Does your 19 year old son get to driveyour RX-8in pouring rain and when there is the possibility of snow and/or ice?

It takes time for a kid to learn to drive well on dry pavement, and time and experience to handle a car in slippery and low-visibility conditions. And when that's the primary car, there's no alternative but to drive it in the bad conditions.

I used to teach high school, and I saw a LOT of brand new, very nice cars get utterly trashed by the teenagers driving them. Some survived the experience, some didn't. Most were rear-wheel-drive cars -- Mustangs, Corvettes, one Porsche, that kind of thing.

It doesn't mean the kid will screw up and kill himself, but his odds of screwing up and killing himself (or others) are probably quite a bit higher in this car than other cars. It's just not a car for the inexperienced.

If he has a background in racing, no problem. Otherwise, no go.