Citroen, Kia get five-star safety ticks

August 20, 2013 by Alastair Sloane

Kia Cerato

The Citroen DS5 liftback and Kia Cerato sedan each scored a maximim five stars in the latest round of ANCAP crash tests.

The finding also applies to the Cerato hatchback, which goes on sale in New Zealand later this month.

The DS5 scored an overall 35.66 points and the Cerato 35.51 out of the maximum 37. A minimum of 32.5 points is needed for a five-star safety rating.

Honda’s all-new Accord sedan scored only 29.21 points for a four-star result in the Australasian New Car Assessment Programme. It joins the MG6 sedan (27.73) in failing to achieve the maximum safety rating.

Despite a long list of optional active safety equipment, Accord was penalised for an average performance in the frontal offset test.

It scored 2.84 out of 4 for chest protection and 0.38 out of 4 for lower leg protection. The Cerato scored 3.44 for chest protection and 3.07 for lower leg protection; the DS5 scored 3.23 and 3.42.

Honda Australia said in a statement that it was surprised and disappointed with the ANCAP result for Accord.

“The Accord has an impeccable 37-year history and this ninth-generation is no exception,”?it said.

Both the Cerato and DS5 scored perfect marks in side impact testing and the optional side-impact pole test. Pedestrian protection for the Cerato was “acceptable”; for the DS5 “marginal.”

Other cars on New Zealand roads with a recent five-star rating are Peugeot 208, Nissan Pulsar, Holden Trax, Holden VF Commodore, Mitsubishi Pajero.

If you are in a position to shell out upwards of NZ$600,000 for the 60^thanniversary Porsche 911 S/T or optional Porsche 911 S/T Heritage, you’ll no doubt want the signature titanium watch that goes with it. That’s how Porsche figures it anyway. Or, if you want the watch you’ll need to get the car. Both the car and the watch are limited to 1963 units, the year the original 911 model broke cover. The watch – Chronograph 1 911 S/T and Chronograph 1 911 S/T Heritage – and the car carry matching edition numbers. The watch is priced at $US13,500, or around $NZ22,200. The car, says Porsche NZ, starts at $NZ608,000. A “strictly limited number” will go into production for NZ early next year.

Eight European Union countries are pushing to weaken new EU emissions limits for cars, saying they are overly ambitious and unrealistic for carmakers to hit. The eight countries – France, Italy, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia – said in a joint paper that parts of the proposed Euro 7 regulation, including curbs on exhaust pipe emissions, should be scrapped entirely. They said the limits would force carmakers to invest in improving exhaust emissions performance, money which would be better spent on developing zero-emission vehicles. Taken together, the countries would have enough votes to block the proposal.

A go-anywhere EV concept for the US military uses an onboard 12kW diesel generator to top up the batteries on the move. The all-wheel-drive has 800-volt technology and a 200kWh battery pack to power three electric motors, two in the rear and one up front. Claimed output is 745kW/15,590Nm, or 1000hp and 11,500 ft-lb of torque. The four-seater was developed by the defence division of General Motors and is based on the platform of the Hummer SUV. It rides on Fox performance shock absorbers and 37-inch tyres and comes with “exceptional” approach and departure angles for off-road mobility. Maximum range using the generator to keep things ticking over is said to be around 500km.

The outside temperature in Midland, Texas, was 40.5C when staff at the local office of the US National Weather Service set out to show the cabin of a closed car can literally get baking hot in summer. They mixed up a batch of chocolate chip cookies and laid them on the car’s dashboard – the surface of which showed a temperature of 87.7C. A little over four hours later the cookies were ready to eat. “Even though ours weren’t golden brown, we can confirm that they are done and delicious,” the staff wrote on Facebook.