The safest used cars you can buy in 2023

A brand-new five-star ANCAP car is the gold standard for safety but for many of us, prices beyond $35,000 are unaffordable – especially in the current cost-of-living crunch.

Thanks to ANCAP being around for nearly 30 years we can look back at prior scores to compare vehicles but Monash University’s Accident Research Centre (MUARC) has taken a different approach to reveal Australia’s 20 safest used buys.

By using real-world statistical analysis, the study examines data from more than 9 million crashes in Australia and New Zealand and 2.5 million injuries between 1987-2021.

The researchers examined occupant safety but also gathered data on vehicle-other road user incidents, such as pedestrians, cyclists, and other cars to generate the list.

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The 2019-2021 Toyota RAV4 is one of the safest used cars you can buy

Beyond finding the 20 safest vehicles, the study also found that driving a vehicle made in 2021 reduces the chance of serious injury or death in a crash by 33 per cent compared to a car from 2001. Also noteworthy is a total lack of utes in the 20 safest vehicles.

“Serious road trauma resulting from the worst-rated car is more than ten times that of the best rated car in the same crash with the same driver,” said research lead and MUARC director Professor Stuart Newstead.

“If we want to optimise the safety of the fleet, we have to be wary of not just how the vehicle protects you as the driver, but also the injury risk the vehicle poses to other road users.

“The change in focus of the Used Car Safety Ratings to consider the ‘Overall Safety’ rating reflecting serious trauma risk the vehicle poses to all road users is a significant step towards this holistic approach to road safety”, he said.

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The previous-gen Mazda 3 is another safe choice

The 20 safest used cars

The 20 vehicles below (listed alphabetically) scored five stars across all categories. For a full list with all ratings, see this PDF put together by MUARC [↗].

Not all makes and models were sampled so the data set is not as complete as it could be. Still, it gives a good indication of some safe choices for family transport with plenty of Toyota and Mazda models represented.