4 ms·

Only if you're not concerned about safety, otherwise buy new to three years old and replace three years later.

mattmaroon 9y ago
Are cars considerably more safe now than they are ten years ago? And will they be considerably more safe in another ten?
- jaimex2 9y ago
  Yeah, absolutely. 5th Gear covered this extremely well using Volvo, who are world famous for their safety emphasis. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emtLLvXrrFs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emtLLvXrrFs 10 years from now all new car's will probably self driving.
  - jzwinck 9y ago
    I will bet against you here and now. In July 2027, I bet at least 5% of new cars sold in the US will not have full self-driving capability. Meaning they will be unable to drive between two arbitrary street addresses in the US without a licensed human operator.
    - legolas2412 9y ago
      If you're betting against driving between two arbitrary street addresses, I'll bet that there won't be a single capable car.
      - gefh 9y ago
        Using towns in northern Alaska not connected to the main graph is cheating! :)
    - sdenton4 9y ago
      So your being that we'll have at most 95% self driving cars in ten years? That seems uncontroversial... Unless there's a law banning human driven cars by then, I would expect to see that level of ownership just from the people who like the act of driving cars.
  - petepete 9y ago
    Well, I'd have put money on the Volvo coming out better. Thanks for the link.
  - jnwatson 9y ago
    That video is from 2009. I'd argue that mechanical safety innovation has slowed quite a bit in the last eight years. The real question is whether the recent electronic safety features: backup cameras, lane departure, blind spot warnings are worth the new car premium.
    - F2 9y ago
      Not sure what you mean by "mechanical safety" but in addition to advances in energy dissipating crash structures, the use of advanced and high strength steels has risen dramatically in the past couple years.
  - Retric 9y ago
    That's an 22+ year old Volvo without airbags. "Volvo was the first to introduce side airbags and installed them as standard equipment in all models from 1995." First 940 was produced in 1990 so it could be 27 years old. PS: That Moderate overlap / frontal offset test configuration is relatively recent in crash testing. http://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/ratings-info/frontal-crash-tests http://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/ratings-info/frontal-crash-...
  - saiya-jin 9y ago
    you are wrong - this is a video of a car manufactured in +-1990 - that is 27 years ago. I agree in last 30 years we've made quite a progress on safety, but 10 year old car these days means something like BMW E90 (or any equivalent) and safety progress from there is minimal. considering release cycles of car manufacturers, in 10 years at least 80-90% of the cars on the roads will be usual cars, not much change there. no politician will ever have the balls to force majority of their voters into buying new expensive cars. it will come, but it will take longer than you expect, that's all
  - tbihl 9y ago
    But that's a 30-year old Volvo, no? In 2017, buying a 10 year old car would mean getting that Renault.
- DenisM 9y ago
  Yes. Stability control is now mandatory (it was rare 11 years ago), antilock breaks are also mandatory, lane deaparture warning and blind spot warning are ubiquitous, phone interface(hands free) is a lot more prevalent, tire pressure monitors were a novelty in 1999, the number of airbags has increased, automatic emergency breaking is now a thing. Huge number of improvements in the last 10 to 20 years.
  - mattmaroon 9y ago
    Antilock brakes and stability control are mandatory now, but they've been common for a long time. Most cars probably still don't have blind spot and lane departure warnings standard, and I'm not sure how much safety they add. My sense is that if cars are safer now, compared apples to apples (i.e. a base model mid size sedan) to ten years ago, it's marginal. And the same will be true (driverless cars potentially excepted) in five years.
- keltex 9y ago
  The new technologies have really contributed to making cars safer. Consumer Reports says that automatic emergency braking (AEB) and forward-collision warning (FCW) should be standard equipment. http://www.consumerreports.org/car-safety/positive-impact-of-advanced-safety-systems-for-cars/ http://www.consumerreports.org/car-safety/positive-impact-of...
vermontdevil 9y ago
Or buy formerly leased car and keep till it's 10 then sell to the purveyors of this data.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- jjnoakes 9y ago
  I prefer to buy rented cars over previously leased cars. I think (no data to back this up) that a majority of leasers don't care to do routine maintenance (oil changes, etc) while the rental companies do. I also think that folks who rent aren't any more rough on a car than folks who lease, but again, that's just my feeling.
  - vermontdevil 9y ago
    Yeah or that. Hertz, Enterprise etc. Always can find good deals there.

