Safe cars to drive.....help

Mikeyalma

For insurance reasons watch is the safest car...golf...astra..focus

sawdoubters

I don't know what the astras like now

but the back used to slip out going around corners,the bigger the car the safer it is,they way people in Ireland drive is pretty poor

they come up behind you at rounderbout and try and over take you

also on side roads the pull out fast then slow to 20km

the worst is your driving along and someone is coming towards you trying to overtake another car,and the car has no power so they cant overtake,so they are driving on your side of the road,heres the enlish one its more lack of power than safety

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/picturegalleries/9426684/Ten-of-the-cheapest-cars-to-insure.html

Moonbeam

Use the insurance quote websites but cars like Almeras,Primeras,Corollas,Polos,Mondeos that are seen as "sensible cars" My insurance on nearly all cars is the same but jumps for anything that is seen as a "boy racer type car"

fleet

Depends on 3rd party or Fully Comprehensive.

3rd party is always going to be cheap in a small light car - that way your car is crushed and the 3rd party is safe (lower payout).

Fully comprehensive "should" be lowest on the safest cars, but there are other factors such as boy racer cars which will warp this.

visual

Safest cars are big cars with big engines and insurance companies like little tin boxes with underpowered engines that are a liability.

So is your question what is a safe car that the insurance company won't penalise you on ?

corsav6

Sensible mid range cars are generally reasonable to insure. Astra, golf, focus and similar would be fairly safe but would still need to be well maintained and have decent tyres.
Avoid super minis, cheaper insurance isn't worth lives.

colm_mcm

corsav6 wrote: »

Avoid super minis, cheaper insurance isn't worth lives.

I shouldn't bite, but... Can you tell us more about this?

Sobanek

Try Volvo... you could be surprised with your insurance quote.

Mikeyalma

So the bigger the better is what your saying I am a first time driver so I am trying pick a car that is safe for insurance aswell

ironclaw

sawdoubters wrote: »

the bigger the car the safer it

Absolute nonsense.

http://www.euroncap.com/tests/land_rover_freelander_2002/142.aspx

http://www.euroncap.com/tests/toyota_yaris_2000/74.aspx

The Freelander is a much larger car, 700kg heavier and has a worse NCAP rating to a far smaller, far lighter Yaris. Top Gear even had a segment on this. There are numerous examples of this. There is no such thing as a 'safe' car in my opinion. Kinetics and mechanics will level the playing field pretty quick at any sort of speed. I'd rather be in the Yaris in this case, and unfortunately I've had that experience first hand. Not driving but everyone walked away.

There are 'cheaper' cars to insure of course but thats not down to the safety rating, thats pure statistics and probability. There was a time when (And could still be the case) when certain colour cars were loaded for being statistically more likely to be involved in a crash e.g. Dark Green.

Rasmus

Mikeyalma wrote: »

So the bigger the better is what your saying I am a first time driver so I am trying pick a car that is safe for insurance aswell

Test drive some small to mid size from the Volkwagon group.

corsav6

colm_mcm wrote: »

I shouldn't bite, but... Can you tell us more about this?

Well I have seen a few cars involved in accidents as I have a friend working in a panel beaters and another friend who is an insurance assessor who buys damaged cars and the majority of smaller cars, corsa, yaris fair out worse when compared to bigger cars like the golf or the astra. The vectra or passat would be a better choice or a Volvo. As another poster mentioned a yaris can be safer than a freelander, so do your research and newer cars will be far safer the anything over 10 years old.
I personally would rather be in a passat or similar if involved in a crash with a yaris or similar.

MuppetCheck

Volkswagen group tend to be a bit miserable spec wise in terms of convenience features but they are usually pretty generous in terms of safety equipment, certainly around 10 years ago although much of it is now standard across the board.

Euro NCAP results can be a good indicator as these take all this into account.

galwaytt

corsav6 wrote: »

Well I have seen a few cars involved in accidents as I have a friend working in a panel beaters and another friend who is an insurance assessor who buys damaged cars and the majority of smaller cars, corsa, yaris fair out worse when compared to bigger cars like the golf or the astra. The vectra or passat would be a better choice or a Volvo. As another poster mentioned a yaris can be safer than a freelander, so do your research and newer cars will be far safer the anything over 10 years old.
I personally would rather be in a passat or similar if involved in a crash with a yaris or similar.

...that depends on your definition of 'worse'. Worse for whom. Or for what. The driver ? The car ?

A car that may receive more damage, but allows it's occupants a better chance of survival is the better car. So your panel beater friend would say this car is 'worse'. The ambulance called out to help you would call it the 'best'. Which outcome would you prefer ?

Frankly, the notion of 'worse' is actually quite useless.

