Guess kids never change....

[Ebm]

Lets not get the great Wawa vs Sheetz debating going XD.

Haha, Sheetz is also known as another name if you get the wrong menu item off of their menu. An example being the tacos lol. It'll clean you out like Taco Bell...


As far as large, nothing comes close to Bucees. They have to hold the record for most gas pumps and biggest convenience store attached to a gas station. I mean c'mon... when is the last time you saw a gas station sell pieces of art?

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[shogun32]

The generations before them put in road block after road block to vehicle ownership

it's all about creating dependency. If you can't move freely, you are much easier to control. Connected cars, esp EV can be powered off and disabled from afar by 3rd parties. Just watch.

 

[331GT]

This reminds me of a story when I was in my 20’s. We were driving along, not my current wife of course, me driving my ‘88 Mustang GT and I pointed at a another killer car parked on the side of the road, I can’t remember which one now, but I got hit in the arm because it was being driven by a very cute girl. I am like “I was pointing at the car!!”. Needless to say that ended quickly.

the girls ive dated initially had similar reactions but soon realized that when my gaze started trailing away and i stopped paying attention i was actually looking at another car, not another girl haha. so the pissed off reactions turned into simple eye rolling and "what kind of car was that one..." type questions

 

[MidwayJ]

I am sorry, but it seems many of the older people don't understand why and I'm here to step up and tell you why.
oh, and I'm way past over the hill.
1) Cost. To get into a vehicle that doesn't need a bunch of money thrown at it to keep it running is 3500.00 and up.
If you want something sporty, 5k and up.
2) new drivers insurance rates are nuts, for a basic econobox, a sporty car is stupid money .
3)Job market for new drivers, Lets all face the fact that back when I was 14 y/o you could earn money throwing newspapers on a door step, mowing neighbors yards, etc. And maybe a work permit, to work a 1st job, without much in the way of limited hours or what jobs you could do, as long as your grades stayed up.
Today, the hours they can work on a school day, and how many they can work a day and total in a week are limited, So are what jobs they are allowed to do while under the age of 18.
I worked all the hours I could, today, even if they want too they can't.
So where are they getting that 3500-5000.00 bucks for a car and then the 2000.00+ for insurance, then fuel, upkeep, etc.
While being allowed to work 12-16 hours a week at min wage.
4) We got our drivers lic. to be able to hang with our friends and other than the land line phone, you HAD to go out or they had to come to your house.
Today they can talk to friends At any time anywhere, all for 15 bucks a month.
This is more inline with the money they are allowed to earn with all the labor laws on school age kids/workers.
5)Times have changed, back when I was younger and would light up the tires for fun, or slide the rear end out around a corner, if the popo saw you, you get a stern talking to and a warning if you were polite and yes sir, no mam. Today fat chance of that, And they know this.
Heck first thing out of everyone's mouth is anyone under 25 gets in a wreck is they must have been texting , the kid could not even have a phone in the car with them and that is the automatic goto for everybody.
6)Many places you can't work on your own junk in your own driveway, So a kid that buys a car needing work or just wants to upgrade it, is s.o.l.
The parents home is in a HOA that any of that is a no no, or the parents won't allow the kid to have an older car because of lack of safety bla bla bla.
For a kid today to own a car it take 100% of their income to own it, insure it, and do the required upkeep on it. and fuel it. one ticket blows that out of the water.
Or for 15-40 bucks a month they can see and talk to all their friends anytime they want.
Then on a friday night, grab an uber for 10-15 bucks and go party at a buddies house.
The generations before them put in road block after road block to vehicle ownership, then complain that they can't be bothered to get a drivers lic.
Why won't you get a drivers lic. and the required drivers ed classes that cost money and then a vehicle and insurance you can't afford on the job we limited how many hours and what hours you can work and what jobs you can do, till you are 18 or out of school. Maybe they know they can't afford it, so they don't bother.

Good points. I would add that younger people prefer congested big city urban areas where driving just isn't much fun. I wouldn't own a Mustang if nearly everywhere I went was in heavy traffic.

The financial barriers were there for me in the 70s due to all the money I made working in high school went toward saving for college. I never had a car of my own until I graduated college at 22. My father didn't work on his cars, so I never developed any mechanic skills. But I had become a car enthusiast at an early age starting with playing with matchbox cars and hot wheels. I subscribed to car magazines as a teenager. I saw enough cool cars (60s muscle cars, 240z, Pantera, Triumph/MG, etc.) to lust after what I knew I couldn't have. I guess maybe I'm an anomaly but I was encouraged a few months ago when a 12-year-old kid asked to take a pic of my car

 

[Bikeman315]

Here's a reason that kids are not chomping at the bit to get a car. There are no cars.

