I'm 16 and have just gotten my license so it's time to get my first car. My grandfather has given me money to buy a car and after spending my summer in Europe with a 2014 BMW 525d touring, I've really fallen in love with BMWs. I've looked on dealer's websites and have seen a few 328i coupes and they fit perfectly into my budget. The only thing holding me back is my father. He's into cars but he's in love with the safety that Volvos have. I'm wondering if the 2011 328i coupe is a safe car? It seems like any crap Hyundai or Kia can get a 5 star crash rating so I don't care what the crash tests say. I'm looking for real world stories of BMW safety. Is an '11 3 series coupe as safe as a volvo?
doesn't really matter what you get at this point. grandpa gave you money to buy car. dad thinks your too frail for the real world. your also concerned about driving a safe car. maybe you can invest that money into some fake balls for under your pee pee
You're on a bmw forum asking bmw owners which is better. What do you think will happen?
I've had a Volvo before.
Honestly, I'd give a Volvo to a 16 year old before a bmw, not because they're "safer" but because you'll get in less trouble trying to do something stupid. And I don't mean legal trouble, but that's possible too. But what 16 year old with $20k cash is gunna go buy a Volvo.
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Run a search and see what Motor Trends or Edmunds report about the safety of the BMW. I have also owned a Volvo, and it too was my first car. The thing I don't like about Volvos now is that they are so tiny. You pay a lot for a tiny car. I feel Audi is also on the small side when compared to other luxury cars. My girlfriend just bought her daughter a used BMW for her first car. They are very particular about their daughter's safety as well and thought this car was a great choice for her. When I shopped for cars, I didn't like how when some car doors closed it felt like a tin can. When my BMW door closes, I feel it's solid. I'd get the BMW if this was me. However, you can probably search YouTube for some videos of a BMW in crash tests, or surviving an accident. I'm sure there will be a collection of videos for you to view.
Good luck and congrats on your first very own car! I think above all else, just remember to not text and drive, no matter what car you are in. Can get you into trouble really fast.
BMWs, along with Volvos frequently do very very well in the safety standards tests. BMW has had it's equal share of safety tech over the years that is pioneered. This was especially prevalent in the 90s. BMW was the first to come out with side air bags. They also had incredible side crash ratings due to an ingenious little hook in the doors that dug into the B and C pillars to turn the doors into a structural panel during a side crash. For a while they even put the rear seat belts in on the opposite side of the seats, inside buckling towards the outside, so that in a front end crash the two back seat passengers were pulled apart rather then together and smashing their heads into each other. This is all anecdotal evidence however.
It will be hard to convince your father of his preconceived notions. He probably comes from the time when Volvo = Safety, of which was certainly true back in the day. They are still safe today but just about any modern car is very safe, especially when you start looking at larger cars with bigger crumple zones.
The only issue that I can see with a new driver driving modern powerful BMW is that they are very capable cars, and capable of getting into out of control situations very easily if overdone.
Current fleet:
1999 BMW e36 M3
1999 BMW e36 328is with rotary valve engine head
1999 Oldsmobile Eighty Eight
1990 Jeep Comanche Eliminator
1962 Austin Healey Sprite
Most Volvos, except for the 1800es, are considered farm equipment compared to BMW's.
What an ignorant reply. Please elaborate on your experiences with both.
@ OP
Both brands have a reputation for being sturdy cars. Volvos are a bit less "Volvo-ish" for the past couple of decades, dad's notions could be based on older models.
The two brands offer vastly different driving experiences. BMWs are bit less BMW-ish of late as well, everything is becoming more homogenized in the auto world.
I see things I prefer about Volvos and same with BMWs, neither are perfect or significantly "better", just different, a lot different.
Spend some time behind the wheel of both and decide for yourself.
Last edited by ross1; 08-28-2014 at 07:09 AM.
If you can leave two black stripes from the exit of one corner to the braking zone of the next, you have enough horsepower. - Mark Donohue
Volvos after 98 are jerks, every major part is vin coded and that make stuff like swapping in a new motor or trans very hard. You need Vida/Dice to do any diagnostics and the ETM is a serious issue. I have a 99 v70r stage 3 I'm trying to dump after buying the Xemodex ETM/throttle body for like $700 IIRC.
I've had 4 Volvos and 7 BMWs and I prefer the BMWs
Last edited by vaderTT76; 08-28-2014 at 09:44 AM.
If you have to ask........
This statement is dumb. The reason why many cars receive 5 star ratings is because they are safe. Modern cars adhere to many laws and regulations that force manufacturers to make their cars safe. A BMW with a high rating can be assumed to be just as safe as a volvo with the same. ANYONE who thinks that one brand is just inherently better or safer than another is foolish. Every maker has good cars and bad cars. Modern Kias have side curtain bags, traction control and backup cameras.
+1
The biggest % of R&D on Kias and Hyundais and etc... is in safety. They had a huge drop in sales when their tinboxes were crumbling when they hit a stop sign at 10mph. They realized that a live customer is better than a dead one, so they stopped spending money on developing new cloth interiors and started spending money on safety. BMWs are better overall cars because they have the same safety budget, but also have huge budgets for other facets of the car's design. A 5 star safety rating is a 5 star safety rating whether its given to Kia or Rolls Royce.
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