Mitsubishi's sporty and agile 380 sedan has topped its class in the two topics of most interest to today's motorists - safety and economical running - in the last two days.

Yesterday the 380 was hailed as having recorded the best ever result for an Australian built passenger car in the latest round of ANCAP crash testing. Today it was considered the least expensive of all of the family cars to run.

In the ANCAP testing results announced yesterday the Mitsubishi 380 scored a solid four-star rating. It scored 15.69 out of a possible 16.0 in the side impact test, and a maximum 4.0 out of 4.0 points in three of the four tests conducted for this result (head, chest and pelvis).

The judges made mention "the passenger compartment held its shape well in the offset crash test", and this is designed into the car through Mitsubishi's RISE (Realised Innovative Safety Evolution) body construction. At the same time the judges praised the 380 for its seatbelt reminders that are fitted as standard.

Today the motoring clubs released their running costs, which showed that the 380 cost virtually the same to run as a Toyota Prius hybrid (72.55 cents/km compared to 71.87 cents/km), was cheaper to run than a Falcon or Commodore LPG (72.55 cents/km compared to 77.32 cents/km and 80.05 cents/km) respectively, and was less expensive to run than any other large family car (72.55 cents/km compared to 75.00 for Camry V6, 79.70 for Falcon and 80.25 for Commodore). Additionally it depreciated less, used less fuel, and cost less for servicing and repairs than any of the other Australian family cars.

The judges commented: "Of the local family cars, Australia's Best Cars winner, the Mitsubishi 380, was the cheapest to run at $209.28 (per week), with this lower cost of ownership given a kick along by the recent price cut."

"We set out to design a fundamentally excellent family car, and spent a lot of time developing the body shell and engine management systems locally, so that we knew 380 would be an internationally competitive car," Mitsubishi's CEO, Mr Robert McEniry said.

"The ANCAP results show that the strong and rigid RISE body construction, side intrusion bars, the brake pedal that folds forward in the event of an accident, the four front and side air bags that are standard, and little touches like the standard seatbelt reminder have all contributed to this great result.

"The announcement of running costs today shows that 380 is an economical large car to operate compared to some vehicles that would be considered to be very 'green', while it also gives owners the benefits of a sporty and agile ride, a spacious interior, and a host of standard desirable features. And, it further justifies the release of the new Series 2 range with its exceptional value for money," Mr McEniry said.

Mitsubishi 380 series 2 SX