In many threads in this forum people discuss possible choices for a fun second car. A Honda Civic has been mentioned, while I also think a JCW Mini would be a blast, not to mention a Mazdaspeed 3 or 1 Series. The point is, there are a lot of fun small cars around, but living in NM where we have a serious problem with drunk driving, combined with a high proportion of giant SUVs and pickups on the road, I don't think I'm willing to take the risk. Is this excessively neurotic or simply sound judgment?
My current DD is a 2009 528i, over-optioned by the person who ordered the car with Active steering, manual, ARS, Nasca leather, Sport Package.... and while it's a really nice drive, it's not as tossable as a small car would be.

 

it isn't sound judgement
I don't think there is any fact behind small cars = less safe
your airbags will deploy the same way whether it is big or not and the intensity of the crash is the same

if you weren't going to survive it in a small car, then you probably wouldn't have survived it in a big car either I think assuming the safety ratings are the same on both cars...

I had a mini and I slipped on black ice into a median head on on the highway.. the front was crushed smaller (if that is possible) and not a scratch
they are safe cars.. otherwise, I don't think dealerships could sell them

 

Saw a wreck between a 3/4 ton truck and a MINI Cooper - the truck got the worst of it. They are safe little cars.

 

My wife and daughter both drive Mini Cooper Ss. Fun to drive, but the worst torque steer that I have ever experienced. I don't think you will find it as tossable as you think. There is something to be said for RWD or AWD in a high(er) powered car.

 

VW Golf (or Jetta until 2010) built like a tank (3000+lb); fun too.

 

I agree with everyone else, small car doesn't mean it's less safe. MSN had an article some time ago on crash test, and SUV had it the worst. The GMC Envoy, the Chevy trailblazer, and all other SUV's with that platform, had a high fatality rate when crashed at 40mph or higher. My wife drove the Envoy at that time and we went straight to the dealership and trade it in for an Acura MDX. I also drive a MB SLK, tiny hardtop convertible and I've seen plenty of horrific accidents in that car and the drivers only came out with minor scratches.

 

Wow. Unanimous so far. I thought for sure someone would chime in about the physics of large vs small.
In crash tests, I believe cars are only compared to others in their size and weight class, aren't they?

 

I wouldn't go too small...Mercedes C class vs. Smartcar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4k0FWvGoSM

Ouch!!

 

I don't think any of those other options are more fun to drive than your 911. I think the 5er and your 911 is a perfect combo.

 

The industry std crash tests are the same for all size cars - direct front crash, and offset crash.

 

Not that I ever worried about it excessively, driving cars like the MG and the Honda Civic at various times, but a small car is not as safe as a big one given the driver has an equal talent for avoiding the crash in the first place. The statistics are rarely mentioned because the same people who moan about "speed kills" are those who want to outlaw large vehicles at least (if they can't push us onto buses and assorted public carriers of used gum). They just hate it when anyone publishes the benefit of buying an SUV for your family instead of a small car.

The exact numbers escape me and I don't feel like a research effort, but the driver and pax in a small economy car like a Civic are something like half again as likely to suffer serious injury or death by comparison to those in a medium-weight SUV of perhaps 4000 lbs. The reason is exactly what you said: the physics of large vs small. A substantial number of collisions are single-vehicle, that much is true, but all those vehicle-to-vehicle collisions make the difference. I have personally been on the scene of several such accidents and it's quite usual to see the driver of the big vehicle distraught as paramedics bandage some minor cuts. It upsets them terribly to see they have just made jam of the other driver, but I'd rather have an upset family than a dead one.

You definitely want to be in the SUV if a GMC Suburban and a Honda Civic meet at an intersection. Surely that is intuitive, but I hope so because I got bored with the argument as a sophomore around 1965 and resolved never again to walk anyone through the equations.

All that notwithstanding, I bought my wife an MG too as our second car back in the seventies when almost everything on California freeways weighed twice as much. I just took her to a few autocrosses to learn how it would handle when she needed the reflexes. Avoidance is your safety in small cars.

Gary, who always relied on avoiding the collision
because he knew quite well who would win if
his MG ran into anything else on the road
except perhaps an Isetta Bubble car

 

1) I don't feel its the size of the car thst determines safety but rather how it is built and stacks up on crash tests .

2) The bigger problem that you seem to face is that you live amongst a large group of giant SUVS and pickup trucks . With large vehicles .. they don't just dent whatever they hit.. they cream it.

 

To me it is a valid concern when the safety of my family and mine are in priority.

Following is a video of crash test -- Toyota Camry vs Toyata Yaris.

Both cars are from the same company, and from the crash video I know I would rather be in the bigger Camry than the smaller Yaris.

Regards,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHiYSAenanM

 

The 5er is a great DD but I find myself wanting the power of the 550 or M. I'm not willing to sacrifice the mileage of a 528, however.

 

Gary is right: weight matters as does velocity or acceleration (or deceleration as it may be). Newton's 2nd law. Velocity can't be overlooked - a small car moving with sufficient velocity can have the same momentum and require the same stopping force as a truck moving slowly, without taking friction into account. And friction can't be overlooked either.

Still that doesn't solve the problem of fun to drive. I'm thinking like, isn't the 911 fun to drive? You have the 528, so you want two small fun cars to drive? Seems redundant. Keep the 5er - not terrible to drive, very practical, and a little more mass that the 911. Seems perfect. Or get an SUV if you need to haul stuff and don't have fold down rear seats in the 5er.