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/g36005989/best-selling-cars-2021/

 

[331GT]

when I was a kid all you thought about was turning 17 and getting a car. That represented freedom. I remember paying for insurance at 17 so I could use it whenever I wanted. My parents did pay for my first car in 1974... it was a 67 Chevy Caprice, 327 2bbl, four door, blue with black vinyl roof. paid $400 from our landlord. Had it for one week before T boning a guy that ran a stop sign! Cost another $400.00 to repair!

i couldnt wait till i could get my license and drive. i wanted a muscle car and my parents said to start saving. i handed out flyers for lawn mowing and my dad made "business cards" for me to attach to my flyers. started doing that at age 11 or 12 or so and by the time i was 16 i had about $5500 and bought my 95gt. my dad loaned me the extra 1k to buy it. then said "guess what, you also have to insure it and feed it" he called it my 8 hungry children so started my first job at white castle serving up sliders. i cannot imagine not driving at 16. one my my buddies was into cars, he bought himself a few different porsche 944s in high school. only time i didnt want to drive was during undergrad living in downtown chicago, and i was either afraid my car would get hit/stolen/destroy itself on potholes or else i was hammered coming home from bars and public trans was the way to go i know of more and more people who didnt have driver's licenses well past high school, into their 20s and it blows my mind

 

[ICU812]

you make a lot of good points.....glad I grew up in a different time!
sad those kids will never experience what we experienced growing up. different generations all have unique experiences propelling them through life....good or bad.

YUP.
The part I don't care for is the older generations that do drive and could not wait to drive, blasting the younger kids that are like MEH.
As the older people can't be bothered to look at the BIG picture of the how and why. OR they know darn well what the reasons are, but it is easier to not buck the public opinion jury on the subject.
We didn't have cell phones, nor did anyone before us, and we still twisted up a ton of cars and trucks.
I mean, when I was 17 driving down the local beach road, a very lovely girl my age in a 2 piece number bent over to pick up something she dropped, I looked at that and not the road, and at 4mph bumped the truck in front of me. Lucky for me it caused no damage, other than a very red face when the noise from it made her look that way.
When at auto events and this comes up, I always ask the one with a hair across his/her butt about young people and no want for a drivers lic.
Have you bothered doing the math. Then go over what my kids car cost, the upkeep the insurance wallop of a bill, the fuel and what he is legally allowed to work a week under the labor laws of a school going under 18y/o.
Once they see that even after having a vehicle sitting in the driveway, that if they have to pay their own drivers ed, drivers lic, insurance, tags, inspection sticker, taxes , fuel , upkeep. that number is higher than what they can earn at the pay rate for most jobs a kid that has limited hours they are allowed to work would have.
So unless mom and dad are ready to pay much of the cost or at least help. They can't afford it or they just barely can but can't go anywhere as they have no money after paying for the car and bills. So what is the point of having wheels if you can't ESCAPE with them.
I offered to help my kids. and as long as they took care of the vehicle, kept their grades up and didn't get a bunch of tickets,etc they get help affording wheels.
It worked out for each one. no wrecks of their own doing, and only a few tickets for the same stupid crap I had pulled . That was the hardest, to be mad,stern and not laugh and say, how many feet of rubber you leave on the road, Knowing I did the same decades before.

 

[ICU812]

Here's a reason that kids are not chomping at the bit to get a car. There are no cars.

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/g36005989/best-selling-cars-2021/

This has been an issue long before cash for clunkers,and way before covid. They can't afford wheels on a 12 hour a week min wage job.

 

[ICU812]

Good points. I would add that younger people prefer congested big city urban areas where driving just isn't much fun. I wouldn't own a Mustang if nearly everywhere I went was in heavy traffic.

The financial barriers were there for me in the 70s due to all the money I made working in high school went toward saving for college. I never had a car of my own until I graduated college at 22. My father didn't work on his cars, so I never developed any mechanic skills. But I had become a car enthusiast at an early age starting with playing with matchbox cars and hot wheels. I subscribed to car magazines as a teenager. I saw enough cool cars (60s muscle cars, 240z, Pantera, Triumph/MG, etc.) to lust after what I knew I couldn't have. I guess maybe I'm an anomaly but I was encouraged a few months ago when a 12-year-old kid asked to take a pic of my car

My 1st car was 50.00 needing a transmission sooner than later, it had no "R" and slipped in all forward gears.
A 75.00 junkyard take out, and some time on my back and it was in, and car moved as it should.
Anyone that can read a book, could fix most anything on them. with a basic craftsman tool set.
There was paper routes to work and earn money before driving age, mowing lawns was a thing because the kids mom/dad wasn't going to sue if jr. hurt himself .
So you could earn the money and already have enough for the car, the fixes, the required radio upgrade and more. And then when you got a job, were not told 12-16 hours a week is all you legally can work to pay for the insurance and fuel, g/f, going out.
THEN if they did go to college, get out with a mountain of debt, and IF lucky a bottom of the barrel paying job local that they won't NEED wheels they can't afford to get to the job.

 

[reednatron]

Not all kids have changed regarding automobiles. My girls love cars and trucks and couldn't wait to get their license. I will say that I have probably influenced them with my own affection for cool cars.

Most of these kiddos that we are discussing probably have parents who could also not care less about the automotive industry, and that lack of passion has trickled down.

All of the social media "influencers" the kids are enamored with are either driving a Tesla or a Hypercar, and since the kids can't afford those cars, they don't care.

Edit:
A coworker of mine's 18yo son just bought a used Hellcat Challenger...

There is still hope lol.

 

[Kristian87]

Driving along...

Me: "GASPS"
Gf: "omg, what?!"
Me: "Mustang!!"

We don't see many on the roads in the UK, so seeing any model of any year I tend to get excited and shout about it. Will get a wave if I'm paying attention

Many kids don't notice - being dark grey, mine doesn't stand out, but the kids that do notice love it. Never gets old!

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