How hardcore are MX3's!?
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Coming home from work today and someone smashed into the back of my car at a round a bout. I looked behind to see what the damage to the car behind was and saw it was one of the work lads so we pulled off the road and inspected the damage, the lad was shitting himself (both have a mutual love for cars) and his words said it all "Of all the people I hit, it had to be you…." . He knows about the work I've put into my car so far so was concerned for all the efforts.
Any way, I looked to his car first (a focus) and saw nothing but a little mark on the bumper, then I gradually turned to the 3 expecting to see a crumpled or cracked bumper/lights or number plates. Nothing!
We were both pretty relieved but it made me think how hard core the MX3 has been built. It wasn't a little tap either, my car moved a good few feet. I've seem newer cars been smashed to pieces with crashes like this and due to their soft crumple zones and flimsy plastic bumpers and wings, need lights, bonnets, bumpers and wings replacing!
Now, what's safer? A brand new tap me and write me off car or an old built like a tank car? I know where my alliance is at.
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I used to have a Rover 827 Vitesse. Best thing about it was the 2.7l v6 Honda engine.
Anyhow, in the rain I slid into the back of a moped at a zebra crossing.The centre of the bonnet hit his rear number plate.Glass from the headlights was thrown up against the windscreen. The guy on the moped turned around and pulled into the side. He got his bike checked out and it cost me £25 for a new number plate bracket.
The Rover on the other hand needed new front bumper, 1 headlight,2 indicators and the bonnet repaired and resprayed. Total cost at the time £1200. :lol:
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Knowing our mazda's the number plate lights will now drop out and dangle like fluffy dice at the back. :roll: :roll:
Who needs crumple zones, most of the cars on the road have them now so when we hit them they will take the pain, I think most manufacturers invented them to sell more spare parts and keep their factories busy
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Mines taken a small low speed impact to the rear, it just flexed the rear bumper and chipped some paint.
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I was reversing into parking space and didnt realise that 2 foot high steel posts had been installed at the end of each bay. The rear bumper hit it. It sounded really bad from inside the car. Jumped out expecting to find the bumper in half, but no damage except a mark on the paint.
So anyone travelling to Cardiff, beware when parking in NCP car park opposite Millenium stadium. :lol:
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@873291e7e2=martin:
I was reversing into parking space and didnt realise that 2 foot high steel posts had been installed at the end of each bay. The rear bumper hit it. It sounded really bad from inside the car. Jumped out expecting to find the bumper in half, but no damage except a mark on the paint.
So anyone travelling to Cardiff, beware when parking in NCP car park opposite Millenium stadium. :lol:exactly the same thing happened to me in worthing on the weekend :?
no damge except a slight scuff though :D
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Ouch, at least the car and you are alright!
@a4fae1547d:
Who needs crumple zones, most of the cars on the road have them now so when we hit them they will take the pain, I think most manufacturers invented them to sell more spare parts and keep their factories busy
They are there to lessen the deceleration G forces you/the passengers experience & to crumple in a pre determined way, which is great in high(er) speed crashes but its why they fold up in low speed crashes. The passenger cell is made to be very strong though. Wouldn't like to smack into a modern Mondeo, Focus (or anything very modern really) at any sort of speed in the '3.
I was reading a really good thread on another forum about older cars vs. newer cars in crashes on a forum a few weeks ago, can't find it now though :(
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**Indeed. Red bounced when she was hit (though I was accelerating forward too, which helped) and the stresses of the collision weren't absorbed by her, but by me with a week of whiplash. The Megane folded, exactly as it was designed to, though the age of its occupants means they didn't escape injury.
I might have got out of it without a penny lost and my car in rude health, but it was just low speed. At higher speeds, I'd still absorb a lot of the forces at play and end up as a thin smear of human paste.**