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IIHS Crash Tests Five Budget Coupes: Ford, Volvo Earn Top Safety Picks
IIHS: PT Cruiser Most Dangerous New Small Car In America
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Ford Summons Black Magic for Focus CC, Gains +6 XP
Frankfurt Auto Show: Euro Ford Focus Is Cooler Than Us, Probably Gets All The Chicks Too

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bmoreDLJ
09/08/09

In reply to IIHS Crash Tests Five Budget Coupes: Ford, Volvo Earn Top Safety Picks
Aha...proof that even though the US Focus looks like a Chinese car, it crashes much better than one!
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Hate Personified
07/21/09

In reply to IIHS Crash Tests Five Budget Coupes: Ford, Volvo Earn Top Safety Picks
Doesn't matter, the C30 is now known as 'That car that was in Twilight'.

Therefore it is automatically ruined forever.
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monsterajr
07/21/09

In reply to IIHS Crash Tests Five Budget Coupes: Ford, Volvo Earn Top Safety Picks
please keep "testing" the current gen focus til there are none left and we only have the Euro ones. I love my first gen focus and think the current is an abomination. Am anxiously waiting to comparo shop the MiTo / Cinquecento /
Fiesta when they hits these shores.
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Al Navarro promoted this comment Edited by monsterajr at 07/21/09 11:37 AM monsterajr was starred monsterajr was unstarred

My X-type is too a real Jaguar
07/21/09

In reply to IIHS Crash Tests Five Budget Coupes: Ford, Volvo Earn Top Safety Picks
It is interesting to see that the side curtain airbags deploy in a frontal crash. We are getting closer to the Demolition Man foam system everyday.
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junkyardninja
07/21/09

In reply to IIHS Crash Tests Five Budget Coupes: Ford, Volvo Earn Top Safety Picks
The key with safety ratings is that they only rank them against other cars in their "class." An acceptable rating on an economy car is different than an acceptable rating on a full size sedan like a Taurus or Camry. It would be nice if it was an absolute scale, but it's not.
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GreenN_Gold
07/21/09

@junkyardninja: If they are scored relative only to each other and not an absolute scale, than how, for example, can all but one receive the top rating in frontal offset? I believe the ratings have to do with likelihood of severe injury and such, but I could be mistaken.
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Maymar is breaking in the commenting system like a new pair of socks promoted this comment GreenN_Gold was starred GreenN_Gold was unstarred

Maymar
07/21/09

@GreenN_Gold: Physics, unfortuantly. In a collision, the kinetic energy of all involved objects is distributed equally. As that energy is related to both velocity and mass, a larger vehicle will have more energy (causing more damage to the smaller vehicle). An unmoving barrier, however, lacks kinetic energy so the car involved is only being damaged by its own energy. Generally, the fine print on crash testing suggests you can compare scores for vehicles within about 200lbs of each other.

*Maymar is reciting information from high school physics, diluted by 5 or 6 years. All information expressed in the previous comment may only be partially accurate.
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Flathead Smith
07/21/09

In reply to IIHS Crash Tests Five Budget Coupes: Ford, Volvo Earn Top Safety Picks
Every other time I see Volvo ads, it seems like the cars are either being driven off embankments and smashing to smithereens below or getting T-boned by some weird truck on rails. I prefer cars that are able to avoid these types of accidents and are able to travel the roads unmolested.
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CptSevere
07/21/09

In reply to IIHS Crash Tests Five Budget Coupes: Ford, Volvo Earn Top Safety Picks
I'd like to see these tests duplicated using a real Suburban or F250, with crash test dummies in the trucks as well. Throw in a gnarly brushgard with a Warn winch mounted on it just for fun. I bet the crash test dummies in the trucks don't even spill their beers. But seriously, I think the nifty mag wheels on the pictured weight cart add a touch of class to this carnage.
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HammSammich
07/21/09

In reply to IIHS Crash Tests Five Budget Coupes: Ford, Volvo Earn Top Safety Picks
"Economy-Sized" is the key. The C30 is far from an economy car. The kid in me loves the P1800ES inspired looks, but the grown up in me is a cheap bastard who can't contemplate spending thousands more (if any options boxes are checked) than a Mazdaspeed3 on its lesser performing, albeit better looking, platform mate.
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acarr260 promoted this comment Edited by HammSammich at 07/21/09 10:24 AM HammSammich was starred HammSammich was unstarred

d3c509b aka Steve
07/21/09

@HammSammich: as a c30 owner, yes.

for me it seems the kid in me won.
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area_educator
07/21/09

@d3c509b aka Steve: Same here. Picked up my C30 yesterday. I did, however, go with no options at all, except cruise control.
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Al Navarro
07/21/09

@area_educator kids...:
I loved this car when it came out and they showed press pix of the pimped version...but I saw one the other day that had me thinking "meh"...bad wheels and dark fascia made it look very awkward. Like a Chery copy of a C30.
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area_educator
07/21/09

@Al Navarro: Yeah... the R-design looks better than the regular, and grey with contrasting fascia looks better than black. Mine's all black, and it does look more akward than the r-design or a grey one. But, I still think it's quite attractive.
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Maymar
07/21/09

In reply to IIHS Crash Tests Five Budget Coupes: Ford, Volvo Earn Top Safety Picks
Sure, but they forgot the most important test on the last three - how safe it is bombing around in 3rd gear, seat reclined 45 degrees, and with about 300lbs of half-assedly anchored audio equipment in the trunk.

