Volvo XC90
Strongly considering the new Volvo XC90 as it is the safest family vehicle I can think of, looks good inside out as well. People who own Volvos, can you comment on the typical Volvo maintenance? Is it expensive to maintain like BMWs? I currently own a 09 bmw328i and averaging 1500$ in maintenance per year for last 3 years.
$1500 is pretty typical for a car.
The safest vehicle is a minivan: http://www.accessmagazine.org/articles/fall-2002/suvs-really-safer-cars/ To the people inside, SUVs are similar in safety to good quality compact and subcompact cars such as the Jetta (cheap compact cars make the whole category look worse). SUVs are more harmful to the people in the other vehicle involved in the accident, though. So: you don't gain anything in safety for yourself, and you may hurt other people. Plus, SUVs are ostentatious. Plus-plus, Volvo has some good-looking wagons.
mini van small overlap https://youtu.be/TZC8Ykl1esE xc90 small overlap https://youtu.be/Rf7t_D0CSgg XC90 and Volvo are miles ahead of anyother vehicle discussed in that article. Roll over of XC90 at 1.30 in this vid https://youtu.be/cw64wdDQsFQ
If we're seriously looking at ratings, then I found this from the same source as that minivan crash video: http://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/TSP-List Of those, it looks like the Volvo vehicle you favor is not as highly rated as their other ones (including the V60 - my favorite).
I was considering it too, but will have to wait. did you do a test drive? how does it compare to say Audi Q5/Q7?
yes, i did. its ofcourse not as sporty as X5 but is very composed and comfortable, good enough for a family hauler.
Teslas already have great crash ratings (I think 5 stars), then when you add autopilot they're supposed to be 10x safer than a normal car. Not sure if autopilot has reached that level yet, but it's probably already 2-3x safer.
Apparently the Model X hasn't been crash tested yet, but it's expected to do well. The Model S is known to be one of the safest cars (5 stars in every category). http://electrek.co/2016/03/07/tesla-flip-model-x-crash-tests-safety/
Tesla's are the safest cars available. equal in rating to a few other cars, they are ahead in safe driving automation.
I have one, it's great. Maintenance I would say is cheaper. Highly recommend.