Next week's Fifth Gear.

[cpas]

Did anyone notice the end bit of Fifth Gear last night, where they showed a preview of next week's programme?
It appears that they have crashed the oldest Discovery they can find into a new Espace. I cynically suspect the Disco will be shown as having come off badly so they can rant on about how unsafe 4x4s really are. If they used a new shape Espace then this has a 5-star NCAP rating so will obviously do better in a crash test (as did the one they tested a couple of years ago).
I wonder what the outcome will be, and hope I am wrong!

[niva441]

The pictures were in last weeks Auto Express.

Yes it's a 300 series (Designed for 30 mph impact), both cars are travelling at 40. So not surprisingly when crashed at a speed higher than it was designed for it comes off worse. Although considering that it didn't do too badly and the MIRA engineer did say that the test didn't prove the Disco wasn't safe.

Sorry if I've ruined next weeks episode for anyone.

[eliot]

All 5th gear ever seem to do is dream up scenarios to crash cars, It's so dull - the dramatic music adds nothing.

[niva441]

Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

>> Edited by niva441 on Wednesday 12th April 11:52

[cpas]

In some ways their tests are good, eg when they showed the Range Rover versus Rover 800 hitting a pedestrian test, and showed the Rangy did less damage due to a larger 'collection' area, but they do sometimes tweak the details to suit what they want people to see.

[niva441]

Unfortunately AutoExpress is similar. It's handy in that it's a light weekly news summary, but I find it's coverage does tend towards sensationalism at the expense of fully representing the facts.

[cpas]

I cancelled my subscription of Auto Express recently as they didn't always seem to tell the full truth and seemed to love Tabloid-style sensationalism.
How do I get rid of this advert by my thread?!

>> Edited by cpas on Wednesday 12th April 13:20

[niva441]

I should do as well, by continuing to buy it I'm only encouraging shoddy standards of journalism.

The previous one that got me was their 'Driver Power' study, they continually referred to the Rover 75 / MG ZT as BMW designed. As I was there at the time they may have been BMW influenced, but not designed.

>> Edited by niva441 on Wednesday 12th April 19:52

[alfaspiderman2]

out of interest, would the Series 2 Discovery have performed any better in the crash test? - speaking as someone who's planning to get one to shift my family around

[Graham]

alfaspiderman2 said:

out of interest, would the Series 2 Discovery have performed any better in the crash test? - speaking as someone who's planning to get one to shift my family around

I dont know they are a very similar design but they dont share any body or chassis parts

[niva441]

Similar design concept, but 25 year later design and designed with later crash standards in mind.

[BLUETHUNDER]

Monoqoque chassis as opposed to ladder frame chassis.Absorbs impact damage better.

[niva441]

Series 2 is still a ladder frame, series 3 is a hybrid of monocoque and ladder frame.

[BLUETHUNDER]

series 3 was what i meant.sorry.