Five safety stars for new Mazda3

BMW’s first electric car, the i3, has failed to achieve a maximum five-star safety rating from Euro NCAP, as has Ford’s new compact crossover, the EcoSport.

In contrast, however, the new Mazda3 leads a list of six cars to score five stars in the latest round of Euro NCAP safety testing, including Mitsubishi’s Outlander PHEV, Peugeot 308, Maserati Ghibli and Infiniti Q50, all of which go on sale here next year.

Euro NCAP said the i3, which will go on sale in Australia priced from about $60,000 next July, provided only “weak” adult chest protection in severe side impacts and “marginal” whiplash protection from its front seats and head restraints in a rear-end collision.

The i3 scored a total of 31 points and 86 per cent for adult occupant protection, 81 per cent for child protection, 57 per cent for pedestrian protection and 55 per cent for its safety assist features.

Ford’s new Indian-built EcoSport, which went on sale in Australia this week priced from just $20,790, scored 34 points overall and 93 per cent for adult protection, 77 per cent for child protection, 58 per cent for pedestrian protection and 55 for safety assist.

Meantime the new Mazda3, which goes on sale here in February, achieved the same 34-point overall score and 86 per cent for adult protection, but 65 per cent for child protection and 81 for safety assist.

Although overall scores cannot be compared across different vehicle types, the five-star Ghibli (also due here early next year) also scored 34 points, while the 308 (due here in mid-2014) scored 33, the Outlander PHEV (to be launched here in March) scored 32 and the Q50 (also due in early 2014) scored 31.

Ford’s Torneo Connect van (34 points) was the other model to score a maximum five-star rating in the latest round of Euro NCAP tests.

Other four-star cars, meantime, were the Volkswagen T5 Transporter Kombi (28 points), Nissan Note (31 points) and Mercedes-Benz Citan Kombi (29 points).

Based on the Renault Kangoo, the latter was retested after a sub-standard three-star crash test result in April, after which Benz undertook modifications, withheld people-mover variants from sale globally and delayed the Australian launch until next year.

Four-star cars:
BMW i3
Ford EcoSport
Nissan Note
Mercedes-Benz Citan Kombi
Volkswagen T5

Five-star cars:
Ford Torneo Connect
Infiniti Q50
Maserati Ghibli
Mazda3
Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV
Peugeot 308

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