Is it fair that 'Driven' test 2 of the vehicles off-road with proper mud tyres, and claim they're the best at pulling an Astra along, whilst the other, the Maverick, ran on road tyres. Then, for the road test, they all had road tyres fitted.
Surely they should explain that this is the case, or fit them all with similar spec tyres?
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didnt notice this...
wasnt it simply that he selected 4 WD on the honda and toyota
but the ford decides itself when its loosing grip and when to put power to the back wheels ?
in such a situation a driver being able to force the car into 4 WD is always going to win versus a car that is trying to work it out itself
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i assumed all this cos the front wheels were spinning away while the rear ones were not hardly turning on the ford
which means its 4 x 4 arrangement is poorly set up (or wasnt used properly?)
if its running through a centre diff, the diff probably is too much of a compromise...
could have pulled the astra betta with a jimny
anyone know what arrangement is behind that fords 4 x 4 system ?
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Unfair, yes. Good TV, probably. But no one goes out and spends their hard-earned on the basis of a few minutes contrived entertainment by Channel 4 presenters.
Or do they?
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They dont ask about the fuel type, neither do they know about ABS. I would think they definitely do.
Jonathan
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my budget wouldnt even stretch to buy the E reg astra in the tests ;-)
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It might be relevant with my Ford F-150 which is auto 4WD. I wil check the manual and see if it has an explanation, There's a big section of off-roading. I haven't had it long and the only off-roading I have done so far needed only 2WD. Next time we go volcano-bashing will be a good test. I must admit auto is a bit strange at first.
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Further to the last one re the Ford auto 4WD this is a US one, so I don't know if the info is of interest, although I suspect the European one is borrowed from Detroit. Instruction manual doesn't say much, merely that the shift quality is automatically controlled by an adaptive learning system maintained by power from the battery. This sytem adapts itself to customer driving habits and driving conditions. This suggests that two drivers with the same vehicle over a similar bit of terrain could have different behaviors from the vehicle!
My Mitsubishi used to plough its way through the lava and sludge up the side of Mt Pinatubo without a qualm manually, I will see how well the Ford does in the same conditions left to its automatic devices. Former was a turbo diesel, this one is a regular gasoline V8. I was able to get the Mitsubishi into some very "interesting" places and the Ford will have a hard act to follow.
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I'm sure that on at least one occasion he was driving the Astra out. The rope was slack but the Maverick was moving forward at the same time
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It strikes me that they have decided the winner before the programme starts. Then they set about rigging the points to give the desired result.
Honestly! (sorry HJ) - kids could do it better. You often have differences of one point where the results should obviously be much wider, and vice versa.
But it's still better than TG.
Ian
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If I wasn't such a great fan of the Fourth Estate, and knowing that it could NEVER happen, I'd suspect that there is a certain amount of payola going on in motoring journalism - worldwide.
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The programme should have been called drivel, not driven. That particular episode seems to have been aimed at a tiny minority. Most 4x4s are never used for towing cars out of mud - they're used for taking kids to school. As for taking speed bumps at 25mph - good grief!.
Other minority interest - Aston Martin worth £158,000.
And what on earth was that fatuous focus comparison about?
No better that top gear.
But p'raps I'm just a miserable old git.
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What I couldn't figure out was why the vehicle which was completely rejected by the farmers still only lost one point to the others and went on to win. If the opinions of the farmers were of no value and were to be overridden by the presenters anyway, then why feature the farmers at all? It must have left every last one of them seething.
But hey, this is a minor quibble about the best motoring show on TV. And what a coup to have this year's Touring Car Champion (and Mel C's boyfriend) working for the show all along. I thought he did a neat job of presenting the Aston Martin. "170....190..." talking to camera. Haven't seen that done before.
HJ
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Ever considered a TV career, HJ?
You could be the david bellamy of motoring - and sales of trilbies would skyrocket!
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Yeah I noticed the tread pattern discrepancy. Mud terrains versus All terrains (or even smoother pattern).
No wonder some had better success than the others.
Also did you see the City car comparision a few weeks ago?
600cc 44bhp Smart (retail £5500) against 1200cc £7500 Ford Ka?
I have the 55bhp Smart, and it wee's all over Ka's, and cost less than 7K !!
Not that I have anything against Ka's, but the test did not compare like for like. I mean, why buy a 2 seater car and then complain about not having 4 seats?
If I'd have been on the show, I'd have pointed this out, and to top the lot, some STUPID girlie said she didn't like the colour. Well DERRRRR ! don't buy it, OR change the panels (if you didn't know, they unbolt in about 20 minutes)...
rgds, Carl
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Just watched it on tape. No, I couldn't figure the scoring either. Frankly I didn't want any of them after that - damn all manoeverability, and hopeless on the speed bumps. I'd have been intrigued to see them subject to the usual high speed slalom test. I wonder why they didn't???
As for JP, he had a genuine smile on his face, so I reckon that Aston must be pretty good, but would you take your eyes off the road at that speed? Absolutely barking! No wonder he won the championship!
Regards
JS
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I'd say all the 'driven 100' tests are crap. the awarding of points seems totally random most of the time.... "mmmm, quite cheap to run this one, we'll give it 19 points. Now as for this one, its 1p a mile more so I reckon........3 points" why don't they just give us THEIR opinion , like Mr Clarkson did. at least it would be entertaining. I would have thought HJ would have had something to say about the hatchet job on the Leon Cupra a few weeks ago.....
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It's in the thread about Leons.
HJ
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