Teslas - Family /w Teenagers

[pepperoni]

Never heard of that one before, but thats good information. Thanks for sharing.

You’re welcome! We have been considering this as an option for our high school senior daughter, just to keep an eye on her driving habits. Haven’t pulled the trigger yet though. At $8/month and $77 for the hardware, it’s hard to go wrong.

 

[pepperoni]

You’re welcome! We have been considering this as an option for our high school senior daughter, just to keep an eye on her driving habits. Haven’t pulled the trigger yet though. At $8/month and $77 for the hardware, it’s hard to go wrong.

In fact… order placed. After today’s accident, I think this device is merited.

 

[skydve1]

I’m reading this literally an hour after my teenage daughter smashed our Prius. No kidding! She’s a responsible driver, but inexperienced as are all teenagers. I have not given her the “keys” to my Tesla yet, and pretty certain I won’t now. If I were in your shoes, I would consider picking up an inexpensive car and sell it in a few years. Used car prices are starting to soften.

Hope she's ok. It's not a good feeling when you get that call and have to go to the accident scene or hospital.

 

[pepperoni]

Hope she's ok. It's not a good feeling when you get that call and have to go to the accident scene or hospital.

Yes, she is just fine thankfully. Just a little shaken. She ran into a dolly (hand truck) that was in her lane on the freeway. It took out half of the front bumper and fog lights, but could have been a lot worse.

 

[buckets0fun]

Would you let your teenage kids to drive super car acceleration capable cars? I absolutely would not! Not that I don't trust them, but it takes only one wrong decision and that day might/could be the last day you see them.

Having been the 13-19yr old driving supercars and sportbikes, I'll never understand parents like you.

A race track(road course/autoX) and instructors will teach your kid more than you think you know about car control. Knowing what to do when the driving experience goes 'to heck in a handbasket' is beneficial.

to the OP:
Set the kid a profile in the car, create a new Tesla app profile for the kiddo, add the kiddo's Tesla Acct to your vehicle, set a speed limit on the car from the app, valet mode the car. doesn't matter if they have the key or app, you'll be able to restrict access at anytime.

 

[Vaildriver]

Drove a supercharged mustang and a civic as a teen. I think I hit 150mph in both multiple times. Used to street race as well. A tesla is a key to do the same so make sure you want them doing this kind of stuff! If the car can do it either they or their friends will push it to the limit. Can't really do this in a 6 year old 4Runner or the like.

:/

 

[tashtibet]

every kid is different -we can't generalize them. All things are impermanent-life is unpredictable. While back when I bought the very early model 3 RWD my son was in high school. I let him drive it because it's a very safe car. Nobody knows what tomorrow would bring. You don't want to look back & feel I should have done this not that. Life's all about teaching, learning and family is more important than any material out there.

 

[whisperingshad]

I wouldn't but the best would be key card....plus you can limit max speed etc

 

[Rcmpnc]

Has anyone thought to ask Elon on Twitter for a "new driver mode" - thats how we got "Joe Mode".

 

[labmixz]

1. Key card linked to a driver profile, is ideal.
2. Set a speed limiter as well, the speed limiter can only be taken off with a pass-code. In setting this think about where they should be going, i.e. if they're driving on the highway at all, set it to be within the highway speeds (etc).

My opinion on teens or anyone learning on a Tesla as their first car is it's a bad idea. I say that because the comforts of one-pedal driving (etc) doesn't allow for someone to properly learn on how to drive a car, which could cause problems later on when they're in a car that doesn't have said features.
I'd find them a nice cheap $2-5k manual trans beater and let them learn on that (as that's probably the on the low side of what your going to have to pay if they break anything on the Tesla).

 

[nate704]

1. Key card linked to a driver profile, is ideal.
2. Set a speed limiter as well, the speed limiter can only be taken off with a pass-code. In setting this think about where they should be going, i.e. if they're driving on the highway at all, set it to be within the highway speeds (etc).

My opinion on teens or anyone learning on a Tesla as their first car is it's a bad idea. I say that because the comforts of one-pedal driving (etc) doesn't allow for someone to properly learn on how to drive a car, which could cause problems later on when they're in a car that doesn't have said features.
I'd find them a nice cheap $2-5k manual trans beater and let them learn on that (as that's probably the on the low side of what your going to have to pay if they break anything on the Tesla).

I totally agree with you on Tesla cars for teens. Even if you set the speed limit (let's say 60 mph), they can do 60 mph in 25 mph zone and cause serious harm to themselves and to others.

 

[Freshness]

Having been the 13-19yr old driving supercars and sportbikes, I'll never understand parents like you.

A race track(road course/autoX) and instructors will teach your kid more than you think you know about car control. Knowing what to do when the driving experience goes 'to heck in a handbasket' is beneficial.

to the OP:
Set the kid a profile in the car, create a new Tesla app profile for the kiddo, add the kiddo's Tesla Acct to your vehicle, set a speed limit on the car from the app, valet mode the car. doesn't matter if they have the key or app, you'll be able to restrict access at anytime.

