We have now covered over 1,000 miles on our charity rally so it is perhaps no surprise that, with so many hours on the road, we have seen an accident.  It happened in front of us on the run down from John O’Groats and befell a fellow banger team whose aging Astra skidded on a wet bend, colliding with a Royal Mail van. Luckily there were no injuries and only metal was damaged, but it was a timely reminder that cars are not just about performance or comfort: Sometimes they have to save your life too.

On the subsequent long, but thankfully uneventful, run down from Inverness on the A9 we chatted about the relative merits of old vs. new with regard to safety. Whereas you can make a case for either in terms of comfort, cost efficiency and other practicalities, the old car is simply not as safe as a new one.

Using the comparison of the Carina E and the Prius (partly because both are family cars made by Toyota, partly because my wife has run a Prius Gen2 for the past six years and we know it well) the old car comes off a poor second in both passive and active safety.

State of the art in its day – the early 90s – the Carina nevertheless has no ABS brakes, nor any form of electronic traction or stability control (VSC). These features help prevent accidents by allowing the driver to remain in control in slippery or low grip conditions, avoiding what might otherwise be impacts. VSC and ABS are standard on entry level city cars today, unsung technological marvels saving countless thousands every day.

But even without the aid of electronics the modern car is better. It has stronger brakes and sharper, more assured steering. The first thing I noticed when driving the Carina E was the brakes, or lack of them compared to what I have become used to in new cars, and the lack of confidence inspiring feeling coming up from the front tyres to the steering wheel.  The Carina’s brakes and steering work as they were designed to, but with smaller brake discs, older brake pad materials and less sophisticated suspension geometry the old car simply takes longer to slow down and feels less stable when doing it. It all adds up to give the driver a vague, uncertain feeling, especially on strange roads in the dark of a winter’s night.

As well as helping you avoid having an accident the modern car will also help you survive one if it happens with air bags and a strong passenger survival cell.  These are standard features on all new cars on sale today whereas the Carina has no air bags, not even a little one in the centre of the steering wheel for the driver. Such things simply weren’t that common on cars like the Carina back then, which is to say only 15 years ago. 

The body structure is also weaker, mostly because of the use of computer aided engineering and design. These powerful computer modelling programmes enable today’s engineers to minutely understand the loads involved in an impact and therefore how to design a structure that disperses those loads around the car’s body, not into yours.  These details are mostly invisible, but tell-tale signs can be seen in the older car’s thinner A-pillars, thinner doors and less bulky dashboard. All betray weaker structures, designed more for everyday functionality and aesthetics than safety.

So while the old car – it feels increasingly unfair to call it a banger – has conveyed us around the country in broadly similar comfort as a new one would have, the stark truth is had we encountered an icy bend, a startled deer or just an on-coming car on the wrong side of the road then I’d rather be in the cocooning safety of a new car. At that point,  the extra £19,900 would be money well spent.

Scott

charity, prius, safety, Toyota