What's the safest vehicle I can buy and insure?
What's the safest vehicle I can buy?
Upscale and large sedans. The Lexus ES300, the Audi A4 and the BMW 330i topped the charts. The Buick LeSabre Limited and Chrysler 300M came in at the bottom of 14 vehicles tested in this category.
Family sedans. The Volkswagen Passat GLX (V6) came in at number one, with the Toyota Camry XLE (V6) close behind. The four-cylinder Passat GLS, the Nissan Altima 3.5 SE and the Subaru Legacy also did well in this category. Safety dogs were the Pontiac Grand Prix GT, the Oldsmobile Alero and the Pontiac Grand Am.
Small cars. Volkswagen also took top honors in the battle of the bantamweights. The VW Golf TDI came in at No.1. Close behind was the Honda Civic EX and the Volkswagen Jetta GLS TDI. Trailing in this category were the Hyundai Elantra GLS and the Chevrolet Cavalier LS.
Pickup trucks. In the full-sized pickup category, pole position went to the Toyota Tundra SR5 4.7, the Dodge Ram SLT 4.7 and the Ford F.150 XLT 5.4. Taking the top honors in the compact crew-cab pickups were the Toyota Tacoma TRD (V6) and the Nissan Frontier (V6). Rated as poor were the Dodge Dakota SLT, the Chevrolet S-10 L5 (V6) and the GMC Sonoma 5LS (V6). "Pickups generally don't do well in these assessments," says Champion. "They usually don't protect the driver in crashes and some of them have poor brakes and sloppy handling."
Sport utility vehicles and minivans. In the small-sized SUV category, the top vehicles for safety were the Saturn VUE (V6), the Honda CR-V EX and the Hyundai Santa Fe GLS (V6). In the midsized category, the winners were the Lexus RX300, the Acura MDX and the Toyota Highlander. SUVs that did poorly were the Chevrolet Trail Blazer, the GMC Envoy and the Jeep Grand Cherokee. As for minivans, the Honda Odyssey EX, the Toyota Sienna LE and the Mazda MPV LX all did well. But the Chevrolet Venture LS, the Oldsmobile Silhouette GLS and Pontiac Montana fared poorly.
What's the least expensive vehicle to insure?
Top 10 Least Expensive Cars to Insure for 2004
Although auto insurance costs vary widely depending on where you live, how many accidents you've had in the past, how many miles you drive each year and so on, the kind of car you drive also helps insurers make decisions about you. To help out, we've compiled a list of the 10 cars most likely to command the lowest insurance premiums based on five-year projections of the Edmunds.com True Cost to OwnSM (TCO) pricing system.
1. Chrysler PT Cruiser
2. Volkswagen Jetta
3. Saturn L300
4. Saab 9-5
5. Volvo V40
6. Subaru Legacy
7. Pontiac Sunfire
8. Ford Focus
9. Oldsmobile Alero
10. Jaguar X-Type
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