Which comes first, safety or looks, when buying a car?

Question

If a fantastic looking car has a safety rating of 0 would this deter you from purchasing it.
Similarly if the car rated 10 out of 10 looked awful but is the safest thing on 4 wheels why would you not buy it?

Answer 1

Both. I'd either look at cars for looks first, then look for safety, or look for safety first and then look also at looks. So, a fantastic car with a zero safety rating I would NOT buy. Similarly, an awful cow that looks like a tank would be out of the question.

The best bet is to look at looks. Select at least 5, then check out the safety. The best combination of looks and safety wins. Safety alone is no good, for after all a car is an external manifestation of one's inner person. I'd say that safety without looks is for dull people, looks without safety is for dumb people.

Answer 2

It depends on who is doing the rating and what safety means to them. (In other words is it safe for the driver, the passenger, or pedestrians). Obviously an articulated lorry is fairly safe for the driver, but what about pedestrians?

The safety of any car these days depends a lot on the driver rather than the car. If you drive safely, then this will make a bigger difference than if you have a car which is classified as safe.

There are virtually no unsafe new cars these days. There are unsafe drivers, and that is what should be rated!

If you are referring to an MOT test, then I would give an MOT test 5/10 as the usefulness of it's authority. It picks up on pretty much many useless pieces of trivia, which are neither safe nor unsafe. A refusal to perform an MOT is valid enough for the government (politically orientated and paid) inspectors to deem a car unsafe. There is no appeal system if you are appealing against the government. (even if your car is only a few years old)

Effectively, the government is redundant and you should use your own safety checks rather than someone else's when inspecting a car which you might (or might not) buy!

Answer 3

"a fantastic looking car has a safety rating of 0 would this deter you from purchasing it."
I wouldnt purchase it

"if the car rated 10 out of 10 looked awful but is the safest thing on 4 wheels why would you not buy it?"
I wouldn' purchase it


It has to be both

Answer 4

If it was as bad as 0 I wouldn't touch it. But safety is as dangerous as drink driving at times, so you need a balance. Normally I'd rant about safety is there for the monkies and serves no real place in the real world but I recently learned better. A car has to stir the imagination unless you want it simply as a tool though. So looks are important too.

Answer 5

To be honest if i was getting a car it would be the looks that would make me buy it. It doesn't matter how safe the car is but if you don't like the look of it your not really gonna enjoy riding it, are you? I've seen some ugly lookking cars on the road and i always think 'how the hell can you drive that piece of junk' safety is a point to consider but looks of the car is just as important.

Answer 6

i own a repair shop,,and after being in a few accidents in my life time id say safety,,when you can total a car and walk away from it,the safety issue becomes a big deal,cars are replaceable,but human life isn't, have had 3 major accidents in my life that i shouldn't have survived from,but all were in safe cars,and after that you look back,and say,,wow i made it through that,,its a good feeling to walk away from a totaled car,so always consider safety a top priority looks count when buying a car,,but i don't know anyone who will say id rather die in a good looking car,,as apposed to walking away from an ugly car,and surviving it,cars are nice but living is nicer,,good luck,i hope this help,s.

Answer 7

Of course safety comes first .. but there r lots of good looked cars with good safeness

Answer 8

Safety of course! who cares after an acccident if the car once looked good, on the other hand walking away alive is most important...... But then again it depends on personal choice> "live long and healty or die fast in a cute car..........."
for me personally it isnt even a question ! cheers and choose well~

Answer 9

i think you would be surprised by how safe the good looking cars are these days! Take a Golf 5 Tdi! it performs well, Looks good and is safe! ( believe me when you are driving 180km/ hr and not feeling stressed its a good car!) but i also think that car manufatures these day know that what people are looking for are all three of theese together! and thats why there is sooooo much to choose from these days!

Answer 10

i thinlk you need to give yourself a few choices really, it's no good just looking at one car. Looks would be very important but you need to look at pro's and cons of them all. Volvo's are extermely safe and for the majority extremely comfortable but it's only in the last few years since the shapes have been updated that they also look good; budget would also be an influence.