonably heavy footed, not saying they’re breaking the law, but in this instance, the V8 would certainly drink far more juice than the V6. A manual could be worse when it comes to this as simple things like not up-shifting early enough hurts fuel economy. When driven well, a manual should be capable or returning better economy than the equivalent auto, although this gap has been closing for many years now.

It might pay to actually test drive both a V6 and V8 yourself. A 304 with 3-400,000K’s on the clock is still a pretty quick car, even by today’s standards. I’m not saying the V6 would be slow but as they both age, I believe the V8 would drop is power less than the V6, and yes I’m generalising again as you would also need to factor in how the car was treated during its life.
Also, from my own experience, there have been far less things go wrong with my V8 than the V6, and I owned both from new.