Son wants an 80 for first truck....Thoughts...

[midfat]

I agree all those technology's can be great (even though they do limit the fun) but you guys all survived without all the electronic aids. Why do we need all of them? And not having electronic aids will probably teach better driving skill. An 80s series has the important ones in my opinion. Abs, Airbags, and Seatbelts.

Don't get me wrong, I love my 80. I revel in the fact that I have mechanical locking differentials over electronic traction control. I love that I can fix nearly anything on the truck. Heck, I sold my 100 Series to "downgrade" to an 80 Series. But in response to your comment above, the reason we all survived without electronic aids is because we weren't among the roughly 30K people a year (in the US alone) who didn't.

I get the question often on what's the best car for a young driver. It mostly comes down to what someone can afford. But my answer is ALWAYS the same: The newest car you can afford.

 

[Dork]

No. Nobody should have a cool vehicle as their first car.

I had to drive a 1985 Chrysler LeBaron K-body that I had to pull out of a barn out at the old family farm and dig/cut through all the bird crap that was holding the door closed before getting it running. After beating the living bejeesus out of that for a couple years, then I got to go pick out a truck with my own money. My friends all had janky old crapcars for their first vehicles.

A first vehicle is something to learn on and beat on. It should be valued as such.

Pulling your friend's broken down Dodge Omni along a highway with a towstrap connected to a LeBaron while your friend follows in a rusty Oldsmobile with his hazards on builds important character.

 

[2NDFZJ80]

My son will be driving soon so I just picked up a 1996 fzj80 for him to drive to school and his sporting events. I think it's a safe first car for kids.

I always like the fzj80's. I had 1996 lx450 before this one and had wish I would've kept it. Put over 265k miles on my last one with little maintenance. So hopefully this one I just picked up for my son will be low maintenance as well to get him through high school and to pass it on to his younger brother.