safest citroen ?

mark_sp · Unread post by **mark_sp** » 24 Jul 2003, 03:17

Recently there has been a thread running regarding the fastest production Citroen. I'd like to know what the safest production Citroen is/was. Citroens never appear to do very well in the NCAP tests. I know this is a very subjective question which is going to be more difficult to answer than the speed one. My guess is that it's either a CX or an Activa.
Mark_sp

Unread post by **Jon** » 24 Jul 2003, 13:24

The C3 C5 and the C8 are definately the safest in terms of NCAP, closely followed by the Xsara Picasso which also scored well, here are the Euro NCAP results below
Xsara Picasso **** Front & Side impact rating ** Pedestrian test rating
C5 **** Front & Side impact rating. ** Pedestrian test rating
C3 **** Front & Side impact rating. ** Pedestrian test rating
Xsara hatch *** Front & Side impact rating. ** Pedestrian test rating
The "safest" Citroen is actually the Citroen C8. (tested as Peugeot 807, same thing) which was recently awared 5 stars.
Citroen C8/Peugeot 807
***** Front & Side impact rating
For pedestrains, the C8 is bad news, scoring a lowly 1 star.
So, the C8 is the safest Cit to have a crash in! But all of the modern designs, C3, C5 and Picasso score an impressive 4 stars.
Prior to this, amazingly it was the XM which made a good score when it was tested in the 90's.
Bad news for Xantia owners though, heres what NCAP say:
<i>The Xantia scored two stars, mainly as a result of the poor protection offered to the driver's head and chest in the side impact, and passenger compartment structural instability in the frontal impact. The two-star rating also resulted from the poor protection offered to the driver's chest, knees, thighs and pelvis in the frontal test. In this test, only the lower legs had good protection. There was excessive intrusion of the footwell, and stiff structures designed into the lower facia increased the risk of injury to the driver's knees, thighs and pelvis. In the side-impact test, the driver's head struck the pillar between the front and rear doors, and protection for this body region and for the chest was rated as poor. The Citroen Xantia has a standard-fit airbag that provided adequate head protection during the frontal impact.</i>

mbunting · Unread post by **mbunting** » 24 Jul 2003, 13:33

Is that because there's 3km of engine bay to crunch before it reaches the passenger compartment !
I would have thought that the handbrake thingy in the foot well would have been dangerous in an accident...
Mind you, I've seen a few Xantia's in scrap yards which appear to have been folded in two !

Unread post by **Jon** » 24 Jul 2003, 14:23

PS, don't fancy having an accident in a Saxo............

mbunting · Unread post by **mbunting** » 24 Jul 2003, 14:31

Don't suppose you've got any of the AX ?
I bet that's bad !!

adrianeaton · Unread post by **adrianeaton** » 24 Jul 2003, 15:19

Probably on of the best deterants to crashing that hire car in Italy.....

Big issue these days is compatibility as opposed to outright crash performance. These tests replicate hitting an identical size car - consider what the result would be if the one above was hit by something heavier/bigger/more aggresive!
Believe it or not, a modern Polo would go straight through something like a BX or old Granada for example due to its structural stiffness.
Adrian

mark_sp · Unread post by **mark_sp** » 24 Jul 2003, 15:25

But what about crash avoidance ? thats why I suggested the Activa.
Mark_sp

adrianeaton · Unread post by **adrianeaton** » 24 Jul 2003, 15:37

Primary safety is another topic altogether!
The problem with identifying the safest car taking primary and secondary safety into account is that if you avoid having an accident through primary safety features, there's nothing to record in a statistical sense to be able to rank a car.
Makes it quite difficult to determine the effect of requiring ABS, for example. In the real world, people still have almost as many accidents where ABS might help - often because they don't respond in the 'correct' way to avoid the accident using the features available.
Primary safety testing will become a feature of results in the future - in Japan they already provide reports on outright braking performance for cars. The European version will be somewhat more wide reaching [;)]
Adrian

Unread post by **Jon** » 24 Jul 2003, 15:38

Its the Rover 100 (Metro) pic that scares me, funnily enough it was quietly withdrawn from the market not long after the NCAP test.