Are cars considerably more safe now than they are ten years ago? And will they be considerably more safe in another ten?

jaimex2 9y ago
Yeah, absolutely. 5th Gear covered this extremely well using Volvo, who are world famous for their safety emphasis. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emtLLvXrrFs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emtLLvXrrFs 10 years from now all new car's will probably self driving.
- jzwinck 9y ago
  I will bet against you here and now. In July 2027, I bet at least 5% of new cars sold in the US will not have full self-driving capability. Meaning they will be unable to drive between two arbitrary street addresses in the US without a licensed human operator.
  - legolas2412 9y ago
    If you're betting against driving between two arbitrary street addresses, I'll bet that there won't be a single capable car.
    - gefh 9y ago
      Using towns in northern Alaska not connected to the main graph is cheating! :)
  - sdenton4 9y ago
    So your being that we'll have at most 95% self driving cars in ten years? That seems uncontroversial... Unless there's a law banning human driven cars by then, I would expect to see that level of ownership just from the people who like the act of driving cars.
- petepete 9y ago
  Well, I'd have put money on the Volvo coming out better. Thanks for the link.
- jnwatson 9y ago
  That video is from 2009. I'd argue that mechanical safety innovation has slowed quite a bit in the last eight years. The real question is whether the recent electronic safety features: backup cameras, lane departure, blind spot warnings are worth the new car premium.
  - F2 9y ago
    Not sure what you mean by "mechanical safety" but in addition to advances in energy dissipating crash structures, the use of advanced and high strength steels has risen dramatically in the past couple years.
- Retric 9y ago
  That's an 22+ year old Volvo without airbags. "Volvo was the first to introduce side airbags and installed them as standard equipment in all models from 1995." First 940 was produced in 1990 so it could be 27 years old. PS: That Moderate overlap / frontal offset test configuration is relatively recent in crash testing. http://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/ratings-info/frontal-crash-tests http://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/ratings-info/frontal-crash-...
- saiya-jin 9y ago
  you are wrong - this is a video of a car manufactured in +-1990 - that is 27 years ago. I agree in last 30 years we've made quite a progress on safety, but 10 year old car these days means something like BMW E90 (or any equivalent) and safety progress from there is minimal. considering release cycles of car manufacturers, in 10 years at least 80-90% of the cars on the roads will be usual cars, not much change there. no politician will ever have the balls to force majority of their voters into buying new expensive cars. it will come, but it will take longer than you expect, that's all
- tbihl 9y ago
  But that's a 30-year old Volvo, no? In 2017, buying a 10 year old car would mean getting that Renault.
DenisM 9y ago
Yes. Stability control is now mandatory (it was rare 11 years ago), antilock breaks are also mandatory, lane deaparture warning and blind spot warning are ubiquitous, phone interface(hands free) is a lot more prevalent, tire pressure monitors were a novelty in 1999, the number of airbags has increased, automatic emergency breaking is now a thing. Huge number of improvements in the last 10 to 20 years.
- mattmaroon 9y ago
  Antilock brakes and stability control are mandatory now, but they've been common for a long time. Most cars probably still don't have blind spot and lane departure warnings standard, and I'm not sure how much safety they add. My sense is that if cars are safer now, compared apples to apples (i.e. a base model mid size sedan) to ten years ago, it's marginal. And the same will be true (driverless cars potentially excepted) in five years.
keltex 9y ago
The new technologies have really contributed to making cars safer. Consumer Reports says that automatic emergency braking (AEB) and forward-collision warning (FCW) should be standard equipment. http://www.consumerreports.org/car-safety/positive-impact-of-advanced-safety-systems-for-cars/ http://www.consumerreports.org/car-safety/positive-impact-of...

vermontdevil 9y ago

Or buy formerly leased car and keep till it's 10 then sell to the purveyors of this data.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
jjnoakes 9y ago
I prefer to buy rented cars over previously leased cars. I think (no data to back this up) that a majority of leasers don't care to do routine maintenance (oil changes, etc) while the rental companies do. I also think that folks who rent aren't any more rough on a car than folks who lease, but again, that's just my feeling.
- vermontdevil 9y ago
  Yeah or that. Hertz, Enterprise etc. Always can find good deals there.