what car to buy

[Arktikos]

Originally Posted by scorpio516

I'd bet he would have been safer in a sedan than lifted hatchback.

Buy them a Civic or Corolla. Don't worry about anything.
Corollas have barely changed since 2000. The E170 got new engines in 2013. The E210 in 19/20 finally is a new car.

Yes, or possibly a Subaru. I’m not in favor of large vehicles for young drivers.

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by Arktikos

Yes, or possibly a Subaru. I’m not in favor of large vehicles for young drivers.

Having restored several totaled cars, I would NOT choose a Subaru as a safe car for a youthful female driver (unless driving on snow much of the yr)

Our rural trauma Dr trainer would ONLY put his family in VW Jettas with lots of airbags.

I did the same (minus the airbags)

I've attended may crashes and the Dr is correct that the VW occupants usually have a better chance of survival and a shorter recovery. Might just be the demographic that there are more of those. Dependability? YMMV, I drive many VW's well past 500k miles (all are evil diesel, but I kinda (really) like Torque + 50 mpg on free homebrew fuel, and 1250 miles between fills)

ALL the teenage girls my kids associated with had major crashes, and the car was usually totaled. But their insurance was 1/2 of a male policy. (Property damage is cheap, personal injury is not)

Our kids managed to get through college and 20 yrs beyond w/o crashes. (so far)

They got the Smith Driving rules drilled into their heads daily + I had them attend skid school (since they drove the mtns daily for school and work (Ski instructors) + they met with the insurance guy often to get reminded of risks and liability. (and paid 100% of their cars, insurance, fuel... 'skin-in-the-game'

https://topdriver.com/education-blog...-smith-system/

[28173]

Originally Posted by Peregrine

I'd bet any amount of money he would have been fine in a safe sedan. They do exist. and they are pretty safe in side collisions. It's truly only front end collisions where SUVs are safer.

There's far too many SUVs that have mediocre crash test results. Not a lot of sedans do.



Whatever you get, just make sure it's good great NHTSA ratings.

Not really, the higher off the ground seating was the saving factor when the lower driver side was bent in.
In a sedan it would've been the torso getting pushed in, instead of below the seat in the SUV.


I'm a mechanical engineer so it makes sense for me, but a quick search on side impact shows what I've seen and expected:

As a group, lower-slung vehicles, such as midsized sedans, have fared poorly in the new testing so far. Small and midsized SUVs did better.

https://www.consumerreports.org/cars...g-a1120019519/


As you mentioned, when it comes to frontal crash tests SUVs are much safer (many studies re available), especially when two different size vehicles (sedan & SUV) are involved in the crash.

[kapie9969]

Thanks for the replies I ended up buying an older Acura TSX.

[scorpio516]

good choice. Accords are good cars