Im glad it was a Happy ending for you, which vehicle will you go with now?

 

Well, I definitely wanted my next car to have the advanced safety features (forward collision mitigation with brake assist, lane departure warning with assistive steering & adaptive cruise control).

The only Mitsubishi that offers any of these is the 2016 Outlander GT with the Touring Package. It has all of these features except the driver assistive steering (only has a lane departure warning system). But the sticker price is well over $35,000. This is typical of most manufacturers. They only offer these features on the highest (or close to the highest) trim levels.

So after much research, I decided to purchase a new 2016 Honda Accord Sport. Honda has made the consumer-friendly decision of adding all the safety features listed above available as an option in all trim levels of the Accord. It's called Honda Sensing and it only adds $1,000 to the sticker price.

My out-the-door price on the 2016 Accord Sport 4DR with Honda Sensing was only $22,365. So, it was a very good deal overall. But even better considering the MSRP price range on the competition's midsize/fullsize cars and/or midsize SUV's with all (or most) of these safety features was $31,000-$38,000.

I will not rule out Mitsubishi for a future purchase though. Especially considering the support I got from the Service Manager at Planet Mitsubishi.

Thanks again for your advice and suggestions. Have a great 4th of July.

 

That sucks, you would think mitsubishi would do the same thing to help gain back some marketshare.

Toyota said they're going to make automated braking standard on nearly every model and trim by the end of 2017. But their safety sense system is available on lower trims currently.

 

Good point. I should have specified the price range was among the cars/SUV's I was really interested in. I did not check all of them.

Although I was not very interested in the 2016 Camry, I did check into the availability of the advanced safety features. But at least for their 2016 model year the "Technology Package" which includes the advanced safety features is only available on the XLE or above. The 2 lower trims (LE and SE) do not have it as an option.

[Note: I wanted to get a 2016 because the dealerships are ready to move them to make room for the 2017's. At least that's the case for the Accord. The 2017 Accord debuted yesterday.]

The sticker price for the Camry XLE with the Technology Package is $28,000. Whereas the sticker price is only $24,000 for the entry level Accord LX with Honda Sensing.

There may in fact be cars with better deals with all 3 of these advanced safety features. However, I only considered cars/SUV's that received the IIHS Top Safety Pick + with all (or mostly all) 5 star ratings from safercar.gov.

I never thought I would become this type of car buyer in my youth. Using safety ratings as the main criteria for selecting a car....how incredibly boring and practical. 16 y/o me is facepalming right now!

EDIT: Oh yeah, I remember why I dismissed the Camry also. The IIHS gives a 6 point rating scale on Front Crash Prevention:

1. Front Collision Warning (up to 1 pt)
2. Low Speed (12 MPH) Crash Test (up to 2 points)
3. High Speed (25 MPH) Crash Test (up to 3 points)

The Camry only received 4 points (click on the Front Crash Prevention Tab lower left side of page). In the low speed test the Camry still collided at 2 MPH. In the high speed test, it only reduced the 25 MPH speed by 5 MPH. I'm not sure how it still got one point in the high speed test.

On the other hand, the Accord received 6 points and totally avoided the low and high speed collision tests.

(This is sooo sad....I'm literally geeking out on car safety ratings....please excuse me....I think I need help)

 

Congrats!!..Enjoy your New Car!!...all the best.

 

That's funny. I know what you mean. Fortunately I have not succumbed to making safety ratings my primary criteria...yet. It's definitely high on my list, but I'm not convinced that some of these safety features have evolved enough to be totally useful. Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled that manufacturers are advancing them and am also glad that more of these features are on the road. I can see how this will keep distracted drivers from rear ending me. For me personally, I find them an annoyance and don't want a computer partially determining when I stop a vehicle. Fully automated driving is another story, but I can see this partial automation being a problem with me. I might be an outlier being that I enjoy driving and am totally engaged in the process. I'm not just using it as a tool to get from point A to B. This is just growing pains of technology I guess. I am glad to see it progressing though.

 

Well said...I see wayyyy too many distracted drivers in my rear view daily..it's a very good thing if these safety features help avoid collisions. I'm also of the mind that when you are behind the wheel ...YOU are in control..or should be...lol... Cheers!

 

Actually new technology is making distracted driving worse. Recently, a tesla driver died because he failed to stop for a tractor trailer pulling out across the highway. This scenario happens all the time where i live. You're driving, and a tractor trailer pulls out perpendicular to you in order to get into the oncoming lane. They are long and slow, so they expect you to slow down for them.

The problem is, the tesla forward collision system missed the truck due to a low sun, and the driver must have been on his phone or something because he should have seen the truck and slowed down. Instead he hit the truck and died.