NPR Cartalk - Suziki Swift deathtrap

[MazdaMatt]

You musta mis-read my post. I said I catch them in the corners... once we reach a straight, i don't see them again till the next time they lap me! I have about 1/3 the power/wt ratio of a Z06. Most likely this is a case of old farts buying muscle cars to feel young again and not having the jubblies to brake late and throw their brand new $60k car into a corner with some gusto. I never said I was faster than a Z06, just that i have always caught every corvette i've ever tracked with in the corners. (btw, i don't race roundy-rounds, I stick to real race tracks with turns that go both ways, sometimes in second gear after a long straight)

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by MazdaMatt

...just that i have always caught every corvette i've ever tracked with in the corners.

Same with me in the Insight, and the CRX before it, and most of the cars I've owned back to my Austin-Healey Sprite. Faster through the curves than most, but when I come to a long straight (especially a long, straight divided highway) they go roaring away while I'm content to cruise around the limit or average traffic speed. I've always wondered about that: where's the fun/skill to going fast in a straight line? All it takes is a big engine.

[ALS]

If you look at that list the bottom three out of four vehicles listed are very popular with kids 16-21 years of age.
Chevrolet Cavalier
Dodge Neon
Pontiac Sunfire
These cars are driven by people that think they're Tony Stewart behind the wheel.
I wonder how many of these cars that were involved in fatal accidents where alcohol and high speeds were a factor.

Comparing a Volvo to a Corvette is like comparing apples to oranges.
I own Volvo's and yes I drive then for their safety features and their longevity.
My daily driver a 87 740 wagon (362K miles) is no where close to today's vehicles in safety features. Is it a safe vehicle in some ways yes in others it is sub-par. No ABS, No airbags but it does have great designed crumple zones and a pretty good safety cage for it's time. My 97 960 has all the modern features including side airbags and side a impact deflection system in the seat. The seats are designed to move inward toward the center if the vehicle is impacted at the door. Those six inches of movement could make a big difference in whether you get minor or serious injuries during a side impact.

I had a discussion with a female service writer at my dealer one day.
I was shooting the breeze with another service writer when she popped up and said she would rather be in an old 240 than a new 2007 XC70 that was sitting in front of her. Well the other service writer and I just looked at each other and rolled our eyes. She still was living in the past when she said the old 240's were built like tanks. Yes, they were one of the safest cars on the road 15 to 20 years ago.
I pointed out how much more safer that new XC70 was over the old 240's.
Better brakes, better handling, better crush zones, better safety cage, and the front and side air bags. Most of those old 240's never even had front airbags prior to about 1990.

The cars of 2008 are so much safer than cars built just 10 years ago.
Are there exceptions to that rule sure there are. Is my 960 safer than say a 2008 Civic, Focus, Cobalt or a Neon? Yes it is. Is it "safer" than an Chevrolet Impala, Buick Lucerne or a Cadillac CTS? I would say no. It may have been one of the safest cars in 1997 it isn't one of the safest cars on the road in 2008.

[SuperTrooper]

It comes down to balancing our personal requirements of safety vs economy or performance. The problem often is the "other" guy, who's drunk or distracted or had a bad day at work. I have confidence in my own abilities and abolutely none in anybody else on the road. They do things you don't expect and have time to react to. I gave up street riding on my Yamaha after burying 3 riding buddies in a 2 year period. The last one missed me literally by inches. They all got hit in situations that left them no escape time/options by people not paying attention. When the other guy screws up I want a vehicle that gives me a fighting chance of surviving his stupidity if I can't get out of the way in time.

[me and my metro]

I took a defensive driving course in May, the instructor said " the guy with the most lug nuts wins " You can steer around most trouble, the ditch can be safer.

[dremd]

there are 2 ways to look at auto saftey.

1) The way I used to look at it. Ahh What ever.

2) WOW there are HUGE differences from vehicle to vehicle and there is virtually no way to tell except to look at crash data.

TopGear did a safety segment a while back Starts around 3:42

YouTube - Top Gear - Safety Edition

Those are all new cars. There is a significant difference and those cars all have decent safety ratings.

5th gear did an AMAZING piece that changed my mind

YouTube - Fifth Gear Crash-test Volvo 940 estate vs Renault Modus

Volvo Wagon Vs Very Small car!

[slurp812]

Originally Posted by i_am_socket

I like watching the head-on crash test videos (it's entertaining, admit it), but I can't put much stock in their value. For anyone who has ever been in an accident, was it ever crashing into a brick/concrete wall head-on at 35 mph with no braking? The accidents I've been in: 2 side collisions to front quarter panel < 25 mph & 2 rear endings < 20 mph; nothing that involved immovable objects.

The offset and any vehicle-vehicle crash test is far more useful in determining vehicle crash performance to me. Unless a vehicle is prone to exploding in a slight breeze or is full of running chainsaws, I'd refrain from calling it a death-trap.

I believe the car never killed anyone, its the idiots behind the wheel that make them dangerous.

[Krieg]

Regarding the OP's question...

There are crash test videos for the Swift/ Metro on youtube. Take a look. There are also crash test videos of the Aveo on youtube as well.

The biggest difference I see is that the Swift roof buckles in the frontal crash test, and the Aveo does not. That is what 10 years of engineering development and 500 lbs of additional metal do for you.

There is no question that an Aveo is safer than a Swift/ Metro. But is the Swift a "deathtrap"? That's a pretty strong description.

[akcapeco]

Actually, most of the Aveo crash video's show precisely the buckling you mention, here is just one example:

Youtube Aveo Crash Test

[Krieg]

Yikes! Yeah, they got some buckling there!!!

I was looking at the full frontal crash test videos, where the Metro had some bucking and the Aveo had absolutely nothing. The front end just accordions in such a way that the passenger compartment appears to be under no stress whatsoever.

Your video is of the offset test. I believe that one is done by the IIHS and may have not been around in the early ninetees.