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I used to not think much about it, but nowadays with everyone texting or talking on their cell phones while driving it makes me a little nervous. It's common now to see people swerving out of their lane and not even noticing it.
Used cars are expensive these days! I have an opportunity to buy a decade-old Pontiac Grand Am with only 75,000 miles for 2500. It runs good, body is fine, etc Safety ratings and crash test ratings are not so great but I'm not sure they were on most vehicles at that time. I drive a lot of highway miles. Does this sound like a good deal or am I crazy to even be considering it?
On a Tuesday afternoon at 2:30 pm my spouse was coming home from costco. It was summer, pleasant weather on a neighborhood street. Was going about 30 MPH. Another car behind him was going much faster and hit a bus stop and then came across the lane and hit my spouse's car in the passenger back panel. Flipped the car over twice. My spouse lived.
A friends mother was hit in her car on the highway and died. The accident was not that severe.
Guess which one had a safer car. Had my friends mother been in a "meatier" car she would probably still be here.
I learned to drive in a car with a javelin for a steering column and toggle switches sticking out of the dashboard, bias ply tube tires, and unassisted drum brakes all around and not even lap belts. Strong incentive to drive like you have a little common sense.
Given the significant advances in recent years, I would not accept the increased risk for a daily driver that is offered by saving a few dollars. There are some vehicles that I would drive daily that are older, and feel very confident, such as a Mercedes 600 or an older Rolls-Royce because they are heavy vehicles, and the Mercedes had very good safety features for its era. Side airbags are very important as is the protection of the passenger compartment, and given a long highway commute, I'd not feel as comfortable with that vehicle for everyday use.
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All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
~William Shakespeare (As You Like It Act II, Scene VII)
On a Tuesday afternoon at 2:30 pm my spouse was coming home from costco. It was summer, pleasant weather on a neighborhood street. Was going about 30 MPH. Another car behind him was going much faster and hit a bus stop and then came across the lane and hit my spouse's car in the passenger back panel. Flipped the car over twice. My spouse lived.
A friends mother was hit in her car on the highway and died. The accident was not that severe.
Guess which one had a safer car. Had my friends mother been in a "meatier" car she would probably still be here.
Best of luck with what you decide.
Glad your spouse was ok in the wreck.
The question is whether he made it out because his car was heavier or because it had better safety features.
There is a balance between safety features and physics and it depends upon the type of wreck as to which has a greater impact.
Fact: They consider the most dangerous cars on the road, are full size pickups and Big SUVs.
They consider them the most dangerous cars on the road not because danger to the drivers and their passengers, but the damage they do to the other cars (smaller ones the worst) and to the other drivers and passengers. Take a small car with great safety features, and run head on into a F-350 4X4 crew cab pickup, and while the pickup driver and passengers will probably walk away, you won't see the same happening to the driver and passengers in the smaller car even if they have side air bags, etc. Sheer size and weight difference will see to that.
We have two cars. A F-150 pickup, and a 2012 Ford Explorer Limited AWD. I will put those up against those small cars with great safety features, as size and weight will tear the small car apart. That Pontiac has a lot of size and weight, which really helps in case of an accident.
Probably not. Unless the thing is horrendously unsafe, I wouldn't look too hard.
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