1985 Oldsmobile Delta 88 - bought myself $175
1993 Eclipse - got from my mom, mind you I was maintaining the car for my mom even before I got full ownership of the car
1998 Talon Esi - bought myself

I have seen all of those kids...
kids whose parent's buy them the car, parents still buy them everything
kids who write off their soul to buy the car, they are still living on credit
kid's who are lucky enough that their parents will let them drive the car in the evening, this kids can go any of the ways above.

In all of those categories there are people who care and who don't care about their cars.

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98 Stock Talon ESi
Mods: New spark Plugs NGK, Fresh ATF, K&N, AGX, UDP and ZipTies tieing the strut towers (according to BlackMagic increases my torsional rigidity)
I know spark plugs are not a mod but the car runs so smooth now.