BrianD3

ironclaw wrote: »

Absolute nonsense.

http://www.euroncap.com/tests/land_rover_freelander_2002/142.aspx

http://www.euroncap.com/tests/toyota_yaris_2000/74.aspx

The Freelander is a much larger car, 700kg heavier and has a worse NCAP rating to a far smaller, far lighter Yaris. Top Gear even had a segment on this. There are numerous examples of this. There is no such thing as a 'safe' car in my opinion. Kinetics and mechanics will level the playing field pretty quick at any sort of speed. I'd rather be in the Yaris in this case, and unfortunately I've had that experience first hand. Not driving but everyone walked away.

The frontal impact results for cars with very different kerb weights shouldn't be compared though, EuroNCAP state this clearly. The Freelander might be less safe than the Yaris in a crash with a solid object. However in a crash between a Yaris and Freelander or in any 2 car crash, the Freelander could be safer due to its greater weight, size and height.

The EuroNCAP side impact results for different weight cars can be compared however.

keithclancy

Mikeyalma wrote: »

For insurance reasons watch is the safest car...golf...astra..focus

None ... the Irish Insurance industry is a mickey mouse setup.

Don't understand why they don't just have insurance groups like in the UK so everything is up front.

http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/insurance/car-insurance-groups/

H3llR4iser

keithclancy wrote: »

None ... the Irish Insurance industry is a mickey mouse setup.

Don't understand why they don't just have insurance groups like in the UK so everything is up front.

http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/insurance/car-insurance-groups/

Seconded. Paid a small fortune on the old Megane because the insurances called it, and I quote, a "high performance version". All because Renault did the inexplicable thing to alter the name of the car for the Irish market: it was known as "Dynamique" in France and UK, here it was "Coupe' Super Sport 16v". And it was, of course, a 1.4...

corsav6

galwaytt wrote: »

...that depends on your definition of 'worse'. Worse for whom. Or for what. The driver ? The car ?

A car that may receive more damage, but allows it's occupants a better chance of survival is the better car. So your panel beater friend would say this car is 'worse'. The ambulance called out to help you would call it the 'best'. Which outcome would you prefer ?

Frankly, the notion of 'worse' is actually quite useless.

A bigger car will have more crumple zone, probably have more airbags throughout and more space inside, so in most accident's the occupants in the bigger car will be safer.
Anyway its getting off topic and pointless now, as someone else posted insurance companies in Ireland don't really give an indication as to which cars would be cheaper to insure, its hit and miss so just avoid performance cars and stick to sensible family cars and you you have a better chance of getting a reasonable quote.

galwaytt

corsav6 wrote: »

A bigger car will have more crumple zone, probably have more airbags throughout and more space inside, so in most accident's the occupants in the bigger car will be safer.
Anyway its getting off topic and pointless now, as someone else posted insurance companies in Ireland don't really give an indication as to which cars would be cheaper to insure, its hit and miss so just avoid performance cars and stick to sensible family cars and you you have a better chance of getting a reasonable quote.

Sorry, not so. Bigger car does not have more crumple zones, not necessarily more airbags and there is no evidence to support bigger cars are safer.

For instance both the Renault Zoe and the Lexus IS300h are both 5-star rated by EuroNCAP.

And bear in mind the used car market differs again.

corsav6

galwaytt wrote: »

Sorry, not so. Bigger car does not have more crumple zones, not necessarily more airbags and there is no evidence to support bigger cars are safer.

For instance both the Renault Zoe and the Lexus IS300h are both 5-star rated by EuroNCAP.

And bear in mind the used car market differs again.

Fair enough, although I though the ncap rating was for which class the car was in and not in general.
I still maintain the larger car offers more protection in an impact.

Sobanek

Look up Smart vs Mercedes S-Class crash test. Both have 5* NCAP rating
It's simple physics - Force = Mass x Acceleration.

Obviously crumple zones and strong constructions have helped smaller cars, but still if there was to be a Polo vs Passat crash at 70 kph, I'd rather be in a Passat.

mackeire

sawdoubters wrote: »

I don't know what the astras like now

but the back used to slip out going around corners,the bigger the car the safer it is,they way people in Ireland drive is pretty poor
they come up behind you at rounderbout and try and over take you

also on side roads the pull out fast then slow to 20km

the worst is your driving along and someone is coming towards you trying to overtake another car,and the car has no power so they cant overtake,so they are driving on your side of the road,heres the enlish one its more lack of power than safety

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/picturegalleries/9426684/Ten-of-the-cheapest-cars-to-insure.html

I dont know if this post is meant to be serious or is taking the piss but I'd completely ignore it.

Mycroft H

H3llR4iser wrote: »

Seconded. Paid a small fortune on the old Megane because the insurances called it, and I quote, a "high performance version". All because Renault did the inexplicable thing to alter the name of the car for the Irish market: it was known as "Dynamique" in France and UK, here it was "Coupe' Super Sport 16v". And it was, of course, a 1.4...

Back in the day, the aul fella tried to insure an Alhambra off Quinn Direct. The loaded it as it was "Turbocharged". Yes, this was the 90bhp TDi.