Any question answered...

Too many cars these days are focused on protecting people in the event of a crash, leading to the weight increasing. Today's "superminis" are 1.5-2 times heavier than their counterparts from 20 years ago largely for this reason. Extra weight means less maneuverability and much longer braking distances.

By trying to protect people in the event of a crash, they're making crashes more likely to happen. This is without taking into consideration the fact that people will be less worried about the outcome of a crash if they feel like they'll be safe in the event one occurs (SUV drivers, i'm looking at you).

Surely the solution is a car that's lightweight (the car above is in the region of 500-600kg, between half and a third of the weight of a modern Ford Fiesta), much stronger than they look (huge racing background so quite a lot of R&D gone into crash protection) and also require a lot less power than a car of equivilant performance, to please the green folk.

I'd much rather have a car that's extremely well equipped to avoid accidents than a 2-3 ton Range Rover with a ridiculously high CoG when it comes to not getting involved in accidents.

All imo of course.

Found quite a nice video showing the strength, the guy had a sprained wrist (because he let his arms flail around when barrelling through the air, hard to blame him though...)

Caterham crash at Castle Combe - YouTube

I share this type of thinking and therefore thought that maybe a boy racer spec classic car might be on a par with a modern car. I remember hearing that an old Sierra weighs half what a modern mini does (or something like that!)

I am probably going to finally get my driving license and first car soon. I despise being in cars and find the costs involved obscene. Will be the biggest expense I have ever had for the most soul-destroying item.

I wanted to add some joy to my step into motoring, by getting something older and cooler than the monotonous obese vehicles of today. Maybe with the simplicity of the components I can learn how to tinker with cars too, unlike a modern one.

The only thing holding me back is concerns about safety, not so much for myself but for other people - including my parents whom i will have to drive around.