What is it with 'bloated' cars these days?

In news:1gmaebr.1i1yplu1ua3x6yN% snipped-for-privacy@italiancar.co.uk, SteveH decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

Yup. You're right. My Sierra weighs around 1380kg, has that boat anchor V6 in the front, 4wd, and is lighter than a 4 motion Golf.

Nah, car designers are at least awake.

Just how heavy can anyone make a medium family car, ffs!

Its partly all the safety features like abs etc Partly Extra strenght of the chassis for those ncap tests. Partly being lazy.

Madness innit?

As an example of how much fatter things have got, the Capri weighs in at

The Fiesta TDCi weighs 1140kg... about the same as your Alfa.

That's relatively fat for it's age, too.

And it's only 1ft shorter!

Shocking, when you look at the original Fester.

The 1100 Ghia was 755kgs and 3.7m long. That's lighter than a Ka, and about the same size. Only the Fester had more room inside for passengers and luggage.

More, actually.

Peter

-- "The truth is working in television is not very glamorous at all. I just go home on my own at night and sit alone and eat crisps."

And I'll bet an Austin 1100 beat it hands down. ;-)

I'd say air bags and crumple zones would account for much of the difference in size.

But with a transverse engine you should be able to package more efficiently - have you looked at the length of a 75 bonnet compared with the length of the car? I'd say that a bonnet that long offers an adequate crumple zone ;-)

How much of the engine comes inside the car when you hit another object, though?

The Supra should by rights be astonishingly safe. There's enough room to get the whole Sera engine bay between the block and the front bumper ;)

Bloody safety hardware. Six inch spikes instead of airbags!

Richard

Found this on the DVLA cherished numbers website:

BL04 TED £2,299

I'm pretty sure the substantial torque-tube will arrest any movement of the engine ;-)

Not likely to appear on the chairman's car, then?

Heh! I was worried I'd get that on my Beetle because it's from Brum...

Who the hell would actually buy it?!

Richard

Crash both into the same object, at the same speed, and then see which one you prefer...

Nice little Ka dig there ;) Subtle :D

Some fat bastard? I was thinking of buying it actually :-)

Peter

-- "The truth is working in television is not very glamorous at all. I just go home on my own at night and sit alone and eat crisps."

I don't plan on crashing.

HTH.

You're right, most people don't, heh.

But when Ford made the Mondeo safe and heavy, everybody else had to make their cars stronger (with more metal) to compensate... :)

Does anyone, outside of somewhere like Arena Essex when the banger racing is on, 'plan' on crashing?

It's nice to know that if I do, (or someone chooses to attempt to wipe me out, driving pissed up on my side of the road round a blind bend etc.), I'm more likely to sustain a good buffing from an airbag, rather than my spleen being ruptured by various sharp bits of metal etc.

I've been a passenger in a Mk1 Fiesta that skidded on diesel left on a corner, and slid sideways into lamp post, and the lack of impact bars etc., meant it wrapped its midrift quite nicely round said lamp post, causing me, (being the tallest and planted bang in the middle of the rear seat), to sustain moderate head injuries.

Coming round to the smell and sight of smoke coming from under the bonnet, with blood pissing from your head whilst all your mates who've since got free are screaming 'Get him out, it's gonna go up', and not being able to get one of your legs free from under the drivers seat isn't exactly the nicest thing in the world to wake up to, either.

I'm not saying this wouldn't happen in a more modern car, but I think it's less likely, due to the additional strengthening and safety features implemented since then, that yes, create more bulk and weight.

Newer cars might in general, be more heavier than their predecessors... but they've also got engines run by far more efficient methods, such as ECUs, fuel injection etc.

They also tend to be more aerodynamic than a brick, which also helps in this respect.

So I know which I'd rather have anyway, especially given running costs fuel wise are normally no worse, if not better for modern stuff over their contemporaries.

Having said all that, I still, as you know, have a big bike in the stables as well, so go figure! ;-)