I reserved a Smart ForTwo Passion Coupe. Then this past weekend, I discovered the Kia Sedona minivan has Electronic Stability Control, one of the features I really appreciate in the Smart. My lowly Festivas, those extremely cute and unsafe little boxes, were re-badged Kias. Due to my love of Festivas, I still feel a vague allegiance to the Kia brand, even though they've been acquired by Hyundai.
It's so exciting that the Kia Sedona won a Top Safety Pick award from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, as well as the top National Institute for Highway Safety rating. Kia, you've come a long way baby. All the way from the Kia Pride/Ford Festiva, a dangerous little box with no airbags, to a super-safe van chock full of airbags, tire pressure regulators, traction control, stability control and all other kinds of safety goodies.
Now I wonder if perhaps I should stop in at the Kia dealership and take the Sedona for a test drive. The laws of physics dictate that the larger mass of the Sedona will translate to greater protection than the tiny Smart shell in the event of a collision. Of course, the Kia Sedona's larger payment combined with a thirsty V6 that will drink twice the amount of gas translates to an extra $250 or so per month. Safety does not come cheap. Yet finally a few of the features that make Volvos, BMWs and other cars for rich people safe are reachable for regular people like me. In that respect, the Kia Sedona truly represents a revolution. To me, it's a step towards the realization of Ralph Nadir's dream of a safe car for everyone.
So my question for you, dear reader, is which new vehicle should I pick? The Smart and the Sedona have identical wonderful safety features. The variables are only cost and size. What do you think?
Posts
The Van, hands down.
ReplyDeleteThat car you chose is small. You can try to put as many 'safety' features in it as you want, unless it's a steel-cage within a steel-cage with tires you're no match for an SUV. The fan is much bigger and safer. I would love for those safety tests to include rating against other vehicle classes; I think that would open a few eyes.
Besides... you'd love a van companion to the monster van. ;)
Dan
The Smart, not the Van!
ReplyDeleteSafety is measured wrong: it's measured by what happens after a vehicle is in an accident, which causes manufacturers to skip accident avoidance in their design. While the van may be safer after it rolls over or hits a bridge trestle or something, the Smart is less likely to experience either one of those by a large degree in the first place. Big cars are less capable of accident avoidance than cars like the Smart. Studies have also shown that safety after impact is less important than avoiding hazards in the first place, but statistics don't measure this.
Excellent advice - both opinions have merit. I've experienced the benefit of accident avoidance first hand with my Del Sol. Several times the firm handling allowed me to zip around someone merging into my lane without checking their mirrors. My large van can't move nimbly - it requires quite a bit of time to execute a lane change or to slow down. Of course, anyone who changes lanes into it will end up looking like a mosquito on my windshield. So it has its benefits as well . . .
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