[JimD]

With respect to side crashes, the space beside the rear seat occumpants is where the top mechanism folds into. It takes up this space at the side and the upper couple inches of the trunk space. In a way that provides additional crush space on the sides but I wouldn't want the steel bars that support the top coming at me either. If the top is up, however, then there is a couple inches empty space between the outside of the car and the closest rear seat occupant.

I also consider BMWs better engineered than most cars regardless of whether that always shows up on crash test data results. I think it's important to remember that the crash tests are for a very specific set of conditions most of us will never experience. Some car manufacturers design for these tests which may help somewhat in real life but I'd rather they just make the car stout and have crumple zones.

I'm glad my kids got past this point before the government decided they need to tell us how to parent our kids. My son was well over 5 feet tall at 12.

Jim