September 2007
Will NCAP ever test how well cars protect rear-seat occupants from impact from the rear? Or in the grand scheme of crashes is it just statistically unlikely that your car will be hit up the rear with great force? Or do they assume that if it happens, it'll be a modern car with a good crumple zoney bonnet that hits you, and therefore IT will do most of the absorbing for you?
For the first time in probably over a decade I recently rode in the back of a supermini ? a ?99 Micra, on a fast but curvy single-carriageway trunk road, and I was surprised how vulnerable I felt with another vehicle also doing 60 mph close (but not unduly) behind.
Blimey, in a Ford Ka, the back of one?s head must be practically brushing the rear screen.
I was reminded of that traffic-cops type TV programme on several months back where a young woman (the driver) had tragically been killed when her car (was it a Peugeot 206?) became sandwiched between a truck and an Audi estate. The truck was big-ish but not an HGV, and it turned out its driver had been fiddling with a cellphone, and realised so little of events that he thought he?d crashed into the Audi.
I have read that it?s recommended that baby seats are safest in the rear seat of a car, but it feels to me safer for a 2 year old toddler?s forward-facing seat to be strapped into the front passenger seat in a ?99 Micra in case anything runs into the back of the car.
Bit of a dilemma really, if you?re after a car which is shortish in length (perhaps you have limited parking space) ? but need to be able to seat people in the back.
I?d be interested to see the comparative rear-impact performance of say Fabia and Focus hatches against their saloon and estate versions.
I see Fifth Gear are to (frontal) crash a Renault Modus into an old Volvo (240-ish) on tonight?s programme. I?m betting that the Modus will be deemed to ?have done well, and have minimal deformation of the passenger compartment?, ?but what G-forces would its passengers have been subjected to? As Clarkson observes, ?Speed never killed anybody. It?s the abrupt stop that does for you.?
In other words, it?s all very well having a rigid passenger cell, but surely there?s little substitute for plain old distance (and therefore time) between point of contact and point of coming to rest?
If I?m travelling at 10 m/s (22 mph) and crash into a rigid immovable object like a concrete bridge pillar, but my theoretical car?s bonnet is 5 metres long, it may have been fairly easy to engineer the car to take 1 second to crush the entire length of the bonnet, in which case I?m subjected to a deceleration of 1G and laugh it off. But if my bonnet is 1 metre long, I?m subjected to 5G. And so on.
In the case of a lighter, short-bonneted car crashing head-on into a heavier car, the small car may not just come to rest, but may finish up going backwards, i.e. a deceleration through zero mph and out the other side.
Maybe at typical speeds the difference in G forces with a bonnet 1 foot long rather than 5 feet long aren?t significant (they?re both very bad)?
Number-Cruncher to crunch some numbers please.
I think the accident in that TV programme some months ago happened at a motorway exit notorious in rush-hour for vehicles having to queue along the left lane of the motorway itself. Not a terribly uncommon scenario these days, so, Messrs NCAP (or somebody), what about measuring protection from impacts to the rear ?
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Some scrote broke into my friends Ford Puma and stole the Ford CD player.
Rather than just break the window, they have used some sort of lever between the window and the channel (is there a correct name for this?) that it slides in.
It feels like there is some metal bent about 6 inches down from the top corner of the door.
It is sticking out about 1/2 inch over a length of about 1 inch.
The friend is going to Autoglass or similar tomorrow.
Is the damage likely to be repairable.
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Punto got the same treatment a few years ago - door frame bent back with a crowbar.
Local bodyshop bent the frame back into shape, resprayed the damaged paint and repaired the lock in a day. There's a slight crease left at the point where the frame was bent, which leaks when a power washer is pointed straight at it, but otherwise I've had no problems since.
Would anyone like to work out roughly how much they spend per hour to run a car ( total annual cost divided by approx time actually spent in the vehicle ).
I'm still working mine out btw. Read more
I have a friend who always has a Mercedes S-Class from new for a couple of years or, in the last instance, a recently discarded Bentley (a heap of trouble from brand new) and we once worked out it was costing him more than £3 a mile for his motoring.
He never even flinched...:-)
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
Wagon R with the Vaux engine. Large rubber pipe runs across front of engine, then changes to aluminium and turns downward through 90 deg, running down beside the dipstick tube, to couple into the front of the engine block. At least, I think it is the engine block because it is not possible to get direct line of sight to this point.
