Mini Cooper does poorly in IIHS bumper test

[BigSmooth]

http://www.edmunds.com/news/regularnews/articles/83130/article.html

This really has no bearing on the safety of the car, but a 5 mph rear impact causing $1,500 in damages? :Q Yikes!

 

[BCYL]

What do you expect? all those BMW parts arent cheap!

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: BCYL
What do you expect? all those BMW parts arent cheap!

 

[WinkOsmosis]

Note to self: Self, if you get a Mini, do not hit things at 5mph.

 

[johneetrash]

more reason to buy a new hummer

 

[NFS4]

Originally posted by: bigsmooth
http://www.edmunds.com/news/regularnews/articles/83130/article.html

This really has no bearing on the safety of the car, but a 5 mph rear impact causing $1,500 in damages? :Q Yikes!

THAT IS NOT THE FULL STORY!!!

Ummm................the Mini did respectable in the test:

The bumper on the 2002 Suzuki Aerio performed poorly in low-speed crash tests performed by the insurance industry, sustaining an average of $1,131 in damage when struck at 5 miles per hour.

The 2002 Audi A4 and the 2003 Toyota Corolla got the institute's highest "good" rating with less than $300 in damage on average, according to results released Tuesday. The 2003 Honda Accord earned an acceptable rating with a $339 average, while the 2002 Mini Cooper by BMW got a marginal rating for averaging $800.

http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/12/03/bumper.tests.ap/

Edmunds is just singling out the Mini for some reason


And here is the key:

BMW of North America said overall the Mini is not expensive to own because it has low running costs, free maintenance and high resale value. BMW said the Mini also can maneuver in tight spaces and may be able to avoid more parking lot accidents than larger cars.

If you can't park a Mini (i.e. bumping into things at 5 MPH), the smallest car sold in America, you don't deserve to drive.

 

[brtspears2]

I thought cars were suppose to be able to sustain low speed impacts with very little damage....

 

[SOSTrooper]

The Mini sounds bad if I were to hit something over 20MPH... or worse yet, getting hit by anything else on the road.

 

[NFS4]

Originally posted by: SOSTrooper
The Mini sounds bad if I were to hit something over 20MPH... or worse yet, getting hit by anything else on the road.

Bullsh!t

Geez, just a LITTLE bit of research finds quite a LOT of information:

For the first time all five passenger cars tested in high speed front end crashes into an offset barrier won the top "good" rating from the Insurance Institute For Highway Safety Tuesday.

The mid-sized Honda Accord and Audi A4 and the small Suzuki Aerio, Toyota Corolla and Mini Cooper were named "best picks."

"This is the first time we've had a release where all the cars tested were "best picks," said Institute president Brian O'Neill.

The latest tests included the 2003 Accord, the 2002 Audi A4 and three small cars -- the 2002 Suzuki Aerio, 2002 Mini Cooper and 2003 Toyota Corolla.

The 2,694-pound Aerio and 2,496-pound Mini received good ratings for structure/safety cage and protecting a driver from head and neck, chest, leg and foot injuries.

"The Mini's front end is stiff but it's body is stiff so it bounces off the wall pretty good," O'Neill said.

http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20021210-022025-5330r


Any other uninformed responses for me to shoot down?

 

[UNCjigga]

Nevermind....

 

[arcas]

Okay. I'm a little confused...do they issue multiple ratings per car, one for each speed range? So in low-speed impacts, the Mini Cooper rates a "marginal" while in higher speed crashes it rates a "good"?

According to the MSNBC version of the story the Mini Cooper's frame actually twisted during the low-speed front angle impact test hence the $1500 repair job.

 

[datalink7]

Originally posted by: NFS4

Originally posted by: SOSTrooper
The Mini sounds bad if I were to hit something over 20MPH... or worse yet, getting hit by anything else on the road.

Bullsh!t

Geez, just a LITTLE bit of research finds quite a LOT of information:

For the first time all five passenger cars tested in high speed front end crashes into an offset barrier won the top "good" rating from the Insurance Institute For Highway Safety Tuesday.

The mid-sized Honda Accord and Audi A4 and the small Suzuki Aerio, Toyota Corolla and Mini Cooper were named "best picks."

"This is the first time we've had a release where all the cars tested were "best picks," said Institute president Brian O'Neill.

The latest tests included the 2003 Accord, the 2002 Audi A4 and three small cars -- the 2002 Suzuki Aerio, 2002 Mini Cooper and 2003 Toyota Corolla.

The 2,694-pound Aerio and 2,496-pound Mini received good ratings for structure/safety cage and protecting a driver from head and neck, chest, leg and foot injuries.

"The Mini's front end is stiff but it's body is stiff so it bounces off the wall pretty good," O'Neill said.

http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20021210-022025-5330r


Any other uninformed responses for me to shoot down?

The Mini looks like a cool car.

But I really am pretty uninformed about it.

Would you like to shoot me down now?

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

To derail a bit...so many Camaro haters around

I had a lady back into my Camaro when I had one, did just over $300 in damage (she didn't even look back :roll

Another time I rear ended a guy in driving a pickup. His trailer hitch put a nice hole in the front and dented the hood. $400 to fix.

Yay. Now if I could just find a nice 67 or 68 I'd be happy

 

[T2T III]

Not passing the 5 M.P.H. test just means that your repair bill will not be a cheap one. However, getting a "Good" rating on the 40 M.P.H. head on collision test (as the Mini did) is a pretty great rating. This is the same rating the the 2002/2003 Honda Accord received.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: brtspears2
I thought cars were suppose to be able to sustain low speed impacts with very little damage....

anything with a vertical line to the roof is going to be expensive to fix if you back it into a pole

 

[LittleWolf]

Originally posted by: Jellomancer
Note to self: Self, if you get a Mini, do not hit things at 5mph.

And oh yeah, BTW BMW has a recall on the Mini for parking brake problems. Apparently many Mini's are know to start moving even with the parking brakes on.....

Best idea, put a bunch of old tires on the front and back bumper..... LOL...

=-j