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

I wish car manufacturers put roll bars in cars(made to protect from
roof collapse in a rollover and made in such a way as to not hurt the
driver or passengers in a side impact).
I wish car manufacturers would also use 4 point seat belts, and have
fire retardant fire shields around the fuel tank, as well as internal
fuel cell bladders like they have in professional race cars.

Back to the subject, my budget is at the most $12,000.
These are the cars I'm considering based on the Crash Test Ratings.

2001/2002 Honda Civic Coupe with Side Air Bags

1999/2000 Volvo S80

2003 Toyota Matrix with Side Air Bags

2003 Pontiac Vibe with Side Air Bags


These are cars that are really a little out of my range, but I'm still
looking out to see if maybe I'll get lucky and there will be a high
milage car in my price range.

2002 Lexus ES300 with Side Air Bags

2003 Honda Accord Coupe with Side Air Bags

2003 Saab 9-5 with Side Air Bags

2002 Acura MDX with Side Air Bags

There's one more car I wish I had more data about.
It's a high milage 1998 Lexus LS400, I know it does excellent in the
IIHS front offset crash test, and it does have side air bags, but
since there's no data about the side impact crash test or the rollover
resistance, unfortunately I don't think I could get it even if a high
milage one was in my price range.

I have provied links to the crash test results to many of these cars
throughout the post.

For me to even CONSIDER a car, it would have at least meet these
standards.
It would need at least 14 out of 15 stars in these 3 parts of the
crash tests.
1(Front Offset Crash Test Rating for the driver), 2(Side Impact Star
Rating for the Front Seats), and 3(Rollover Resistance).
Also, VERY IMPORTANTLY a car has to have a CENTER fuel tank, and NOT a
rear fuel tank like a Town Car or Mustang or Pinto or Crown Victoria.









Which car do you think is the safest car for that money?
I know that the obvious choice would be a 1999/2000 Volvo S80, but
when you do a lot of research, you realize that the 1999/2000 Volvo
S80 may not be as safe as you think.
First of all the Volvo S80 is a pretty unreliable car from what I've
read, but to me safety is SO important that even reliability and fuel
economy have to take a back seat to safety.
What I'm MOST concerned about ever being in a serious car accident
even more than death, is getting paralyzed or getting burned so badly
that you look like an alien and you look much worse than a Klingon or
a Reptilian Xindi.
I've seen burn victims on tv, that only wish they looked like a
Klingon or Reptilian Xindi instead of what they look like.
I'm really quite concerned about the rollover ratings, because the
other day I saw a show called something like "The Science of Crash
Tests" on The Discovery Science Channel, and they showed how a guy got
paralyzed with his Ford F-150 rolled over in an accident.
Then they actually did a rollover test of a Ford F-150 and also of a
Volvo SUV.
The F-150s roof COMPLETELY collapsed and if there was a person inside,
he/she would have been paralyzed if not dead.
The Volvo SUVs roof pretty much held its shape even after it rolled
over and over again.
That's one of the main reasons which I like the Volvo S80, I have a
feeling that even though the rollover rating for the 1999/2000 Volvo
S80 are not given, that the 1999/2000 Volvo S80 may likely have a 5
star rollover resistance rating if it were tested.
I also feel that I'm correct in thinking that probably the roof of the
1999/2000 Volvo S80 has a lot of structural reenforcement to prevent
it from collapsing in a rollover crash.

I wish I could get the Toyota Matrix, but it looks just so tall and so
narrow, that I almost feel it's very likely to rollover in a side
impact or in a high speed turn.
If the Toyota Matrix was Short and Wide, then it would be the perfect
car for me as it would have a 5 star rollover rating instead of 4
stars, and it's reliable and has good fuel economy as well, but
because it only has a 4 star rating in the rollover resistance test,
I'm leaning against it.


