Specifically when installed in a 4th gen Legacy, 3.0R with flappy paddles, as a daily driver. 95% of my driving is sadly around Lima, mix of stop/start low speed traffic and the Pan American highway (which to be fair is also often stop/start low speed!), with just 2 or 3 trips a year into the highlands (an 8 - 9 hour trip, half on the Pan Am, half on twisties for a climb up from sea level to over 12,000 feet). I've had manuals most of my life, apart from 2 weeks with a Triumph Dolomite auto before converting it to 3 pedals, a Range Rover classic, the LR3 and the WJ I had for a year or so. I was surprised I didn't hate the auto in the WJ more, I guess it just suited it's character. I also surprised myself last Sunday, taking the LR3 out for a little bit without all the family (I can't think of the last time I drove it by myself), and I didn't the hate manumatic mode, even with relatively clear streets on a Sunday.
Since deciding to stick with the current 1st gen Mazda 3, I seem to have been a magnet for idiots, and the safety question has popped up again, last week almost a side impact with a bus- distracted/impatient bus driver, then a few days later another almost side impact with a construction truck towing a trailer, nearly pancaked us against a concrete barrier, he realized at the last minute he had to take that exit, then this morning a bus stopped in the 1st lane on the Panam to pick up passengers/buy breakfast/chat to his mates, truck behind him barely stops, I just stop in time, bus behind me swerves into middle lane as he can't stop, and the bus behind him nearly made us the filling in the sandwich. I always try to avoid the 1st lane for that very reason, but we had just joined and there was no gap.
What concerns me with the Mazda is the side/rear protection - the 3 got a poor rating for side impacts, and the Peruvian versions didn't come with side/curtain air bags. I've also seen the results of some rear impacts in the 3
Our eldest will be coming out of her high back booster soon as she is just too big, but then we're loosing a bit of extra head protection (a particular worry as she has cochlear implants), hence all my over-thinking of the safety aspect, and the Legacy does by all accounts seems to be a safer/stronger vehicle.