adrianeaton · Unread post by **adrianeaton** » 24 Jul 2003, 15:42

Yep, sales stopped overnight!
I know of 1 woman who had just taken delivery of a new 100 - took it back the day after the results came out and rejected the car, went out and bought a Polo!
Took a while for stocks of 100's to sell out, but it was really the last nail in the coffin for the old shed.
I can remember measuring one up for testing and on marking the centre line of the car it turned out to be over an inch out front-to-back! Now there's build quality for you! The outer wing curled up at the windscreen end where a bent panel had been fitted, and had also missed being sprayed as a result [:0]...and this thing was bought brand new for a dealer forecourt!
Adrian

benj · Unread post by **benj** » 24 Jul 2003, 17:16

HEY, I DRIVE A 100, NOT THE SAFEST CAR OR THE BEST FINISHED, BUT IT HANDLES WELL AND NOT TO SLOW, ITS RELAIBILTY IS THE BEST ASSET AND ITS CHEAPER TO RUN THAN A BICYCLE, IT WAS DESIGNED IN '78, SO QUIT GIVING IT A HARD TIME, ROVERS MISTAKE WAS NOT KILLING IT AT THE END OF THE EIGHTIES LEAVING IT WITH ANY RESPECT IT HAD, NOT DRAGGING IT ON LIKE A HAS BEEN ROCK STAR.
DONT DISS ONE TO YOU DRIVE ONE.
PS I AQUIRED ONE BY DEFAULT SO STOP OT BEFORE YOU START!!!!

adrianeaton · Unread post by **adrianeaton** » 24 Jul 2003, 17:44

Easy tiger
There's nothing wrong with the 100 so long as you don't have a crash in it, and they are good value as a 2nd hand buy - no doubt about it.
If I had kids and owned one on the other hand, I certainly wouldn't let them be driven round in it.
My comment about it being an old shed is precisely based on your own thoughts - it's an old design that should have made way for a totally new model in the late 80's, and certainly no later!
No offence intended

Adrian

Unread post by **Jon** » 24 Jul 2003, 19:03

Dear Ben, if you could stop shouting in Caps then I would appreciate it.
We raised the issue of the Rover 100 because it is monumental for producing the worse ever crash test result in NCAP, and as a result Rover withdrew the model very soon after.
In addition, I know Adrian knows what he's on about as he works for the Vehicle Inspectorate.

benj · Unread post by **benj** » 24 Jul 2003, 20:21

Jon
Your response is absolutely ridiculous and very childish.
I wasn’t shouting in caps didn’t realise id left the lock on as I use it for work.
Also I AGREED that it’s as useful as a paper shield in a crash.
I didn’t dispute that at all.
and I think its unfair that you are trying to sensor my general opinion with the fact that Adrian is an expert, I didn’t realise this was mastermind.
I think its fair to say that Adrian was slating the car on more than its safety credentials and I think its fair to say I didn’t say anything out of order.
If this is the type of response I’m expected to receive from the admin id rather not post again.
Incidentally I do know what I am talking about too I'm a materials consultant expert and have worked for rover and now currently for Airbus.
Vehicle Inspectorate? so does every grease monkey in every garage which does M.O.T's

Unread post by **Jon** » 24 Jul 2003, 20:43

Adrian works for the Civil Service, Vehicle Safety Policy, so I'd say he was more qualified than most to talk about vehicle safety. In error, I typed vehicle inspectorate.
I don't mind too much about caps, our own system requires that I have caps on all the time and I have to keep remembering to go back in lower case when I come on here. However, on majority of Forums Caps are taken as “shouting”.
If you believe that "Your response is absolutely ridiculous and very childish." either you have a major chip on your shoulder or you are on the wrong Forum. I make posts and offer advice, impartially. I generally moderate or administrate on an annual rather than daily basis as I rarely feel the need to do so. Despite the fact I also happen to run the Forum, and also pay its hosting costs myself.
In fact, come to think of it, why am I arguing over a ****ing Rover 100 in the Citroen Forum?