safest 4 x 4

[henrycrun]

The Honda CR-V gets a 3 star NCAP which is 1 better that most 4WDs (still not good though)

[Zippyworld]

There has been some really valid points here and some revelations too !

Thanks to you all for your comments.

I will admit to being a little soft here as I have opted for one of the last available Kia Sorentos before the new model comes out in Jan 2010.

Reasons being I learned of an accident very close to home in which a 32 year old man and his 2 year old toddler sadly failed to survive an impact with a lorry. My missus drives and Audi A4 cab and regularly takes the young'un out in this. The whole thing was just t0 close to home.
She keeps her Audi, I keep my Jaguar XJR and bambino is as safe as can be. Minimising risk.

I did further research and it seems to be reasonably capable off - road which I fancy a crack at. I know its not as well engineered as some but at £7k less than listprice it shows excellent value for money.

I can now understand why there are so many of these Chelsea Tractors on the school run.....

[HowMuchLonger]

Please note that the NCAP rating can only be used relatively against cars in the same group.
i.e. a 5star mini is not neccessarily better than a 4star large SUV.