Australia: Small cars high in safety stakes; Mirage least expensive for 5 stars

[MetroMPG]

Writer Stephen Williams has been watching the safety ratings of entry level cars for some time. It seemed cruel to him that the people who would be most likely to buy an inexpensive new car they could afford (young people with less driving skill/experience) would be stuck with less safety engineering.

When he first surveyed the market, it was grim: "in 2008, just one new car under $18,000 had a five-star safety rating."

Fortunately, over the years, that has changed dramatically for the better:

...I can reveal we're entirely spoilt for choice.


The number of safe cheapies has rocketed to 27 models and, with such jostling, prices have plummeted.

The latest cheap-yet-safe champ is the Mitsubishi Mirage, at $11,500 plus on-roads which, amazingly, is way less than its price 20 years ago.

Full article: http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/mot...safety-stakes/

[Ares]

:thumb:

[m4v3r1ck]

I always feel safe in a Mitsubishi, maybe because I started with Galant which has heavy metal body and long nose giving safe feeling.

The tiny list includes the Nissan Micra, Suzuki Alto and Holden Barina Spark (four stars) and Chery J1, Proton S16 and Geely MK (three stars).

With so many five-star alternatives costing not much more, why would you go there?

Uh ... and they say Micra is aiming to compete with Mirage in the US?? What a joke!

[jamiec]

Thanks Metro for finding the article.
One thing is the Suzuki Alto does have a 5 star safety rating not less as the article says.

[m4v3r1ck]

Thanks Metro for finding the article.
One thing is the Suzuki Alto does have a 5 star safety rating not less as the article says.

It kinda weird not to have one safety standard. European star can be different than US or Aussie (?).

[MetroMPG]

maverick - it also comes down to different safety equipment from country to country. EG. the Mirage comes standard with anywhere from 2 to 7 airbags, depending on country.

[Mistah JT]

It kinda weird not to have one safety standard. European star can be different than US or Aussie (?).

Mirage only gets 4 stars from euro ancap, but gets 5 stars from ancap in Australia