G-Wiz safety

[aminorjourney]

Hi Bakerstreet.

I am truly sorry if I offended you. I am afraid though that I am a bit more skeptical when it comes to trustworthy media I've worked in the media before and I also know how a story can get twisted out of proportion. It really scares me in recent years to think that the public (and the politicians) seem to have taken it on themselves to believe what the press say.

I know I'm an eternal optimist and tend not to see the bad side of things. I know I tend to be quite scientific in my approaches - researching lots and work things out for myself. I know not everyone does that and I'm sorry.

Obviously I can't comment on what the Test driver knowledge is like. I know ours wasn't all that and a packet of crisps, so if you feel that you were lied to you have my sympathy and my agreement that the sales isn't all it should be.

What I had to say on the subject was controversial and I did realise that prior to actually saying it. I had also thought long and hard about it before hitting the 'post' button. I'm not into the sport of flame throwing so I hope my apology is heard and we can beg to differ.

[k81ng]

When I bought a Civic many years ago, the sales manager went through his song and dance about extended warranties, breakdown cover, and the like for what seemed ages. When finished, I said to him, "I'm buying a Honda for a reason." He promptly replied, "Good point" and put away the excess paperwork. I trusted Honda's product at that point.

Before deciding on which car to buy, before deciding which company to give so much of my hard-earned money to, I did my research. I knew the ins and outs of safety records, crash tests, insurance premiums, theft rates, maintenance requirements, ratings from magazines and websites that I trusted -- all the details I felt I needed to make a good decision. I talked with other Civic owners to get their impressions and had several test drives. then, I researched the buying process, learning about the different financing packages, sources, walking prices, and tricks that the dealers use to get more money out of buyers. So when I went to the dealer, I knew exactly what I wanted, exactly how much I was prepared to pay.

In the end, I got a great car (albeit petrol) at a great price. If you feel that you don't need to do this type of research before committing many thousands of pounds to a purchase, electric car or not, other factors must be more important to you than money. Is that idiocy? Perhaps, but it certainly isn't fiscally prudent.

[bakerstreet]

Aminorjourney- Message received and understood, no harm taken or meant.

K81ng – My first thought is how lucky you are to have the time to do all that research and how thorough you are, I wish I had that sought of patience. I have to confess that my purchase was primarily money driven, I had opened an office in central London and apart from advertising my main expense was bringing, parking and using a car. When I researched and found that electric cars were congestion charge exempt I was amazed. When I researched more (see I did have some time) I was always being led to the USA. My surprise and delight at finding out the G-Wiz was available for sale in London I guess clouded my judgment at the time. I agree that I should of researched it more but as my company was about to open and the G-Wiz seemed a sensible purchase at the time I went ahead with it. I must also admit that I have enjoyed 3 years of driving the g-wiz, incident free. No petrol stations, no hassle, no congestion charge but the occasional parking ticket. I have sold many from recommendation and enjoyed it. However, after seeing the type of damage that could be caused I can not have on my conscience the possibility of this happening to one of my staff or clients.

Sorry to both of you but we can all agree to disagree in life, that’s the beauty of Tony’s Brittan (Ha Ha).

[edward]

Have to say that a little more light is still required on the whole safelty thing. Certainly too early to junk the gwiz!

GG's assertion that:
''In Europe, where quadricycles are much more common, ... you are three times more likely to be involved in an accident in a car than a quadricycle, and twice as likely to be seriously injured or killed. Contrary to what you may have thought from yesterday’s reporting, quadricycles have the best safety record of any category of vehicle.''

is encouraging. It does however beg the question - 'yes but what is the relative record when it comes to Cars v. Quadricycles in cities (and elsewhere)?'

Once we have a like-for-like European (ie well-established quadricycle market) comparison, then we'll be getting somewhere, in the stats debate at least.

[MB]

I think all this has been a bit of a shock to GoinGreen. In the same way that EuroNCAP was a shock to a lot of manufacturers, when they appeared on the scene in the mid-to-late 1990s.

When EuroNCAP started testing cars, they had some shocking results. In some cases, the results were so poor the manufacturers withdrew the cars from sale: the Rover 100 was withdrawn for that reason, but there were lots of other cars that came up with horrifying results: Fiat Cinquecento, Nissan Micra, Citroen Saxo and various other cars had some very serious flaws.

It has been because of the high profile work that EuroNCAP has done that cars today are very much safer than they were when EuroNCAP began.

I would be very interested in seeing the detailed crash results from EuroNCAP. The G-Wiz was originally designed in the 1990s and I'd like to see how it compares with other City cars that were built at that time.

[nat]

Judging by GoinGreen's response on their website they are very worried (as they should be).

[AutoIT]

I'm surprised that so many owners are so keen to defend GoinGreen. The Nice Car Company's Mega City has been successfully crash tested to the same standards as ordinary cars by its French maker, Aixam, in frontal, rear and side impacts. This undermine's GoinGreen's stance (drive slowly and carefully and you'll be fine). I'd like to drive slowly and carefully and still be fine if someone else hits me who isn't so careful.

There seems to have been no coverage in the mainstream media (or in Top Gear) of the fact that it apparently IS possible to design a quadricycle-class car that can crash safely. Reva just hasn't bothered.

[Tim]

Other posts certainly refer to the Ligier quadricycle passing the crash test.

The safety claim for NICE is here http://www.nicecarcompany.co.uk/media/2bcd0add/Mega%20City%20Safety%20100507.pdf

[edward]

I'm surprised that so many owners are so keen to defend GoinGreen...

Probably because of what they and Reva have achieved in doing the right thing at the right time. Mike is spot on, let's see some detail, particularly from EuroNCAP, and get past the nonsense and special pleading all round.
Drive a Mega City, or as big a car as you feel safe in AutoIT, but let's not fall into the topgear trap for now, eh?

[Phil]

Is it my imagination, or have there been a lot of new people joining this forum very recently, and immediately trashing the G-Wiz? I wonder how many of them are working for rival companies (or am I just being paranoid)? I must say I find it at best irritating, and at worst suspicious!