[Housewife]

A study has just been completed to show the worst and the safest cars on the roads. Young people tend to buy cars that are not as safe - are older and smaller than average - making them more prone to injury in a car crash.

Complete list is here of the good and the bad:

http://media01.couriermail.com.au/multimedia/2009/12/091209_guide/guide.pdf

Best Small Cars:

Chrysler Neon, 96-99
Ford Focus LS/LT, 05-07
Mazda MX5/Eunos Roadster, 98-05
Peugeot 307, 01-07
Volkswagen Golf/Jetta, 04-07

[davy]

There is an article about young drivers having unsafe cars in the Courier but what concerns me are the numbers being killed on Queensland roads.

YOUNG people gravitate towards the most unsafe vehicles on the roads - and it is a choice that is killing them, according to new research. Last year, 181 young people were killed on the roads, 73 in Queensland.

Isn't this a rather high number? I mean almost half of the young drivers died on Queensland roads?

[Cliff]

There is an article about young drivers having unsafe cars in the Courier but what concerns me are the numbers being killed on Queensland roads.

Isn't this a rather high number? I mean almost half of the young drivers died on Queensland roads?

Many young drivers can't afford the safer cars as they are newer. There's also lack of maintenance issue; many young drivers don't/ can't afford to maintain their cars properly, their brakes are dodgy, suspension is gone etc. There is also the question of the price of insurance that younger drivers have to pay.

[quincy]

... and here are the poor small cars, to be avoided if you can help it:

Hyundai Excel 90-94
Hyundai Excel/Accent 95-00
Mitsubishi Lancer/Mirage CB 91-92
Nissan NX/NX-R 91-96
Subaru Impreza 93-00

[dusty]

The Ford Focus is a good car - but maybe too expensive for those looking for their fist car.

[PamInPerth]

Interesting guide for anyone looking to buy a car. Safety is very important to me.

[chestnut]

You can use this website http://www.howsafeisyourcar.com.au/ to check out how safe your car is.

[Sam66]

Motorpoint also have a section of their website coering car safety: http://www.motorpoint.com.au/safest-car.asp

"Small Cars
Small cars that rank high on the top 25 safety car list include the Volkswagen golf and Honda Civic which received the top honors. Another safe car in this category includes the Volkswagen Jetta.

Midsize Cars
Volkswagen also took the top prize in the midsize category with the Volkswagen Passat GLX 6.0. The Nissan Altima and Subaru Legacy also ranked high in the mid size family sedan category."

[FamousFive]

When you look at safety tests, I've seen car makers allowed to resubmit vehicles because the vehicle tested did not meet expectations. In other words, the results from "faulty" cars weren't published. But what percentage of cars are "faulty" and so would perform worse in tests than the one the manufacturer is happy with? One number that can't be faked is the fatality rate from actual road accidents. Another good idea is to look at performance in real accidents.

You can see the stats for these here: http://www.folksam.se/polopoly_fs/1.11226!/sakrabilar2005.pdf

and

here: http://www.iihs.org/news/2005/iihs_sr_031505.pdf

Lowest fatalties (1999 - 2002) for people buying older cars are for the following models:

Mercedes E class luxury car large
Toyota 4Runner 4WD SUV midsize
Volkswagen Passat 4dr car midsize
Lexus RX 300 4WD SUV midsize
Toyota RAV4 4WD SUV small
Honda Odyssey minivan large
Mercury Villager minivan large
Mercedes S class luxury car very large
Nissan Pathfinder 4WD SUV midsize
Cadillac DeVille luxury car large
Nissan Quest minivan large
Toyota Camry Solara 2dr car midsize
Cadillac Eldorado luxury car large