http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6816862/

Not one GM car on the list, although they felt the need to mention the now dead Cavalier and Sunfire "in the interest of fairness".

Heh.

Apparently Mitsubishi Lancers and Evos are death-traps... and I would be remiss not to mention Ford's number of vehicles on the list... although in fairness some of those are VERY old, like Ranger, but still in production.

 

This was posted weeks ago directly off of Forbes website. Although it was a stupid slideshow format.

 

There's that pesky P.O.S. NISSAN again....

 

Now, there is an unbiased opinion source !


What is so wrong w/ a Ranger ?

The fiancee has an '01 w/ the 4.0 (?) V-6 - little devil screams. I'd swear at 40 MPH it would whoop the SS - until about 50.

The Ford AOD in that truck doesn't have the same power dead spots the car does.

Worst gripes I have about it is that even though it is a supercab, there are no rear doors , and it does not have map pockets.

Small gripes , all in all.

My .02.


Britt

 

Did you even read the thing? It's not bagging performance and whatnot, it's talking about SAFETY. Which is hard to test on your own until it's too late!

 

After the fact , I did.

The Rangers they are referring to are all 4 wheel drives, and they are talking about rollovers.

Hmmm - a taller vehicle might have a greater chance of rolling than a lower one ?

Wow - what a concept ! It also has a greater chance of not ebing damaged by a shorter vehicle, and for going thru Houston streets that get flooded w/ semi regularity.

Consumer Reports routinely bashes domestics, and praises imports - that is why I do not consider them to be an unbiased source.

In general, though, it is safe to say ( IMHO ) that a smaller car will fare worse in a collision than a larger one.

One nice thing about the Camaro - it may be in the subcompact category, but I firmly believe that it is built pretty solidly for collision protection.

Britt

 

I think the Camaro is pretty safe. There is a lot of overhang to asorbs some of the impact. The doors have to be THE MOST solid feeling door ever built.(When I first got my car, I just kept closing it and opening it for 5 minutes in awe of the solid THUNK).

Of course if you are in a rollover without a seatbelt, I can't imagine surviving because you'd go straight through the t-top.

 

The Camaro thunk is no where near as nice as a newer cars. My 01 Camaro is the oldest car I own and it really shows in the thunk! Even my wifes vibe has a more solid feel.

 

close a 3rd gen door and feel the thunk...
yea, they did get really high safety ratings, some of the best in their class i believe

 

You have got to be kidding me. I test drove one of those to move my roommates stuff in. That is by far the SLOWEST truck I have ever driven in my life. It was an '04 with the 4.0 V6, OMG....it took like 20 seconds to get from 50 to 70 MPH. Off the line was almost as embarrasing. I don't even think it could keep up with a Geo Metro, much less an SS.

 

Maybe we ( she ) got a ringer, but based on that truck I'd buy one in a heartbeat !


One of my little tricks is to nail it over the Fred Hartman bridge in Baytown - a big,tall, steep bridge that goes over the Houston ship channel.

I can easily hit 115 in the SS from a 70 roll before the peak - that Ranger would do 100 if the limiter did not kick in at 90 or so - something I did not even know they had.

The full size F-150's used to not - the '03 ( I think ) Supercrew one of my coworkers did definitely did not as we hit 100 in it.

At any rate , her Ranger runs ! - I like it.

Plus, being an Edge, it seems to have better steering response & feel than a typical truck , and the 6 disc in dash CD player is nice. The HVAC controls are very similar to the SS in appearance & function, and it is a nice looking truck to boot.

Maybe the Ranger you drove was a "dud" .

 

I had a 98 f150 and it definitely had a limiter. I am sure his did also.

 

We did have a 4x4, but it was in 2wd mode the whole time...It could have been a dud also, it was the last '04 they had on the lot. I'm sure it was for good reason.

 

4 out of the ten are ford products! Navi,ls v6,ranger and sport trac that doesn't sound to good for ford.

 

3rd gens did rate high on the scale . 4th gens were rated as high as you could get also .

I never though a 3 gen would be so safe . But I did violently crash ( 120 mph 7 mailboxes , a telephone poll , 15 feet in the air and landed burrying the rear axle 2 feet in the ground ) my 90 Iroc and the passenger compartment held together really well and I was out without a scratch .