The Z is a death trap if you're an idiot. Any fast car.... or any car for that matter, can be a death trap in the hands of a fool. The Z is a flashy sports car that is cheap enough for most to play, therefor it attracts a LOT of people who have no business driving a fast car.

The Z doesn't have a 5 star crash test rating because it's a death trap. Take a look at some of the crap you see on this forum. It's the douchebags behind the wheel 100%.

 

Yup. I agree and I agree w/kolia. I don't find the study flawed either. They're just the statistics. The Z and RSX tend to be driven by young people, will definitely have a greater chance of being driven less conservatively than say a minivan and are both affordable (vs. say a C6, a Lambo, Porsche or Ferrari).

To top it off, the RSX and Z don't sell in really large numbers either... so the above combined w/small numbers can make for bad stats. Last year in the US, ~24K 350Zs and ~17K RSXs were sold vs. 163K Siennas and 448K Camrys. The latter two are A LOT more likely to be driven conservatively.

http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2...03/032862.html
http://www.automotive.com/features/90/auto...5411/index.html
http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2...03/032851.html

There used to be street racing kills posted here and it seems there are lot of fairly new drivers (still in high school or starting college) who have never driven a powerful RWD sports car who are overconfident, think they can handle the car, blah blah... Yet, you see stuff like people wrecking their cars and crap like https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....ht=kicked+curb.

You don't see people on priuschat.com talking about street racing or anything of the sort (it'd lose to almost everything out there anyway).

Since someone asked about the Elise, it's not on the list since the list covers only 01-04 models years and the Elise wasn't available in the US until the 05 MY.

 

I was looking at this Data and I can see how. It seems like the 350Z is in a price range now that most middleclass kids can get one. Like the Chargers, Mustangs and Camaros of my day.

Take that push more horsepower out of it, make it a smaller compact car, put a few SUV's on the road with it and even with the air bags and added safety features we have today a minor accident in a 350Z can be fatal.

Just remember this when your racing around it traffic with Semis / SUV's all around you. It's not like the day when everyone had a big car.

Sm car vs Big SUV .... SUV wins on this one guys ....

Taking mental note now.... Look in mirrors for the other guy.

Drive safe, stay alive !!!

Racing is for the track ....

 

That list seems to contradict all the first hand reports we receive here at my350z by drivers who have wrecked their vehicles, often times showing graphic pics of the wreckage and yet still claim they were able to walk away relatively unharmed. I've seen some monstrously destroyed Z's from some of the members here, and they all seem to say one thing in the post, I was able to walk away. Seems to me that the report does not account for alot of things.

What we really should see is the amount of non lethal Z crashes reported, compared to the amount of lethal Z accidents. Actually, maybe with the same for all the cars on that list.

Z a deathtrap? I have a hard time believing that. Some Z owners who kill themselves because of indecent driving experience, or other personality based reasons, yes, I could see that. I dont think its the car at all, its the drivers.

 

wierd, my Z costs less to insure than my 2003 grand am GT

VEHICLE TOTAL PREMIUM 350Z- 271.25 Grand Am GT 296.84
6 MONTH PREMIUM $ 568.09

this is full coverage with $500 deductable

 

Those numbers need more information, not just % and averages. The Ins industry can come up with the true numbers, they just don't want to share the truth! The age of the driver as well as demographics play a major part on death/accident rates.

 

http://www.internetautoguide.com/cra...50z/index.html

http://consumerguideauto.howstuffwor...san-350z-6.htm

5-star car.