It's been a while...

[glenn]

The other thing to notice is that bull bar or not - the L300 tested has a bigger shock absorbing bumper than we all have. I never let it bother me that much, I've never been in an accident after more than 25yrs of driving, but now every time I get in my L300, I feel pretty vulnerable sitting in front of all that mass.

[FalcoColumbarius]

...I wonder how much of a difference the bullbar makes?

The bullbar is purely decorative as it's made from thin-wall tubing.

I landed on a rock with my bush bar as I entered a big four foot deep cross-ditch, full weight of the wagon coming down. I dented the bush bar. This was on the port side between the base mounting and the oil grill mounting. I think it's important to respect that it is a "bush bar" and not a "bull bar" ~ great for driving through foliage, not sure how well it would do with a bull ~ don't plan on finding out, either.

I have seen a couple head-on Starwagons, the worse one was in Glens yard in Coombs. Looked as though she had driven into a static solid 18 inch column. No idea what speed they were going. The bush bar had taken the brunt of the impact and had folded in with the wings pointing forward and outward. The driver's side had maintained it's integrity, more or less, the passenger side had taken more of the damaged and crumpled quite a bit.

On the other hand Josh's first Starwagon was involved in a direct head-on collision with an oncoming vehicle that had drifted into their lane. This was on the No. 16 hwy. Josh's wife was doing 80 kliks, the oncoming vehicle was estimated at doing the same. The oncoming vehicle was seriously written off. The collision caused the Starwagon to go into a flat spin, writing off another vehicle in the process, eventually landing on her wheels in a ditch. The Starwagon was able to drive away but was written off by ICBC.

ManitobaDeli brought up a very good point one day. When a critic stated that he would not want to be a cab-over truck in an accident, ManitobaDeli asked him "What vehicle would you want to be in an accident in?"

I have seen some Volvos and Mercs (you know, boxy but safe?) after accidents that I am definitely glad I wasn't in. Just a thought.

Falco.