Actually first I thought I'd get a 2001 Honda Civic Coupe with Side
Air Bags since it did pretty well in the crash tests, it had great
reliability, and it had great fuel economy as well, but my dad
basically made it clear that I would not be getting that car even
though I was going to buy it with my own money.
My dad said that since it only weighs 2500lbs, that it's an unsafe car
and the crash tests are all lies and propoganda so that the car
companies can get rich.
BTW, my dad drives a 2000 Lincoln Town Car, which in my opinon is a
LESS safe car than the Honda Civic Coupe with Side Airbags because of
its crash test results and the Lincoln Town Car's higher death rate,
its poor accident avoidance capability, and the FATAL flaw in the
Lincoln Town Car, it's REAR FUEL TANK which could rupture in a high
speed rear accident.
Well after my dad refused to allow me to get the Honda Civic, I
started looking at the 1999/2000 Volvo S80, and at first I was all set
on buying it, but then I realized that it's a very unreliable car and
that it would be in the shop a lot if I bought it.
I did think twice, but then I thought that safety is so important that
I could live with unreliability.
I then however discovered that maybe the 1999/2000 Volvo S80 is NOT as
safe a car as I had thought.
It's true that it did great in the NHTSA Side Impact Crash Tests, but
it was never tested in the Front Offset or Rollover Crash Tests by the
NHTSA so you don't get the whole picture.
1999 Volvo S80 NHTSA Crash Test
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/NCAP/Cars/804.html
To get the whole picture, I did a lot of research and I found the
results for the IIHS Front Offset Crash test, and the NCAP Crash Tests
for the 2000 Volvo S80.
I was Shocked that the 2000 Volvo S80 didn't do perfect in the IIHS
Front Offset Crash test, as you can see, the 2000 Volvo S80 did pretty
poorly in the Restraints/dummy kinematics category.
2000 Volvo S80 IIHS Crash Test
http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_ratings/ce/html/00007.htm

I found it almost mindboggling that Volvos Flagship Sedan(which I
previously thought to be the safest car of the 20th century)basically
got a D in the NCAP Front Offset Crash Test, but it got a B(85%)
overall because it got an A+ in the Side Impact NCAP Crash Test.
2000 Volvo S80 NCAP Crash TEST
http://www.euroncap.com/content/safety_ratings/details.php?id1=4&id2=55
Could it be true that a Volvo could produce a car that was so unsafe
in the front offset crash after all the money and research and hard
work they put into producing their flagship model?

I wish I could afford the 2001 Volvo S80 since that got 5 stars in the
NHTSA Front Offset Crash test, while the 2000 Volvo S80 was untested
for the Front Offset test, but unfortunately the 2001 S80 is out of my
price range.



One of 2 things have to be true, either the 1999/2000 Volvo S80 is a
VERY SAFE CAR and the NCAP are LYING and bias against Volvo, or
1999/2000 Volvo S80 is perhaps the most overrated car ever in safety.

There actually is some circumstancial evidence that the NCAP may
actually be bias agaisnt Volvo or something.
I mean look at how the 1998 Volvo S70 does excellent in the NHTSA
Front Offset Crash Test.
1998 Volvo S70 NHTSA Crash Test
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/NCAP/Cars/671.html

Shockingly the same car the 1998 Volvo S70 does HORRIBLE(an F)in the
NCAP Front Offset Crash Test.
1998 Volvo S70 NCAP Crash Test
http://www.euroncap.com/content/safety_ratings/details.php?id1=4&id2=54

After looking at all the results, 1 of 3 things must be true.
Either the NHTSA is bias in favor of Volvo, The NCAP is bias against
Volvo, or a North American 1998 Volvo S70 is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT
structurally than a 1998 European Volvo S70.





2003 Pontiac Vibe NHTSA Crash Test
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/NCAP/Cars/2150.html


2003 Toyota Matrix NHTSA Crash Test
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/NCAP/Cars/2149.html

2001 Honda Civic Coupe NHTSA Crash Test
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/NCAP/Cars/1689.html

1995-2000 Lexus LS400 IIHS Crash Test
http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_ratings/ce/html/96031.htm


2000 Lincoln Town Car NHTSA Crash Test
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/NCAP/Cars/1003.html

On Tue, 15 Jun 2004 07:03:49 +0100, David Taylor
<com> wrote:
 

LOL

It amuses me when people buy BMW's in the US. You can't drive a BMW
in America!

I owned one in Spain and drove it all over Europe. Now that is a good
place to drive a BMW.

Here, my '92 Corolla is just fine for those '20 mph' off ramp...LOL