Heh, as for the survivability in a crash, have you folks forgotten what I drive as my daily right now?
My favorite saying about my Toyota is that if I hit a deer, they're going to find by broken arse at the side of the road with a bent steering wheel in my hands, 6 inches of my arse skidded along the road, and bits and pieces of my (now exploded) car around me, with the deer needing a tetanus shot!!
I'm really not worried about crash survivability when it comes to a car. Not for myself. I've been in and seen WAY too many accidents that should really have gone completely different. I've seen absolute TANKS of cars completely mangled in low speed collisions that they should have driven away from. I've also seen complete deathtraps survive absolutely insane wrecks that should have seen them vaporised on impact. If I was worried about impact survival, I'd be driving my truck everywhere.
I'm more worried about the ever increasing fuel cost and the lower and lower "fun" factor of available cars. With something like the Mira Gino I'd be looking at insane (in comparison to what I have available now) fuel mileage and a "fun" factor increase of about 60,000%. Also the total uniqueness of it over here would be entertaining for me.
As I initially said, I've always had a soft spot for the original Austin Mini's, and this is the closest I could find to a modern equivilant. Also the availability of parts (with Arctic Cat just up the road) means that repairs and maintenance would be cheap as chips. Also tyres would be pocket change as I do believe they are 12".
I'm looking at it as that I can get a 2002 car delivered to the States for about $3,000. A 2002 car around here would be in the neighborhood of $5,000 and that would be for a banger that's already starting to rust out. Any car in the same condition as that red one I posted above would be in the 5 digit range.
So for a smaller initial payout, cheaper on insurance (as it would be classed as a Dihatsu Charade, which are almost NOTHING to insure) and considerably cheaper to drive (fuel and maintenance) I'd be getting a car that I could have an absolute BLAST driving that didn't punch me in the pocketbook!!
No, it wouldn't be a 5 or 7 series bimmer ($49,120 according to Kelley Blue Book), nor an SLC Merc ( $42,345). But I can't afford a $45,000 car right now. Come the new year, I
CAN afford a $3,000 car that would be considerably more fun to drive as I wouldn't be constantly thinking, "How much of my paycheck is this hard of acceleration going to cost me?"......
Mind you, if my wife got a chance to drive the thing, I'd probably end up driving a certain slightly beat up 1995 Raspberry coloured Dodge Neon as I don't think I could pry my better half out of the Gino with a crow bar!!
