How safe is the e30 really?

[Rusty.Piranha]

I'd rather survive in a Prius and drive the E30 another day.

Well said!

[Stanley Rockafella]

I'd rather survive in a Prius and drive the E30 another day.

:nice:

[dnguyen1963]

I'd rather survive in a Prius and drive the E30 another day.

[IceWhite]

I'd rather die in an E30 than survive in a Prius

But seriously, I feel the same!!

[2mAn]

Yea I guess I have a death wish

also, Im actively trying to find a way to daily drive a E30 again

[IceWhite]

I'd rather die in an E30 than survive in a Prius

The mission

You'll notice towards the end of the last post, I got a little ahead of where we were at. Basically, I had to decide if I was willing to move on from the E30 and replace it with a slower, older and neglected Roadster. After thinking about past experiences, what Id like to do in the future and the timing of all of this, I decided YES! Lets do it!...

I bought a round trip ticket to fly up and see the car. I knew it needed a few things, so even before I had seen the car in person, I had spent several hundred dollars on some parts I knew it was going to need.

[estoguy]

I'd rather die in an E30 than survive in a Prius

Truer words were never before spoken on R3V.

Personally, I feel pretty safe and confident in my E30. YMMV.

[djjerme]

True dat!


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[2mAn]

I'd rather die in an E30 than survive in a Prius

[dnguyen1963]

No car is really safe. It is flesh versus metal. Defensive driving (yes, you can still drive fast) and vigilance of the surrounding would keep you safe.

[dubdub]

There is just no way you can open up an E30 and call it safe. I have driven them for 20 years straight, and I feel very lucky no one hit me. It gets points for visibility and handling to avoid an accident, but you take an off center or side impact and there is nothing there to protect you.

Go watch some modern vehicle crash tests and wonder how an e30 would handle it.

I love E30s, but do not give anyone on here that they are anywhere close to safe as modern vehicles.

[Metallated]

For their size I tihnk they do pretty well, but thery're still tiny compared to some of the cars on the road..

Saw this on facebook the other day, terribly sad, someone commented one of people in the E30 had died and the other was in hospital.

That wasn't the question though. Of course it would be considered less safer than a new car. That's like saying a 318 is somehow more fuel efficient than a newer 3 series.

Technology should always improve and march on, otherwise you are just going backwards or never learning from previous mistakes.

I would argue that. Newer three series may have more efficient engines but they are also heavier and more powerful engines than a 318, and I get around 30 mpg, bit more on the highway bit less in the city, quick google shows that's pretty great for a new 3 series...

[Staszek]

An e30 is way safer than a 60's muscle car though - it was one of the first compact cars to offer crumple zones in the front, and they are pretty tough. Brakes are good for it's size (just look at the 60mph - 0 braking distances, they're not that far behind an e90, no doubt due to light weight).

Sure - they don't have the toughened steel safety cage of a new car now, or a bazillion airbags but they're not exactly "unsafe". I had a big crash in mine in 2014 that wrote off two new cars, but I walked away from it fine and fixed the e30 for around $1500.

I wouldn't want to be T-Boned in the side of one by an F150, but then again most new cars can't really take a big hit to the side like that either.

Biggest thing to point to is this... despite all the added safety tech in new cars, has the road toll actually dropped? It has somewhat, but not by as much as you'd expect given the improvements to cars over the last 30 years. A guy I knew who was an engineer for Jaguar claimed that car design peaked in the late 90's (basically with the e39). Since then all the added complexity in cars has been around emissions and electronics. Passive safety is actually about the same.

Point is - I am a Dad and drive my kids in my e30 all the time. We do use our new Hyundai (with its bazzilion airbags etc>)on long highway trips, but I still wouldn't feel uncomfortable taking the e30 and do regularly drive it on the open road. Mostly it's about cabin noise - the Hyundai is quiet.

I dont think that is entirely true. Cars are way safer now, and the death toll has decreased from 55,000 in the 1970's to around 35000 today. Since the 1990s it dropped almost 10,000. You may not think that seems like a lot, but really you have to consider how many more people are on the road versus 1990. Between 1990 and 2015 there were over 70,000,000 more cars registered in the US. Thats a huge jump and the death toll has dropped.

This obviously is not an E30 but it does show how technology in cars makes a huge difference.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_ptUrQOMPs

Everything i have heard on here is the E30 takes a hit pretty well, but it really didnt perform fantastically in crash test.

I would rather take a hit in my E93 or E38 then the E30.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7UihAyjJj4

[lukeADE335i]

The E30 being "safe" is just broscience and anecdotes. It isn't safe compared to a modern car. Same thinking as people who say 60s American cars are safer than modern ones because they are heavier. Just total nonsense.

An e30 is way safer than a 60's muscle car though - it was one of the first compact cars to offer crumple zones in the front, and they are pretty tough. Brakes are good for it's size (just look at the 60mph - 0 braking distances, they're not that far behind an e90, no doubt due to light weight).

Sure - they don't have the toughened steel safety cage of a new car now, or a bazillion airbags but they're not exactly "unsafe". I had a big crash in mine in 2014 that wrote off two new cars, but I walked away from it fine and fixed the e30 for around $1500.

I wouldn't want to be T-Boned in the side of one by an F150, but then again most new cars can't really take a big hit to the side like that either.

Biggest thing to point to is this... despite all the added safety tech in new cars, has the road toll actually dropped? It has somewhat, but not by as much as you'd expect given the improvements to cars over the last 30 years. A guy I knew who was an engineer for Jaguar claimed that car design peaked in the late 90's (basically with the e39). Since then all the added complexity in cars has been around emissions and electronics. Passive safety is actually about the same.

Point is - I am a Dad and drive my kids in my e30 all the time. We do use our new Hyundai (with its bazzilion airbags etc>)on long highway trips, but I still wouldn't feel uncomfortable taking the e30 and do regularly drive it on the open road. Mostly it's about cabin noise - the Hyundai is quiet.

[BaltimoreBimmer]

Idk if I agree. You shouldn't say it depends on the driver b/c when you talk about that sort of thing you are supposed to have a baseline. Aka all things equal, which is safer? You can't say one car is better around a track than another just becasue you are a better driver than the guy in the other car. Ya no?