Is it worth to buy a new car for safety features?

https://www.honda.ca/civic_sedan/safety

Maybe another question is do you want a new car ? Pretty well, you are looking to spend like $30K OTR easily on a 2021.

GuddaKaka wrote: ↑ I drive 17 year old vehicle that is working fine. Its a Civic that goes for routine maintenance and things got replaced on dealer's recommendation. Its running as Day 1.

Now the question is whether its worth to buy a 2021 model due to the new safety features? My car is very basic so I always have to rely on my senses.
Last thing I want is want to have an accident on highway due to my old car.

It depends - how much are you spending to keep it running? so outside oil changes and maybe brakes because that has to be done on any vehicle

Its not costing me anything extra apart from oil and filter change. Certain things got replaced over the years based on recommendations and age but nothing broke ever.

My wife says since its old and we have kids probably we should go for latest models for the safety features.

how's the rust situation? if its not too bad, keep the civic.

GuddaKaka wrote: ↑ My wife says since its old and we have kids probably we should go for latest models for the safety features.

Since you have obviously survived the last 17 years in this vehicle, what does she think the safety features will do extra?

If you want a new vehicle (as stated above) then just go for it. If you are happy with your current vehicle/tank then just wait until it costs to much to maintain and then get a new vehicle. But buying a car just for the safety features is silly in my opinion. Best safety feature is a competent driver who does not rely on the nanny systems to pay attention for them.

In some edge cases it may make a difference (I know the Golf R was slightly cheaper to insure than the others due to all the active assist systems, could also be older clientele than GTI) but not in your case. You must pay next to nothing for insurance.

karakoram wrote: ↑ how's the rust situation? if its not too bad, keep the civic.

No rusting. Why? I don't drive when there is salt on roads and go for luxury car wash every other week in winters.

Very low odometer reading too. Only 98,500 Kms in 17 years.

Yes the car was lifted by a non-Honda mechanic many times and rust was not there. I don't drive to work btw.

engineered wrote: ↑ One thing to consider with an older car is what condition the brakes, suspension joints, etc are. Eventually those wear or rot out and can cause safety issues, so they need to be refreshed eventually.

This means that I will not feel guilty going for a new vehicle :-) .. I am going for a 3 row SUV not other Sedan.

I’d definitely get behind a government supported program of getting older cars off the streets, particularly to improve the safety for pedestrians and bike riders.

Beyond that, I feel it’s an easy yes if you have kids.

GuddaKaka wrote: ↑ Yes the car was lifted by a non-Honda mechanic many times and rust was not there. I don't drive to work btw.

It appears that the city u live in uses no or little road salt in winter. In the cdn prairies, at least when I lived there yrs ago, many cities use sands and dont use road salt because the winter weather is too cold for the salt to work properly.

With your family and kids, I would seriously consider replacing your 17 yrs old Civic with a new car if (a) u use the car long distance outside your city ocasionally, and (b) u have spare cash. Car breakdowns on the highway or in a different city are headaches and expensive.

fkungery wrote: ↑ It appears that the city u live in uses no or little road salt in winter. In the cdn prairies, at least when I lived there yrs ago, many cities use sands and dont use road salt because the winter weather is too cold for the salt to work properly.

With your family and kids, I would seriously consider replacing your 17 yrs old Civic with a new car if (a) u use the car long distance outside your city ocasionally, and (b) u have spare cash. Car breakdowns on the highway or in a different city is a pain and expensive.

I live in GTA. They put salt on streets before storms. I avoid going out during that time. Also I park my car on driveway in subzero temperatures. Rust happens at > 0 C.

Salt+Water = Rust
Salt+Snow/Ice = No Rust

Yes.

The Subaru Eyesight is amazing IMO. I wished every car had that.

You would already have dual airbags and likely curtain airbags. Sure, newer cars will have improvements in structural stability but depends if you want to spend the $$ to move to something new.