OK folks, let's settle this safety debate.
Follow this link, read design specs, scroll down, watch video.
http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=260
Then tell me if you can get away with that in many 'normal' cars. A as a biker, I know you can't on a motorcycle.
You can't knock the Germans and their design skills. Harpooning a concrete barrier at 70mph, at 90degrees, and decelerating to zero in its own length.
You'd probably be crushed by your own SUV's engine if you tried this in a big American thing. Yes, that's right folks, because the vast tonnage of the back of your SUV keeps piling in even when the front has stopped. So the engine's coming back, and the back's coming forward. And you're the met in the sandwich.
And before anyone says "oh yeah, well what about side impact?!" note the distance between the axles: matches the front width of a car, axles act like giant shock absorber/brace units. Car flexes and bounces away.
Germans: very clever. Luckily they screwed up with that Second Front thing.
I have one of these. It goes really fast, and I haven't even chipped it yet. It's fun. I've had all kinds of cars, sports, SUV, exotic euro fast things, this has to be one of my favourites.
Someone I know was hit in one by a guy in a brand new Lamborghini Murcielago. Smart car was stationary, Lambo moving at speed, straight into the rear. Smart car bounced ten feet, cost $2000 to repair, occupant didn't even get whiplash. Murcielago was a write off. Occupant got a broken nose at the scene. After he got out, funnily enough.