Just watched sunday nights Top Gear and seen the 8 foot drop onto the roof of these two cars. Older ones by the look of it but still the results were scary to say the least. At just 8 foot the BMW was flattend to the doors basicly and the SAAB stayed ridged and doors could open. 8 FEET! thats just 2 foot taller than most of you no doubt. Best I not fall 8 foot in BMW then lol.
grangies,
Mar 27, 8:23am
I saw that. One of the SAAB models was strong enough to enter some rally race with no roll cage necessary due to it's factory strength,. only the regulations made it compulsory .
gunhand,
Mar 27, 8:25am
maybe there worth something now what with the new give way rules, strong arsed cars by the sound of it.
woody1946,
Mar 27, 8:29am
Those old turbo Saab's could fair honk, same as the CX Citroen Turbo, ugly as sin ,but a real fast car in its day
slarty45,
Mar 27, 8:53am
The Saab looked like it would have been good for a 10 ft drop, BMW 5 ft.
Helped a mate prepare a Volvo 240T body shell for racing about 1985. Cutting out the inbuilt roll cage around the roof & pillars to lighten it. Swedes shure designed them tough.
thejazzpianoma,
Mar 27, 10:06am
Those Volvo's were specifically designed and marketed to outlast all their competitors too, and they did!
They had some fabulously un PC advertisementswhere a guy gets his wife to take one for a test drive and the idea is her driving is so bad only a Volvo would survive. Along with various other ones showing the Volvo with all 4 wheels off the road over a jump suggesting you could actually drive it like that.
Volvo actually broke the rules and made some of the most sophisticated cars of the time that were also some of the most reliable cars of the time. No mean feat that one.
thejazzpianoma,
Mar 27, 10:11am
BTW, its so sad to see both SAAB and Volvo bite the dust. The Chinese have already made it very clear that Volvo's will now just be tacky bling mobiles and will not be holding on to any of the things that Volvo stood for.
Believe it or not the guy literally said his target market was rich Chinese that liked to flaunt their wealth and keep mistress's. He also made some other comments about how designs needed to be flashy with lots of bling and coloured neons, nothing else really mattered.
usdefault,
Mar 27, 12:07pm
The last good volvos ended in around 1998/99.
thejazzpianoma,
Mar 27, 12:20pm
The properly built like a tank Volvo's finished up before then. The mid to late 90's Volvo's are not far removed from the early to mid 00 Volvo's. (engines and transmissions carry over)
The only real problem was when they introduced the fly by wire system but that was hardly end of the world.
They are not built to the standard they were in the 80's but I wouldn't say they arn't "good". Still a very nice car and the likes of the S40 starting in the late 90's is about the most reliable car of its era that money can buy.
richard198,
Mar 27, 9:30pm
Anybody know what year that BMW was that they dropped on the roof! Would an E46 or E39 BMW crumple in the same way!
slarty45,
Mar 27, 9:59pm
It was an E30, same age as the Saab that was dropped.
by_hdt,
Mar 27, 10:07pm
I don't know where your information comes from but I get mine from Volvo as I work for them. The chinese have and will continue to let volvo operate as their own seperate unit and NO technology will be shared. Volvo hasnt bitten the dust, It was sold off by Ford just as Jaguar-Land Rover was, and that brand has flourished under its new owners. Volvo's number one priority is safety and it will remain so. the fact you might not like the styling direction doesnt mean they will drop all of their core values, that is just nonsense. Unfortunately styling is now dictated by legislation and not what looks good and all manufacturers have been following similar themes to Volvo. Like I said before, the chinese are just the bank, all marketing and product decisions are still made in sweden and will remain so.
You sound like one of the old volvo fans who think that all volvos should be stodgy brick shaped cars with laughable performance and poor handling. Lucky for everyone else volvo is trying to inject some excitement into the brand.
pauldw,
Mar 27, 10:13pm
The ads worked as the Volvo reputation did collect bad drivers
There was a joke in the UK that grid lock would be cured if all the Volvo extended bumpers were cut off.
elect70,
Mar 28, 2:49am
Being top gear wouldnt be surprised if they pre weakened theBMW. take nothing off the show as real, remember its done for entertainment not some kind ofscientificcomparison . Probably hacksawed theb pillars
zak1998,
Mar 28, 3:41am
SAAB did not build their cars to a price one reason they went under
rsr72,
Mar 28, 3:59am
Yep, was about 25 years old.
tonyrockyhorror,
Mar 28, 4:25am
Most roll-overs would only be a glancing blow as part of a tumble, not a direct load square onto the roof.
gunhand,
Mar 28, 4:54am
I think if BMW found out they cut pillars to weaken there car (no matter how old) to make it look bad they would have a fair bit to say somehow.and Im pretty sure BMW have deepish pockets.
gunhand,
Mar 28, 4:55am
Yes quite true but its the being dropped upside from a crane that is of concern. After all it is a common event.
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