Pipe has broken off where it meets the block and a matching ragged edge can be felt but not clearly seen. Believe this pipe to be something to do with the aircon.
Has anyone seen this before please?
Thank you
s Read more
Thank you for the reply, I suspected as much and presume that this is a known fault. Appreciate the confirmation
Rgds.
Probably old hat now but:
jalopnik.com/cars/frankfurt-auto-show/mazda6-image...p
Maybe I should have waited ;-) No the Mondeo and therefore Mazda6 too wide. And I get my new car in October anyway. Read more
At least I do not look so stupid ;-) Thanks PU. Quite like the look of the outside and the inside not bad either. Shame (a) it's wider than even a 5 series and (b) not out yet. Then again I get the current Mazda Mazda6 at a lower monthly cost ;-)
Just been to look at the current new ford fiesta today for SWMBO and we both quite liked what we saw.
So I was just wondering if anyone on here has got / had one and could tell me what they are like to live with?
I know the Ka 1.3 has a lot of people slating the push-rod (?) engines and the lack of galvanising, but is there anything I should know about the Fiesta?
Model we were looking at was the 1.4 Zetec climate (with free sports and tech pack - special offer at the mo).
Any other suggestions for a better car for £8k new also greatfully accepted, but mainly looking for advice on the Fiesta.
Thanks
s
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Hmm whether it is a 1.25 or 1.4 it is a sweet revving 16v engine
that performs at its best if the revs are used it surely would haved zipped
up those hills with a satisfying zing as it revved had it been allowed to.
Cheddar - have you tried this engine in a recent model? Historically I would agree with you - these were some of the best small four cylinder engines anywhere. Our mkIV Fiesta 1.4 was lively, revvy and surprisingly zippy. In the current Fiesta they feel breathless and strangled. All the "zing" has gone, and they clearly struggle with the extra weight. The example I drove was also horribly coarse.
Underpowered cars can be fun if they're sweet revving (small Fiat syndrome). I think it's a sad indictment of the state of modern cars when a good 1400cc petrol engine can't deliver acceptable performance in a "small" car.
Cheers
DP
Must admit I'm impressed having seen some pics of the Ceed SW, I think it's better looking than the hatch - anyone else seen it? If I were wanting a new medium-size estate it'd be top of the list. Read more
The cee'd sw is very nice and good vehicle. Here in Slovenia it is one of the most affordable wagons avaliable at the market. SO it is selling very well here.
What are the numbers of cee'ds sold in UK?
Did you already see it's three door sporty sibling? Look here: www.kia-world.net/index.php/2007/11/23/kia-pro_cee.../
I have a Nissan Xtrail 52plate 2002,51k miles full Nissan service history.I have looked on Parkers and other sites for a valuation to sell private,the prices being quoted seem quite low compared to what similar cars are being advertised for in the press.
How much should i advertise it for and is Autotrader best place to sell if so online or in the magazine any help appreciated
s
Andrew. Read more
Put it on for just under 8k see how it goes.
Looking at the cars being marked up by EuroNCAP recently it occurs to me that their results are becoming increasingly meaningless.
Just about every new car on the market is getting 5 stars these days. This devalues the whole thing -- there must be differences between the best and the worst on the market? Read more
" Wide enough to lose a whole car "
Not to mention a bike! I was amazed to discover that Honda's new Civic has the same problem - does their car division not know they make bikes, too?
I'm afraid that NCAP just ensures that cars are being made to have nice safe accidents in...
Im taking a 93 Corsa SRi in part ex on my Fiat. It needs the rear bushes doing badly - anyone know the rough cost of this work?
There is also a wobble through the steering - not very bad but enough to be annoying! Any clues as to what could cause this?
Other than that the car drives very well so Im hoping it can be turned round quite easily.
s Read more
I spoke to my mechanic today and he said the knocking is most likely either broken spring/s or the tops of the shocks are broken. Good call guys. He didnt even mention the bushes so i think that can be ruled out.
He reckoned the tyres were prob at fault with the steering and a swap with the rears would most likely sort that unless there was a real issue with them.
Im looking forward to my guzzler - wish it could be a V6 Lancia Thema but as I recall, they arent what you would call solid on the engineering front. Still the classiest mainstream italian saloon of the 80's tho, even better than the Alfa 164 ( less showy ).
Not entirely. When people are on their home turf they unconsciously drop their guard and fall into last-few-corners habit. Can be disastrous.