Apparently so.

Differing theories as to why.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...ors_picks=true


I was pretty surprised by the dramatic drops in the number of teens that even bother to get a license.

 

Maybe because they have to drag their **** away from the couch/computer/video game to actually drive one?

 

I think part of it is the fun factor has diminished. Years ago you could have some fun and shenanigans, speeding, etc. Now if you do anything anymore it seems you go to jail. The kids just don't see it as worth it to spend the money to go somewhere when they can do w/e without leaving the house.

 

I can only refer to my own love of cars as reference. When I was young, my father worked on our cars in our garage. He'd tell me about cars and then point them out on the road and we would roll down the windows and listen to the motors. If the unveil had illustrated anything, it's that all modern cars steal from each other in terms of design. You can't hot rod a car without a computer. I truth, cars are pretty impressive from the factory. I think all of this makes being a car person less likely.

 

It's probably because young people these days are flat broke :-/ gas isn't cheap by any means let alone modding a car, going fast, and possibly getting tickets and stuff.

 

Nah. It's a new world. A lot of young adults these days don't need to leave the house. Friends and entertainment are all online. We used to have to go and see friends and girls. That's not necessary any more. The only good thing about it is teen pregnancy numbers should be going down. They ain't getting any. Lol.
Hell when I finally got a car and was able to leave the house, I barely ever came home. Get a cool car to have fun and impress the girls was our goal back then. Now maybe mom will drop me off at the mall is all they need. Sorry *** bunch of sissies. Hopefully at least one of my kids will share my love for cool cars. Maybe both but I will settle for one.

 

Reader comment:

IT is pretty simple. The internet is turning people into anti-social idiots. I predict rash of suicides in the next decade or so as people who grew up in the internet's "awe" stage wake up and realize they are approaching age 30 and have wasted their entire existence online and now have no social skills to ever have a REAL life.

 

Maybe it's a government plot to keep people from procreating thus lowering the population. Saves money. Pasty 30yr old gamers with no jobs aren't gonna have sex with women. Same sex marriage, an (ok with it pope), internet dependency. Yes the world population will be shrinking.


I should have invested in pizza chains and Mountain Dew years ago.

 

I know a couple 18 year olds that don't have their license and it blows my mind. One said their mom didnt want them to grow up so her mom wouldn't let her take drivers ed in school. I was never home once I got mine and it got me to work as well I didn't need my mom or dad to take me to work everyday(which would get old)! The only thing I get is cars are usually more expensive now and a lot of high schoolers are working like we did and gas being so expensive. Gas was still in the $2 range when I turned 16 in 06. I would sometimes fill my 04 up twice a night on the weekends just cruising around, its a little harder to do that now when its costs $46 now to fill a tank....

 

Gas = $3+ per gallon
Insurance = $2,300 per year on average
Graduated Drivers License http://www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/l...ense_laws.html


Can't really say I blame them.

 

Everyone in this thread is making good points, gas prices, internet, video games, social media bs, etc. I also think the liberal media makes cars out to be dirty and anti-green. "Buy a Prius or you are killing baby whales" is pretty much what our elected officials want us to believe.

 

I have friend whose brother is 25 and has no license. It blows my mind! When I was 15 I saved money for car for when I turned 16, which was a 1984 Tran AM by the way. Oh and yes it was because of Knight Rider.

 

I bought my first car at 15, a year before I had a drivers license. Picked up a really cheap 1975 Chevy Vega GT. By the time I got my license I had dropped a V8 in that little car.

I was the only kid in high school able to do wheelies out of the parking lot.


(Not mine)

 

Bought my notch when I was 15. Got my permit the day after my 15th birthday (DMV was closed on my birthday) and got my license on my 16th birthday. Couldn't get behind the wheel soon enough.

 

Not me! Just turned 16 and I love my 2000 GT.

 

I can vouch for myself and a few of my friends, we're all below 21yo, that we love cars and would spend as much time with them as we can. On the other side of things, a lot of my friends are the video game, stay inside all day long kinda crowd. As expensive as it is to maintain a car and everything involved with owning it, I see the trouble with kids having the same passion nowadays.

 

I think its cost aswell. I think alot of young people want a million dollar car or nothing. These days were everyone lives out pretend lives on the internet and think normal people act and live like tv families. I know people that have nicer smart phones then cars.

plus the fact that alot of young people cannot get jobs or simply have no will to work for a living. Goes back to pay to play.. no pay.. no play..

 

Back when I was a kid you could buy a decent used car for about the same money as a smartphone costs now. It was a LOT easier being a teen and getting into cars when you could buy a 5-10 year old car for less than $1,000. In fact I didn't exceed $750 until I bought my 4th car.


These days the only 5-10 year old cars you'll find for $1,000 come with a salvage title. I just did a quick price check and in my area a good condition 2005 Mustang GT will still cost over $10,000, and that's for a 9 year old car with well over 100,000 miles on it. If you're a teenager working part time making near minimum wage it would take a year or more to save enough money to buy one, and that's only if you don't spend a dime on anything else.

You can't even get a crappy car cheap anymore. A decent condition 2008 Toyota Yaris with more than 170,000 miles on it still sells for over $7,000. Forget million dollar car, today's teens can't even afford a relatively new entry level car with a quarter million miles on it.

 

Definitely not me, I got my '04 at 13 and I still love it, I'm even looking into purchasing a van (in a couple of years) and pimp it out ska style (search sublime white tour van) my dad is always yelling at me to talk about something else haha.

 

My niece is 18 and I think she just finally got her license. She couldn't afford a car much less insurance so to her it was pointless.

But a quick cruise through our local high school parking lot shows me that a lot of then absolutely love their trucks and cars. But they are obviously kids of middle to upper middle class while on the other side of the school the other kids are rising the bus.

It's all about the dinero that it costs to own, fuel, maintain, and insure a car for a teenager.