How safe are BMWs? Safer than Volvos?

[calystar]

hey guys, i totalled my Volvo, really badly, two days ago. the car hit a tree, hit another tree, then flipped (i'm not sure if i flipped first or hit the 2nd tree first). i'm alive , which i'm thankful for, even though i'm hurting all over ...impact and broken glass in my face/ears/hands were two of my big enemies... before the accident, i was thinking about getting a bimmer, and i really want one, but i was wondering how safe are BMWs? and how about in comparison to a Volvo? (please put your bimmer love aside for a moment .) i know Volvos are really safe (it saved my life!) and i'm willing to get another box-on-wheels if it's safer... i also *would like* a coupe but i know that sedans are known to be safer/more stable/rigid. would i have survived this if i was in a BMW, how about a coupe? any comments? also, has anyone been in a similar situation (hopefully not!)? thanks for your help!

[hpicrv00]

BMW's are probably more safer than Volvo's. the 3 series was named the safest car in its class and has been...They are very good cars..Thank god your alive to! looks like a bad accident

[Wilco]

well the volvos are pretty darn safe as we can see in those pics. my friends call em steel boxes. im glad your alive. i think bimmers are about as safe as volvos if not a little more.

would you mind telling us how you wrecked it. like a little more detail?

[calystar]

hey! thanks for your replies! hopefully i'll be getting a bimmer . i was on a windy 2 laned (one lane each way) road, with heavy on-coming traffic. my car began to fishtail and i tried to gain control of the car. i tried to avoid hitting anyone else, so i tried to just stay in my lane. unfortunately, i went off the road and into the woods, where i hit a tree, hit another, and then flipped.

[xmdfmk7x]

Me and my friends call Volvo's "Safety Boxes".

They're built with safety first it seems. They design a safe human box and then design the car around it. Those crazy Volvians.

[Wilco]

well anywho atleast you controlled the car enough not to endanger anyone else. whats the car your considering?

[E36DJ]

Handling qualities of most BMWs would have (might have) prevented that accident in the first place.. so in that respect I'm sure they are safer.

[Kompressor]

Well, my bro was in his 328i when actually the same thing happened with the trees but not the flipping (I think :P) Baaaad accident. Here, http://www.dtmpower.net/ppost2/showp...medium&thecat=

or just click My Photo Gallery

[calystar]

i'm really not sure. it depends on what the parents feel like and how much money i get back. i may not get a car or have a say at all (as in, they'll get me another "safety box" ). if i'm really lucky, i'd like a black or dark blue e46 325i or 325xi, '02 or '03, but i'll take any e46 except a convertible, i'm too scared! if i can't pull that off, i'd like to get a black or dark blue e36 323/5/8is '95 or newer, preferably closer to a '97-'99 328is with low mileage, no more than 10k/year. if you guys know of any good deals, please let me know!

also, what do you guys think about leasing? bmw has a '03 3-series special lease offer...$299/month, with $3,099 cash due at signing, for 42 months (total lease payments including acquisition fee is $12,558 for a car with MSRP $28,495) and if i decide to buy it at the end of the lease, it's $16,242 - only $305 more than if i bought it to begin with, but it says "Lessee acquires no ownership interest unless purchase option is exercised." sounds cool...is this too good to be true? maybe God wanted me to have an e46...

[Evan e21]

IDK about the e36 but the e46, e39, and e32 are all very safe vehicles. And the X5 is one of the safest cars in the world. And i am definitley not biased, i do have a BMW but my mom has only owned volvos(currently 99' S70). They are gerat cars as well. They are very well made, but surely not as fun as a BMW.

[PrinceE30]

Volvos will probably always be safer in more situations than Bimmers, but I've never seen an accident where all the passengers in a 5er hadn't come away unscathed.

-Prince

[325Fan]

Actually, I think Volvo's are safer than BMW's from what I have read. Both are very safe cars. Actually, pretty much all European cars are very safe. They're built strong and sturdy as hell. I'd say BMW is one of the top three most safe car manufacturers in the world.

1. Volvo
2. Mercedes-Benz
3. BMW

I love all three too

[ryan8624]

Volvo has to over all make the safest cars on the road, becuse thats their focuse, while BMW foucses on performance, but makes their cars safe anyway, even though volvos are safer its not a big enough gap to decide on a car on, any crash that will kill you in a BMW will kill you in a Volvo, or if you cant make up your mind just buy an X5, that was called the safest car ever by the institue for highway safty.

[E39 Marcin]

Actually when Volvo did the redsign of thier cars, aka the S60,S80, they arnt built as they used to be. The metal Volvo now uses is also thiner than it used to be. I know this since I work with wrecked cars all day long.

If you want a safer car get a 5-Series (E39) which at one point was rated the safest car in the world, and and E46 3-Series.

BMW has surpased Volvo in Body rigidity. If you do a search for it, you can find all the numbers.

[CMT]

BMW safety is one of the main reasons why I currently drive an E36. My friend Jeremy was taking a left turn on a green left arrow, and was T-boned by a fullsize Bronco travelling well over 60 mph. As you can see from the pic, his 328is took the hit amazingly well, evidenced by him still being alive, necessitating only a temporary stint on crutches.

The paramedics who arrived on the scene told him they expected to find a fatality when they saw the car - but that although any passenger he might have had would have been pretty torn apart, that they would probably have lived as well. They also made the comment that if he had been in any kind of less-sturdy, similarly sized car, that he would have been dead without question.