Safety.

"mkbruin, Atlas VP" (mkbruin) 10/12/2017 at 10:21 • Filed to: None

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Well Oppo, I’ve got a friend who’s daughter is about a year away from getting her license, so naturally I’m trying to come up with a car for her.

1995-2001

Something reminded me of a car my mom had when I was in HS and college. Roomy, good mpg, decently nice inside for a kid, relatively reliable, and can be picked up for peanuts all day long. So I decided to check crash test data. Pictured above is the moderate offset test results. That’s actually pretty shocking to me.

So, let’s take a look at what his other daughter is currently driving:

1998-2004

Still not great.

Now, let’s go from a $2,000 kids car to some $4,000 Europeans:

2000-2009

2002-2012

The difference is ridiculous. I’m trying to justify a thousand dollar difference for a kids car, but when you look at safety there is no comparison.

These cars came to market about 3-5 years apart. In less than 5 years, car safety advanced that dramatically.

For example, let’s just look at what his daughter is currently driving. let’s just say a lot changed over the next 15 years.

Now that I’m feeling safety-minded today... post up pics of your car/truck moderate or small overlap tests...

benjrblant > mkbruin, Atlas VP 10/12/2017 at 10:26

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I could find no documentation of crash testing for a 1997 LX450, so have a photo if it looking all not crashed and stuff?

benjrblant > benjrblant 10/12/2017 at 10:32

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On a different note, it really is insane how far car crash testing and safety has developed in the past decade or so. It really puts the thought of “I need a bigass SUV because they’re safer” in check.

Arrivederci > mkbruin, Atlas VP 10/12/2017 at 10:33

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Overall evaluation: Good.

TheHondaBro > benjrblant 10/12/2017 at 10:34

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Land Cruiser is great if you can afford the Land Cruiser upkeep. You’re not paying for Toyota parts, you’re paying for Land Cruiser parts.

Stapleface > mkbruin, Atlas VP 10/12/2017 at 10:35

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Here’s my current car

And the wife’s current vehicle (2010 Corolla) doesn’t have any test pictures. Seemed to do alright though.

Other cars I’ve owned in the last few years, let’s see how they’ve done.

2013 Crosstrek

http://www.iihs.org/frontend/iihs/ratings/images/api-rating-image.ashx?id=3088&width=800

2011 Mazda 3, no test pictures. Seemed to do okay though

2010 Nissan cube. Did pretty well too. Although you can see how in just a few years how much side curtains have improved.

http://www.iihs.org/frontend/iihs/ratings/images/api-rating-image.ashx?id=2312&width=800

Edit: Bite me Kinja.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > mkbruin, Atlas VP 10/12/2017 at 10:37

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This is about the best image I can find on short notice

This side impact does give me some confidence though. Looks like it held up better than I expected it would.

Nibbles > mkbruin, Atlas VP 10/12/2017 at 10:39

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I can’t find any Eldorado crash tests. However since it’s a 1994, and the 1997 Seville didn’t exactly perform well, I can only imagine I don’t particularly want to be in a collision with this car

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > mkbruin, Atlas VP 10/12/2017 at 10:40

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benjrblant > TheHondaBro 10/12/2017 at 10:41

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Many previous owners have the mentality that “Oh, it just needs oil changes for the next 300k miles” and that’s so false. Finding one that hasn’t been neglected can be a challenge. I wrote a post about how expensive it was to catch ours up on 20 years of deferred maintenance.

I will say that in the past year and a half of ownership and nearly 28k miles, nothing’s broken on it. (Yet.) *knocks on wood*

2Fast2Furious: Rotary Powered > mkbruin, Atlas VP 10/12/2017 at 10:41

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Mines pretty good tbh

Especially since it’s a 18 year old gm vehicle

diplodicus > mkbruin, Atlas VP 10/12/2017 at 10:53

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Uhhh not great...

And that’s with the smaller 1.8L 4cylinder.

leicester > mkbruin, Atlas VP 10/12/2017 at 11:34

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Well, here’s our car hitting the offset:

However, after a couple of fender benders, here what she’s “driving” now:

1967ers - lover of dead auto marques > mkbruin, Atlas VP 10/12/2017 at 11:50

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We’re about two years away from the same problem. I’ve had a Saab 9-5 Aero wagon for a few years. It was the safest car on the road when built and is still pretty good at age 16. I will likely look into a newer 9-3. We have good Saab shops nearby, which helps.

ShrimpHappens, née WJalopy > mkbruin, Atlas VP 10/12/2017 at 11:50

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Oh damn, it’s about as bad as you’d expect (I have an ‘04, but it’s the same):

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > mkbruin, Atlas VP 10/12/2017 at 12:01

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This is the generation after mine, so I would assume mine does worse than this. Well maybe not...since my cab doesn’t have the rear door it might be a bit more structurally sound. Probably not though.

Die-Trying > mkbruin, Atlas VP 10/12/2017 at 19:45

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i recomend the old trucks.........

there was an impromptu small/moderate overlap crash test performed on it (40 mph) the crash tester WALKED away with minor bruising, and mild cuts......

Nibby > mkbruin, Atlas VP 10/12/2017 at 22:13

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not that good