Bunch of high fives

By ALASTAIR SLOANE motoring editor

Europe's New Car Assessment Programme specialises in crashing cars. It wires them up to monitors and propels them into concrete blocks and smacks them in the rear and sides with hydraulic rams.

It analyses the effects the impact had on the car and gives it a front and side crash rating and a pedestrian rating out of five stars.

One star basically means the car's a crash-crock, that occupants had better be in something else in a serious shunt.

Three means it's above average. Four that it's strong, that passengers' chances of survival in a crash are good but one or two things could be improved.

Five stars means the car's a cracker by Euro-NCAP standards - strong, safe and well-designed.

One star in the pedestrian test means jaywalkers are goners, that the car doesn't have a pedestrian-friendly bone in its body.

Two stars doesn't improve the jaywalker's odds of survival much either. Three stars? Only a handful of cars have managed this rating. Four stars? No manufacturer comes close. Five? Forget it - not until time stands still.

Most carmakers nod wisely but say they don't pay much heed to Euro-NCAP results. They say they prefer their own test results, that Euro-NCAP testing isn't always conclusive, that it doesn't reflect the effects of real-life crashes.

One carmaker which has been taking particular notice of Euro-NCAP tests in recent years is Renault.

In 1997, Euro-NCAP gave the first-generation Renault Laguna two-and-a-half stars. At the time, the C-Class Mercedes-Benz rated two stars and the BMW 3-Series and Saab 900 one-and-a-half.

Mercedes, BMW and Saab disagreed with the findings. But, interestingly, the next-generation C-Class got four stars. So did the new 3-Series and Saab 9-3. The Euro-NCAP the tests are nothing if not influential.

Last year, the second-generation Laguna got five stars. It was the first time Euro-NCAP had awarded five stars. The Renault Laguna II had created history.

Since then, four Renault models have picked up five stars: the Scenic II, Espace IV people-mover, Vel Satis, and Megane II, the 2003 European Car of the Year.

The hatchback Megane II is the first car in the C-segment - lower, medium models - to be awarded the high five. It is also the best-selling car in Europe, certainly for the first six months of this year. And it is among the first cars to be crashed using a live driver instead of crash dummies.

The live crash had nothing to do with NCAP. It was done by the British television show Top Gear.

Producers wanted to show what happened to a car with a five-star NCAP rating after it was deliberately driven into a stationary car at about 50km/h.

Renault screened the video at the launch of the Megane II in New Zealand the other day. It was all rather unspectacular. The driver took a minute or so to compose himself, said something about the heat from the exploding airbag, unbuckled his seatbelt, and got out of the car.

But it proved a point. Said presenter Richard Hammond: "We wanted to remind people that safety should be one of the top reasons for a family car buying decision."

Renault cites the drop in road deaths in Britain of car passengers - excluding drivers - as evidence that cars are safer. In 1980, 2600 passengers died. More than 20 years on, 1800 passengers were killed.

It is estimated that a further 40 per cent reduction to around 1100 passenger deaths could have been achieved if every car on the road was built to the safety levels of the five-star Renaults.

The new-look Megane II goes on sale this week, priced between $29,990 and $39,990. There are eight models, four with manual gearboxes and four with automatics. Two are powered by 1.6-litre engines and the remaining six by 2-litre units.

The 1.6-litre engine produces 83kW (115bhp) at 6000rpm and 152Nm of torque at 4200rpm and is mated to a four-speed automatic or five-speed manual gearbox.

The 2-litre develops 98kw (136bhp) at 5500rpm and 191Nm of 3750rpm and is coupled to a four-speed auto with manual mode or six-speed manual.

The entry-level 1.6-litre Megane is more a marketing exercise than a serious alternative to the more powerful 2-litre model. Renault says as much. There are not many 1.6-litre models of anything these days, certainly not around $30,000. That's 1.8-litre territory at best.

The Megane II is built on a platform jointly developed with Nissan, of which Renault owns about 37 per cent. The same platform will account for more than 25 per cent of Renault-Nissan production - about 1.8 million vehicles - by 2006.

The Megane II is well equipped throughout the range. Standard safety equipment includes six airbags and anti-lock ABS brakes. The top-line Sport model gets a seventh airbag under the driver's seat to cushion against downward forces in a crash.

A brief run in the 2-litre model showed the Renault Megane II to be a typically French front-driver, mixing excellent ride and handling with fiddly switchgear and fittings. The handbrake, however, is a masterpiece of design.