>>I had a clueless woman at the dealership (I was getting an oil change) ask me if I feel "vulernable" on the freeway in such a small, light car. I told her the MINI is loaded with safety features (6 airbags etc.)and is substantially heavier than the Honda civic and several other small cars. I am sure I didn't change her opinion, but who cares. I love my MINI. She can drive her stuffy BMW and I will drive my fun-loving happy MINI!

I swaped a big 300M for my small Mini and was pleased when the crash test results showed the Mini to be slightly safer than the 300M.

 

>>>>I had a clueless woman at the dealership (I was getting an oil change) ask me if I feel "vulernable" on the freeway in such a small, light car. I told her the MINI is loaded with safety features (6 airbags etc.)and is substantially heavier than the Honda civic and several other small cars. I am sure I didn't change her opinion, but who cares. I love my MINI. She can drive her stuffy BMW and I will drive my fun-loving happy MINI!
>>

Well, truth be told, you ARE vulnerable on the freeway in a MINI. Probably more so on city streets where there are more hazzards and less room to manuever. I think about this all of the time when I have some giant SUV bearing down on me at a light, the driver busy doing something like talking on the phone or reading the newspaper. It's great to know that if they DO hit me, the MINI has lots of safety features and is very crash-worthy. But of course, that's only partial compensation for a trashed car.

This is why the brake light mod, and other highly defensive driving tactics are invaluable. It'd also be nice to see some progressive public policy aimed at reducing the number of beasts on our roads. But that's the topic for another thread.