Offroad-Express

http://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/news/10 ... hinese-ute

Think ill stick to my surf.

I think my 121 would do better than that. lol

I would say the only thing worse than that would probably be Mahindra's ute: http://www.mahindraauto.co.nz/Vehicles/PikUp

Those Mahindras look like they have been crash tested

Hmmmm, I wonder if our 25 year old hiluxes, land cruisers and safaris would do any better. Probably not ..... but i guess you would expect more from a new vehicle.

Ant wrote:Hmmmm, I wonder if our 25 year old hiluxes, land cruisers and safaris would do any better. Probably not ..... but i guess you would expect more from a new vehicle.

Yup! That's about right.
Decent frontal in an old range rover will pretty much guarantee a leg pinning, or loss of, I remember reading and I'm sure some of those old luxs would crumble shockingly too compared to that great wall + no airbags.

That's definitely an apple vs orange comparison, but depending what you might be upgrading to a great wall from...

Taz wrote: but depending what you might be downgrading to a great wall from...

Fixed...

3 star for a 70 cruiser, 5 star for a 90 series prado

http://rightcar.govt.nz/used-car-safety-ratings.html

Jerry wrote:3 star for a 70 cruiser, 5 star for a 90 series prado

http://rightcar.govt.nz/used-car-safety-ratings.html

The current 70's!?!?! Same as a Great Wall aye. How come they aren't calling Toyota out as well....? They are a much bigger manufacturer.

mike wrote:http://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/news/10537894/Crash-test-body-slams-Chinese-ute

Think ill stick to my surf.

What year is your Surf? Unless you've upgraded it looks like its only 1 star

http://rightcar.govt.nz/ucsr.html?group ... %20-%20Ute


4 stars for old Safaris too. Did not expect that.

One star for suzuki samurais. I guess the website wouldn't let them make it a half a star or less
Not suprised about the patrol. Seen some in some serious accidents where the only survivors have been in the nissan. Isn't it just rollover conditions that make them less than ideal??

Taz wrote:

Jerry wrote:3 star for a 70 cruiser, 5 star for a 90 series prado

http://rightcar.govt.nz/used-car-safety-ratings.html

The current 70's!?!?! Same as a Great Wall aye. How come they aren't calling Toyota out as well....? They are a much bigger manufacturer.

mike wrote:http://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/news/10537894/Crash-test-body-slams-Chinese-ute

Think ill stick to my surf.

What year is your Surf? Unless you've upgraded it looks like its only 1 star

http://rightcar.govt.nz/ucsr.html?group ... %20-%20Ute


4 stars for old Safaris too. Did not expect that.

Ahh but you are forgetting one important factor, speed. You get one star for every 5km/hr less you travel at or are capable of travelling at. That rates my surf at around 25 stars

Having had a Safari and now an SJ would expect that, there safari is built like a tank as long as it doesnt end up on the roof, the SJ is fairly much built like a tin can haha but of course its low weight and agility meant it didn't need brute strength.
I considered (breifly) a greatwall or foton but was mainly put off but there poor crash ratings compared to other modern utes..but I guess thats where a lot of the cost savings come from. Happy with my Terrano

3 stars for a 90-97 landcruiser, 4 stars for a newer one, Patrol/Safari 4 stars, Hilux 3 to 4 stars depending on age

http://rightcar.govt.nz/ucsr.html?group=SUV%20-%20Large
http://rightcar.govt.nz/ucsr.html?group=Commercial - Ute

OMG!!! terrano's have a 5 star occupant rating .. your suicidal if ya driving a Rav4 though

KJ Cherokee rates highly. A bit of research shows they turn in BBQs when hit in the rear. Chrysler even did a recall on it.
The modern Pinto?!
How do older non ABS and airbag wagons get 4 stars? I dont know the system but Im buggered if I can figure a pattern/any logic.
Full chassis are not good for crashes as they dont crumple and absorb impacts ie Safaris rating well. Full chassis leave occupants to soak up the speed. Great of road though of course.
Weird.

Crash bandicoot wrote:OMG!!! terrano's have a 5 star occupant rating .. your suicidal if ya driving a Rav4 though

You would have to be suicidal just to buy a rav4.

bang-thud-thump wrote:How do older non ABS and airbag wagons get 4 stars? I dont know the system but Im buggered if I can figure a pattern

I was talking to a guy recently who works for Toyota at their headquarters in Nagoya.

He was telling me that these days a significant portion of Japanese cars contain materials from offfshore, ie China. He summised that this is a contributing factor to the decline of Japanese car quality in recent years, compared to say, the Golden era of 1980-1996ish.

I guess another contributing factor is that in modern times, Japanese have sort of emulated the American build strategy of manufacturing vehicles that are only good for 3 to 5 years before they start shitting out to a point that is economically unviable for the average consumer to repair. 'Planned obsolescence.' Just look at Apple computers for another good example in a different industry. In Apples case they just phase out old technology, forcing the addicted consumer to bend over a bit further and buy their latest product.

Workers unions, rising labor costs, rising material costs and the recession, which is still happening, all contribute too.

The Toyota workers union recently demanded a monthly salary increase of 6000 yen for all assembly and line workers. Which doesn't sound like much but once you multiply that by several thousand employees it starts to affect bottom line.

And like all businesses, they are in business to turn a profit, so corners have to be cut somewhere in order to reduce costs.