QOTD: Is Your Car a Superhero?

The Civic Holiday I mentioned yesterday didn’t prove very civil for yours truly and his red Chevrolet Cruze Eco. Sadly, a second-generation Volkswagen Passat made mostly of rust, primer, and pure, simmering evil decided to make a play at the poor Cruze in the midst of a nightmarish traffic jam. I don’t want to get too specific about the locale for fear of tarring a whole community of drivers with the same brush. (It was Montreal.)

While the Cruze escaped intact, it didn’t leave the scrap unmolested. Looks like I’ll be heading out in search of paint and rubbing compound tonight (Note: first-gen Cruze bumpers seem to hold up under pressure; I can’t speak for the second-generation models).

The incident nonetheless reminded me of past run-ins, be it with large animals or large vehicles. My 1993 Corsica of years gone by didn’t weather a front-quarter hit from a circa 2000 Impala all that well. Curtain call. Six feet under. Pushing up daisies. Contrast the Corsica’s “folded like Superman on laundry day” performance to my beloved ’94 Camry, which soaked up two whitetail deer and politely asked for more. Zero dollars spent on repairs with that one. Just a minute or two spent evening out the hood with my rear end and some wooden shims inserted for headlight alignment. Duct tape wasn’t required.

What a tank that car was. Bland? Absolutely. Beige? What else? But beastly when push comes to shove.

There’s reliable rides, there’s quirky exotics that capture your heart, and then there’s the car that’ll save your bank account when wayward objects make an impact. Now that’s something that garners instant respect.

There’s no shortage of hazards on our roads. Dimwitted, distracted, and drunk drivers still abound, and the proliferation of driver’s aids can’t come soon enough to stamp out the scourge. However, even if every vehicle, new and used, came filled with every electronic nanny under the sun, there’s still the wild card. Nature. Bambi and her friends aren’t the most predictable creatures in the woods.

Sooner or later, you’re gonna make contact. Glass will shatter, plastic will snap, and steel will bend. But some vehicles don’t fold under pressure quite as easily. Sometimes, you’re the lucky owner of a bank vault, something that shrugs off impacts with remarkably little damage — regardless of how the other vehicle fared.

We’re mostly experienced people here. We’ve had our run-ins. So tell me, Best & Brightest, what vehicle — be it yours or a friend’s or a relation’s — made short work of the other vehicle (or animal) without mussing its hair? Maybe you expected it, or maybe it left you surprised at its hidden brawniness. Going in the opposite direction, what seemingly tough vehicle went down after the first punch?

[Image: Daniel X. O’Neil/ Flickr ( CC BY 2.0)]