I think it's quite obvious why kids shouldn't be blessed with a Tesla at such a young age. It's common sense actually. Although I do think that the app offers a lot more pros than other vehicles.

To be perfectly honest I got a brand new BMW M3 when I was 16, back in 2006.

It was probably the worst thing ever for my psyche, and I really wish I had gotten something crappy back then. I am extremely grateful for what I have now, but my other friends who got Porsche 911's and M3's didn't fare so well. Work ethic suffers, and they thought they were better than all the other kids, and wouldn't get jobs at places like starbucks that build character.

A lot of kids get nice cars as their first car since their parent's think they are an extension of them--and the parents want to make themselves look good with their own circle.

Fast forward to today and a lot of those kids are far behind the others who were forced to work for it.

You also just appreciate these types of things more when you are an adult.

 

[nate704]

The Worst Parents Ever

Inside the story of Ethan Couch and the "affluenza" phenomenon.

www.dmagazine.com

 

[buckets0fun]

I think it's quite obvious why kids shouldn't be blessed with a Tesla at such a young age. It's common sense actually.

You also just appreciate these types of things more when you are an adult.

obvious? Really? Wild world we live in where we have to make all kids have cheap garbage cars with horrid crash safety for “obvious” reasons.

Ah, the age old “you’ll appreciate things more later if…” argument. Nah dude, many people do just fine with their instilled morals/values… “expensive” cars be damned

 

[Freshness]

obvious? Really? Wild world we live in where we have to make all kids have cheap garbage cars with horrid crash safety for “obvious” reasons.

Ah, the age old “you’ll appreciate things more later if…” argument. Nah dude, many people do just fine with their instilled morals/values… “expensive” cars be damned

how’d you go from supercars at 16 to salvaged model 3s?

 

[nate704]

 

[DammitBeavis]

Drove a supercharged mustang and a civic as a teen. I think I hit 150mph in both multiple times. Used to street race as well. A tesla is a key to do the same so make sure you want them doing this kind of stuff! If the car can do it either they or their friends will push it to the limit. Can't really do this in a 6 year old 4Runner or the like.

:/

If your son got into an accident going 70 mph on the freeway, would you prefer they were in a Tesla model 3 or a six year old 4Runner?

 

[Sambub]

Tesla is not a good learning car/first car for a number of reasons -IMO.

Not to mention, it will likely be damaged, which could be expensive unless you don’t care about dings, etc.

Not sure how old your kids are, but if you can, I’d get them their own cars, like a used Honda accord or similar. The accord gets good gas mileage, it’s safe, big car, handles well, lasts forever. They will have that car well into their 20’s hopefully before finally buying their own car.

My 19 year old has a 2012 accord 5spd 4cyl that is a blast to drive, safe, reliable, big. She loves it. She learned on it and then got it, more or less, at 16.5 or so. She knows how to check the oil, tire pressure, change light bulbs, other basic maintenance . We just put an Apple car play stereo and speakers in it for her for Xmas and it’s like a new car now. She uses accord at college, to get to/from home, etc. Unfortunately, there’s no e car chargers at NDSU in the dorm parking lots so any electric car would be impractical. I’m sure that’s the case at most colleges, so maybe something else to consider.

Plan to buy accord or similar for the 13 year old in a few years.

 

[WyoDude]

Since the OP doesn't have an ICE car, in this situation I would get an extra set of key cards and assign them to the kids. I think you can lock their key cards in chill mode and put a speed limit on it (not positive about this though).

We have two EVs (MYP & Volvo C40) and an ICE (Subaru Impreza) in our household, where the Impreza was purchased for my older daughter who got her license last year. Our younger daughter is on her learner's permit now and practicing exclusively in the Subaru. I figure they should be used to driving ICE cars and later on switch to EV when they want. In my mind it would be more problematic for them to go the other way around. Since the world will still be dominated by ICE for several years, I think this is a reasonable way to go about it. That and I just don't want to let the kids drive the expensive (and fast) EVs.

How do you like the C40 in general and compared to your Tesla?

 

[OxBrew]

19 and 22 yo kids. They learned to drive on the old beater 2003 Subie Forester, and drove it for a couple years before we got the Tesla. It now has dents on 3 corners.

We let them both drive the Tesla, supervised at first. Very rarely now, I let my daughter (19) take it to the store (she didn't put any dents in the Forester).

My son though (21), bragged at dinner one time that he got the Tesla up to 100 on the freeway, just for fun, and 90 several times. He's done, only drives if we're with him.

If we had the Tesla when they were learning, I wouldn't let them drive it until they had 2 years of experience.

I'd get an old slow Toyota or Subaru for around 3-5k and let them beat it up for a couple years.