As for the Volvo, does it spill your latte when that parked car jumps out and hits you?
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skitter
07/21/09

@Maymar is breaking in the commenting system...: I was just looking through SAE unbelted crash test standards, and every conceivable embrace of the dashboard was depicted, but now that you mention it, I don't recall seeing any reclined seats.
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goatrope
07/21/09

In reply to IIHS Crash Tests Five Budget Coupes: Ford, Volvo Earn Top Safety Picks
Since when does a $25K Volvo qualify as a "Budget" Coupe?

Nobody has ever cross-shopped a Chevy Cobalt with a Volvo C30. The Mazda3 should have replaced the Volvo in this test.
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Deartháir II
07/21/09

@goatrope: They were just trying to include at least ONE car that someone might actually want to own.
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Syrax
07/21/09

@goatrope: It's all about perspective. Next to the $400k Bentley Brooklands, the $25k C30 is a budget coupe.
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MushyHeirloom
07/21/09

@goatrope: The Mazda3 is four-door only. I agree, though; it's ridiculous from a pricing point of view. The C30 shares its C1 platform with the proper (Euro) Focus/C-Max/Kuga, the Mazda3/5, and the S40/V50, so it's not quite as ridiculous as it sounds.

They still would've been better off throwing in a three-door Rabbit.
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rkwadd
07/21/09

@goatrope: The C30 base price is 35% higher than the next cheapest car (the Scion). I don't think it's appropriate for Jalopnik to constantly bemoan the lack of high quality small European cars in the U.S. but turn around and reinforce the American stereotype that being small makes the car a cheaply made shitbox for teenagers.
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Deartháir II
07/21/09

@rkwadd: That comment deserves COTD sheerly for its awesome truthiness and wisdom.
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area_educator
07/21/09

@Syrax: It is a matter of perspective, yes. The C30 is less than a Hyundai Genesis Coupe, IIRC. And I'm pretty sure it's at least noticably more powerful than any of the cars it was tested with here.

Someone else mentioned the 2-door Golf (rabbit, whatever they call it today), and that's fair. But the GTI is the one with power to rival the C30, and the price to rival it as well.
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Syrax
07/21/09

In reply to IIHS Crash Tests Five Budget Coupes: Ford, Volvo Earn Top Safety Picks
See, size doesn't matter!

That's NOT what she said.

/subversive meme
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MushyHeirloom
07/21/09

@Syrax: "It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog."
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Syrax
07/21/09

@FP - missing Pete and the SHOwagon: Now there's a dog involved? Sicko!
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MushyHeirloom
07/21/09

@Syrax: I just got home from Scotland... be glad it wasn't a sheep!
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pauljones
07/21/09

@Syrax: I would have been your daddy, but the dog beat me over the fence!
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MushyHeirloom
07/21/09

In reply to IIHS Crash Tests Five Budget Coupes: Ford, Volvo Earn Top Safety Picks
The frontal test of the Cobalt looks a lot like that of the Cavalier it replaced... but the dummy's head went out the Cavalier's window, whipped back, and clocked the B-pillar, earning it a "Marginal" rating.
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tempesjo
07/21/09

@FP - missing Pete and the SHOwagon: Wow. If that's marginal, what would earn a "Poor" rating? Or is "Poor" just code for "Chinese?" Either way, I think I'd choose the Poor car over the Marginal one, and hope for an even quicker death.
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Maymar
07/21/09

@tempesjo: Well, if you're in a crash in a Cavalier, you'll probably be dead, and no longer have to drive a Cavalier. That's probably how it got marginal instead of Chinese deathtrap poor.
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MushyHeirloom
07/21/09

@tempesjo: Well, half of your body is well-protected by a Cavalier... just not, you know, your head.

I'd forgotten that the head bounced off the door sill first! Exciting!

http://nz.video.yahoo.com/watch/2898558/8313775
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Edited by MushyHeirloom at 07/21/09 11:54 AM MushyHeirloom was starred MushyHeirloom was unstarred

tempesjo
07/21/09

@FP - missing Pete and the SHOwagon: My God. I just watched that video. I laughed when I saw all the parts of the car the head hit, and then instantly felt bad because people have died that way. But then I saw the second version, which was a closer shot, and I laughed again.
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tempesjo
07/21/09

@Maymar is breaking in the commenting system...: I'd like the IIHS to take this even one step further, and refuse to test certain cars. "IIHS will not be crash testing the Cavalier, because if you buy this car you probably deserve whatever happens to you in it."
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layabout
12/18/08

In reply to IIHS: PT Cruiser Most Dangerous New Small Car In America
How the fuck can anyone class this as a small car?
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brandegee
12/18/08

In reply to IIHS: PT Cruiser Most Dangerous New Small Car In America
The worse thing about these IIHS tests is that any sort of "Poor" rating instantly labels the car dangerous. The PT Cruiser is not dangerous, it's just an ugly, slow, poor-handling, low-technology car. It's less dangerous than that SWB Jeep Wrangler that passed you at 85 mph.

Does GM still make the Safari/Astro? Because that sucker got an abysmal frontal crash rating. Almost as bad as the Toyota Previa, which was a veritable death trap in a frontal accident (that's a big reason why the Sienna was born). And nobody ever called the Previa the most dangerous car in America.
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madanthony
12/17/08

In reply to IIHS: PT Cruiser Most Dangerous New Small Car In America
Having owned a 2002 PT Cruiser, I can say it was a quite safe car, mostly because it spent so much time in the shop that it kept me from driving it and having an accident.

In the 5 years I owned it (during which I only put ~45k miles on it), I had the sensor that makes the check engine light work fail, the entire gauge cluster stop working, the transmission controller fail, and the air bag light would come on every time it rained.
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MushyHeirloom
12/17/08

@madanthony: I thought my friend's Neon, with its periodically-failing speedometer, was bad.
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