Which one of these cars are the safest, and which one should I get?

"ma_twain" skrev i en meddelelse news: snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com...

Yes, and Volvo got sued in the States, for false advertising, as the cars where made stronger. ;o)

The Classic body Saab 900s are fairly strong. The Saab

Saab made roll-over tests with the Saab 9-5 during development - without doors mounted. And the car passed the test.

M.v.h.

I've spent a lot of time at salvage yards looking for Volvo and Saab parts so I've seen quite a few wrecked cars. Both tend to hold up quite well internally, Volvos seem do do a bit better with the really hard impacts but Saab is quite good as well. I've seen some pretty scary results with lesser cars, some are so smashed it's hard to tell what sort of car they were.

They've pretty much fixed it, especially with the Camry Solara Coupe although it hasn't been tested in the front offset test yet, it's done exceptionally well in all the other crash tests.

You are certainly correct, the Forester is one of the safest SUVs out there, I wasn't looking for an SUV, but if I had the money and was looking to buy an SUV, then off the top of my head I think that the the Forester, Acura MDX, Chrysler Pacifica, and the Volvo XC90 would be the top 4 choices. The Forester did get 5 stars in the front crash test for the driver and passenger as well as 5 stars for the side impact for the front seats as well as 5 stars for the side impact for the rear seat and it did get a best pick rating in the IIHS front offset test as well.

None of which are SUV's in the traditional sense (*Utility*). The only reason that I have an SUV in the driveway at all is to tow my boat. None of the station wagons you mentioned have the towing capacity I need to do that. I have a Ford Exploder with a 302 V8 for that job.

Driving a real SUV to transport people is idiocy. On the other hand, those station wagons that you mentioned that call themselves SUVs are probably good people haulers, so I guess safety would be of importance.

And no, my Jeep Wrangler is neither an SUV nor a station wagon. It is not good at people hauling (4 seater, not particularly safe) or trailering (2000lb tow limt). But it does go off-road damn well...

-Fred W

I dunno if I agree with the safety on the Wranglers ...I've been around Jeeps and Jeep owners for awhile now and can't even think of anyone who's died in a Jeep or know anyone who's told me stories of such. They may not be safe "feature-wise" with side airbags, crumple-zones, etc, but in terms of life-and-death crashes, I'd rather be in a Wrangler than almost any car out there (especially in a rollover). And it's very inexpensive and easy to install 5-point harness systems, padded rollbars, and a few other "safety" options in Jeeps that make them even better. If we're talking about backseat passengers tho, then ya, it's not safe at all. I had a friend fall out of my Jeep once in the backseat (no seatbelt obviously ...but still). Not cool at all.

The other safety "feature" I have on my Wrangler TJ is that I just don't like to drive it fast. Sure, it's got the 4.0L six so it's capable, I just don't like to. That and my knobby tires make a racket at highway speeds. Other cars in the driveway are far better for high speed driving.

-Fred W

In the sense of "accident avoidance safety" than ya, a Wrangler is probably one of the worst-rated vehicles possible ;p Somehow tho, my Jeep was the only vehicle I've owned that I haven't been hit in (I'm not counting off-roading mishaps ;p) It's also the only vehicle I was never broken into or had stolen ...even though it never had a top or doors and had a CD stereo w/ aftermarket speakers and I left the keys in the ignition numerous times. I guess people just figured it wasn't worth their time or that there's no way I'd leave anything valuable in it.