Unfortunately, or fortunately, just depends on how you look at it, my parents did not buy me a vehicle. A 9 year old 1987 Ford Ranger, 2.9l 5 Speed 2wd 103k was my first vehicle. I worked and purchased it myself, paid insurance and taxes and repairs on it. I paid 1300.00 for it and did most of the repairs on it myself. I thought I was doing good at the time, buying a vehicle that was under 10 years old. Lol.
When I turned 16 and could get my first real job I bagged groceries and pushed shopping carts. I worked 30 hours a week minimum that summer until School started up, then I worked 16-22 hours a week. I still have my first pay stub for 40.xx dollars, Which was for 2 4 hour shifts of training IIRC. This is a sobering reminder of where I came from and where I am now. If I am working OT now I can earn 40 dollars in less than an hour.
I usually worked Sundays 0530-1330 or 0600 to 1400 since I was one of the few that seemed to reliably show up at that time. Saturdays varied. and 3 to 4 hours on some school nights.
Some of the vehicles mentioned on here as well as some of the ones seen in the local high school parking lot are nicer than what I drive now.
Unfortunately I feel that the energy that went into working so much took away from my focus on schooling. Maybe I just use that as an excuse. I feel if I had been raised in different circumstances I could have gone much further in life, but my parents did the best the knew how, as did I. I could be a [censored] of a lot better off right now, but I could be a lot worse off now also.
I suppose am doing amazing things for a High school Graduate that dropped out of community college (which I also paid for).