Fifth Gear’s Johnny Smith finds out how a Ford Focus previously involved in a frontal accident and repaired with severe economic restraint performs in a head-on crash test with a similar but non-accident Ford Focus.
On this episode of Ignition, Carlos Lago convinces Mazda to hand him the keys to the only left-hand drive RX-7 Spirit R in the world. After a quick look underneath the car, Carlos hits the winding road to explore the involving driving experience and rotary engine that made the Mazda RX-7 so unique, as well as its connection to the new generation of lightweight, rear-wheel drive coupes like the Subaru BRZ and Scion FR-S. Ignition appears every Monday on the Motor Trend youtube channel. www.youtube.com Subscribe now to make sure you’re in on all the action! www.youtube.com Facebook – facebook.com Twitter – twitter.com Google+ – plus.google.com Website – www.motortrend.com
Video Rating: 4 / 5
Cat A is a total right off and must be destroyed,
Cat B car cannot be put on road but parts can be sold unless said parts are too damaged to sell.
Cat C is repairable but a re’mot and then a VIC test is required to determine if a car has been cut-and-shut.
Cat D is just lightly damaged and can be repaired without any VIC testing or re-mot.
I’m sure the bonnet on the silver car is longer. look at 4:29
Just because the car was written off by the insurance company does not mean its a death trap post repair. A proper repair will allow the car to perform as was intended in all areas. This particular example is a case of criminal incompetence and fraud, because all write offs should be recorded by the DVLA and appear as such on the registration document. There are three categories A,B and C…I think C is the worst…anyone?
I have seen rusted through sills being repaired with expandable foam, bondo and a coat of paint.
Car’s in which airbags have been triggered, but never replaced, just glued back on the airbag covers and disabled the red light in the dash. All these are much to common practice among used car hustlers, and should be punishable by law.
fail
Yeah, but from the video they imply that all written off cars have been repaired to this low standard.
If your car was repaired properly, you won’t be. The big issue here was that the chassis had been repaired with filler!
Both Focus’s have now been repaired and for sale on ebay
No doubt. While I was in school I bought an old Honda Civic that was written off because someone had smashed the windows & scratched the back. In good shape it was worth $1,200 +/-. I got it for $250 & got a new windshield for $100, used side windows for $200. It was probably the hatchback glass that totaled the car as even a used one cost $500. I just put the gasket on a plastic window & a few hrs of fitting & it worked fine. Very simply,the glass & install exceeded the $1,200 value.
Carfax is in the United States. This program is in the U.K
I agree, a write off can be anything. From his Focus to the car I’ve just purchased. The car I have was written off because the insurance claimed it would cost £1200 + to repair… I repaired it myself for £80. The point is.. the chassis legs were untouched..so if it was to be crashed again.. it would perform the same as a previously undamaged one.
You just have to know what you’re looking for with stuff like this.
The seat was further forward on the write off!!!
I dislike this video, in my opinion it’s using people’s lack of knowledge to inflict fear in order to make a misleading point. A write off doesn’t mean the car is unsafe like they have made out in this video, a write off means it is not cost effective for the insurance company, a 20 year old car that works perfect that has a bump on the side and needs some minor body work for example is a write off because it’s not cost effective to fix, that minor bump would not make the car any less safe
Oh look, a lovely pissing contest over who’s country is better!
Who will win? Who will lose!?
Find out tonight, at eleven!
always ask for the car fax it’s free
I drive an early 90′s Volvo 940 that’s been written off and repaired twice. According to Fifth Gear, I am absolutely, positively, certainly going to be horribly killed in a crash.
If you ever are involved in a accident with your car and it is quite heavily damaged I really do reccomend that it gets put down as a write off, yes you won’t get as much for the insurance as what the car was worth, thats a fact of life, but I’m sure you would rather have a cheaper car which is built like a brick chicken house instead of one thats been built out of chicken houses
no offense but euro cars may be nice to drive (most of them) but they cost way to much to fix, and im not an american pig, im canadian, anther thing is my $250 car has really nice seats, the dash may be plastic but its got an aftermarket stereo and cruise control, i won’t focus on what materials make up the dash when im on the highway
Maybe if Americans weren’t so poor, then they could afford to fix their cars. You’re complaining about the cost of fuel, even though it’s still dirt cheap in America. And if I am going to spend 250,000 miles with my car, then I’d rather do it in nice interior, rather than the cheap nasty crap that you produce.
congrats
Europe has contributed most to the automotive industry.
first and innovation got together
“first” doesn’t mean best.
*cough* first turbo production, first v8 cheap mass production,first mass production, my car has 252,00 miles runs great (ford), euro cars cost way too much to fix,
No actually, the 70s-arely 80s cars you ever see on the road today are old cadillacs, and ford 1tons, apart from a few german cars like 70s rabbit
Behave yourself troll
You wish.
although i am not 100% sure about this, the man behind the new rx7 said that he doesn’t like hybrids. and that he wants to stick to the real drivers car, without any hybrid systems. but we’ll see how the 16X rotary will be built.
It is thought that an electric motor is carried instead of a turbo.
I regard it as a thing like Porsche 918 hybrid.
Mazda will not betray expectation.
It waits to pleasure.
Non-turbo? WHYYYYYYYYYYYY haha The fuel economy is gonna be sooooo bad lol Probably will be pretty sweet at the end of the day
I love the first and second generations RX7.
Seriously? All of those cars are illegal? Man… I feel sorry for you Germans if that’s really the case…
In my eyes Mazda has by far the best designers out of all Japanese automakers. Furai possibly being the absolute design Nirvana.
Pure beauty.
This is some good porn. *fapfapfap*
This car is just pure AWESOMENESSSAUCE!!
i wish they would make the rx-7 again
I swear to god….if one more person says in a review that the Rx-7 has questionable reliability ima kill someone, I’ve had three, My first had 96k on it when I first got it and 160k when I made the mistake of letting my mother drive it and the fan belt went and she overheated it till id died = dead rotary. The second….water pump went out at 120k fixed and sold. The third….still goin strong!
Man, I love the Skylines too but the Fd has curves like a sexy woman. The look of the car is just beautifull…….am I wrong anyone?
I also want to “like” this video a million times
I think you “modern car” junkies need to re-think your judgement. Of course stock to stock the newer cars will win in race, they have at least double the hp. If you look in the actual tuning/racing world these cars still outhandle the competition. GT-R handling simply isn’t on par, but the power & gadgets help it keep up.
Nissan Skyline R32 GTR nuff said
The beginning intro song was so fitting for the FD.
By any chance does anybody out there know the title or the source of the music piece used from 0:16-1:24?
SIe lassen sie schlechter darstehen…aber machen sie doch nicht illegal. Und bei Frontal 21 versammeln sich eh nur die größen Idioten. Total unseriös…
Yeah, but with TT… The 16x is supposed to put out that much N/A. Can’t wait. 2017 hopefully?
懐かしい！！
Mazda should go back to making cars that don’t suck big flappy donkey dick.
280 is a poop load of horsepower