Great choice for a first car. I got a 95 DGGM SS for my second car when I was 17 and thought I was the man. I'm on my 3rd SS now and plan on keeping this one. They aren't too bad to work on, you're going to have maintenance on any car. The LT1 is a great motor, cabs in NY have ran 300k miles on the motors, so they're definitely reliable if you take care of them. One thing to consider is that the car is rear wheel drive so it may not be best ride in the winter depending on where you're going to college. I loved my DGGM 95 SS, you definitely don't see as many. But there's just something about a black car when it's clean.