Why you never buy a Saxo...

Dave85 · 20 Aug 2008 at 14:18

yeh bledd says he is getting the bus for the next year

bledd · 20 Aug 2008 at 14:19

paradigm said:
This is EXACTLY why you get taught to NOT swerve.

what if there's 5 babies having a picnic with the deer

Lead_Head · 20 Aug 2008 at 14:26

If it was a largeish deer it'd sweep the deer off it's feet and gone straight through the windscreen wouldn't it?

GravyMonster · 20 Aug 2008 at 14:31

bledd. said:
what if there's 5 babies having a picnic with the deer

Baby soup.

YorkshirePadd26 · 20 Aug 2008 at 14:34

This very nearly happened to me the other week,

Driving along happly, then the girlfriend grabs the wheel and we nearly end up in a ditch, only ABS and fairly grippy new tires saved us.
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Why does she grab the wheel i heard you all ask ?
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Because there was a sparrow on the road ! couldn't believe her ! she's done the same thing before because of a hedgehog in the road! :mad:

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Lord-Jaffa · 20 Aug 2008 at 14:36

YorkshirePadd26 said:
This very nearly happened to me the other week,

Driving along happly, then the girlfriend grabs the wheel and we nearly end up in a ditch, only ABS and fairly grippy new tires saved us.
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Why does she grab the wheel i heard you all ask ?
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Because there was a sparrow on the road ! couldn't believe her ! she's done the same thing before because of a hedgehog in the road!
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Im sorry but your girlfriend is a complete moron.

K.C. Leblanc · 20 Aug 2008 at 14:37

Jez said:
Nope, normal 10 month admiral policy paid upfront. After they paid for the car as a total loss they asked me if i would like to continue cover on another car, or whether i would like to cancel. I cancelled as bell turned out to be cheaper.

Were you at fault, or were Admiral just handling the claim?

People, it's the VTR that had a low insurance group not the VTS.

Jez · 20 Aug 2008 at 14:47

K.C. Leblanc said:
Were you at fault, or were Admiral just handling the claim?

Still unresolved

thecremeegg · 20 Aug 2008 at 14:50

French cars stand up pretty well in crashes, at least the clios do

K.C. Leblanc · 20 Aug 2008 at 14:52

Jez said:
Still unresolved

Good luck getting it sorted.

Howard · 20 Aug 2008 at 14:57

Lead_Head said:
If it was a largeish deer it'd sweep the deer off it's feet and gone straight through the windscreen wouldn't it?

It would probably have punted it off into the bushes with resonably minor front end damage to the car. When my dad hit a deer at about 40-50MPH it shot off yonder, and there as no visible damage to the car (Hyundai).

Jamie1984 · 20 Aug 2008 at 15:06

bledd. said:
what if there's 5 babies having a picnic with the deer

yeah but for me its instict....its hard to override instinct for situations you cant anticipate.

edit: it appears ive misquoted but what the hell!

cant override swerving out the way!

Knubje · 20 Aug 2008 at 15:16

gord said:
Oh deer

Best response in thread so far...

Repta · 20 Aug 2008 at 15:33

YorkshirePadd26 said:
snip

My girlfriend would be out of the car and have to walk if she did that

stigggeh · 20 Aug 2008 at 15:48

thecremeegg said:
French cars stand up pretty well in crashes, at least the clios do

I think the saxo is pretty pants, IIRC its an Ncap 1 star car (early model) and 2 star for the newer ones?

edit: from euro ncap.

The Saxo is an older design which is no longer being developed by Citroen, and a new model is about a year away. The performance is at the bottom end of the cars under test. The child restraint performance was better than for a number of newer cars tested in this phase of Euro NCAP.

Front impact
The steering wheel moved more than allowed in the crash and the driver’s head reached a point where it was starting to move off the airbag which in some circumstance can become dangerous. The airbag also bottomed-out so allowing the driver’s head to contact the steering wheel. The body shell was defeated by the severity of the test and the occupant’s survival space was compromised. Despite load limiters being fitted to the front seat belts the chest loads were high. The front seat belts are also fitted with pretensioners which are designed to limit forward movement in the event of a crash. The door opened during the test and which was caused by the linkage being operated when the door’s inner skin separated from the outer. There were aggressively hard structures under the facia that would cause injuries to the knees and upper legs. Only a simple two point static belt was fitted in the centre rear seat, which can cause severe spinal and abdominal injuries.

Side impact
There is no specific structure in the Saxo doors to combat side impact. The chest and arm were hit by the incoming door, whilst the abdomen was contacted by the protruding armrest. The pelvis was loaded by a foam block. The loading on the chest gave rise to the risk of severe injury with only a slightly less risk of injury to the abdomen and pelvis.

Child-protection
The child restraints were both forward facing and provided very good protection in the frontal test except that for the 1½-half-year old’s neck loads were high, which is a common failing for forward facing seats. In the side impact the seats were also good performers except that the 3-year-old’s seat did not keep the child’s head contained within the seat wings.

Pedestrian protection
As with most of the cars we have tested in this class the pedestrian protection score come almost entirely from the adult and child impact assessments. However two of the leg impact sites were also graded as giving weak protection.

Emlyn_Dewar · 20 Aug 2008 at 15:55

I'd say out of all the pictures of crashed Saxo's, and there have been many, that one looks alright given the description of the accident.
Considering that they usually buckle into a small heap of metal in the slightest low speed accident, I think that your friend was extremely lucky.
Could be one situation where swerving was the right idea, wouldn't like to see what state the car would be in if it met a stationary deer.

Vertigo · 20 Aug 2008 at 15:56

Lord-Jaffa said:
Im sorry but your girlfriend is a complete moron.

Seconded. The first time she did it you should have kicked her out of the car and left. The second time you should have dumped her altogether. What an idiot.

ethos · 20 Aug 2008 at 15:57

Vertigo1 said:
Seconded. The first time she did it you should have kicked her out of the car and left. The second time you should have dumped her altogether. What an idiot.

A tad over the top there physco.

I take it you've never had a girlfriend?

Relationships are full of these sorts of things

Emlyn_Dewar · 20 Aug 2008 at 15:59

Lord-Jaffa said:
Im sorry but your girlfriend is a complete moron.

Only just saw this...
Agreed with the above quote. She should not be allowed in the front passenger seat of a car if she's so stupid that she'd risk death for the sake of a sparrow.

I'd be telling her to walk from now on, you owe it to yourself and other UK road users.

Leeum · 20 Aug 2008 at 16:46

stigggeh said:
I think the saxo is pretty pants, IIRC its an Ncap 1 star car (early model) and 2 star for the newer ones?

Precisely... I thought that was common knowledge. You can't buy a car with a poor safety rating and moan when it crumples like a bean tin in a crash.

FWIW, I think a VTS in the hands of an inexperienced/ immature driver is tempting fate. It's no wonder Saxos are blacklisted with high premiums.