Cars P-Platers Drive

As part of NRMA's contribution to the P-plate debate currently taking place in NSW, we encourage parents to always help their P-plater kids into a car with as many worthwhile safety features as possible.

The good news is that today you don't have to spend a fortune to buy a car that's much safer than those which you probably drove as a P-plater yourself.

Motor vehicle safety, particularly crash protection, has come a long way in the past 15 years, largely due to consumer demand and the efforts of independent testing organisations such as the New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP), a worldwide crash testing regime to which NRMA contributes.

While crash protection features such as airbags can mean the difference between life and death, of equal significance is the greater understanding car makers now have of how lethal crash forces, generated on impact, can be absorbed and dissipated by the car itself.

Modern day cars have a body which has front and rear crumple zones, specifically engineered to absorb and direct crash forces along defined structural paths, away from the occupants who sit inside a rigid, impact resistant safety "cell." You can't see any obvious evidence of this, but it is the basis of the improvements in crash protection in recent years.

The third significant factor in what makes a safe car is how easy it is to control. Here, handling, steering, braking and tyre grip are important, as is the layout of the drivetrain itself - front, rear or all-wheel drive - and the performance characteristics of the engine and transmission.

The dynamic behaviour of today's cars has been considerably enhanced by anti lock brakes, traction control and stability control. Stability control can help to correct a potential skid, without any intervention from the driver.

In a perfect world, we could all afford to put our P-plated teenagers into brand new, five star ANCAP rated cars, with every piece of safety technology in the book.

 

However, most families, and young drivers looking to purchase their first car, don't have that luxury.

Our road-testing experience suggests that a moderately powered rear drive layout is fine, but only if it has traction or stability control.

The most benign car for a young driver is probably an all-wheel drive - other things being equal, it is easy to control and has the highest grip threshold - or front-wheel drive, which, if traction does become tenuous, reacts in a relatively predictable manner and is easy to correct.

Vehicle size and weight are critical factors in occupant protection, yet smaller cars are generally easier to drive.

At the absolute minimum, you want a driver's airbag, seat belt pretensioners and above average results in new and used car crash tests

Just buy a new or late model, front or all-wheel drive car with a four or five star NCAP crash test rating.

You'll get more advanced crash protection features in most 2006-2007 models, including side and curtain airbags, which offer greatly improved protection against side impacts, plus traction/stability control and the latest energy absorbing body structure engineering.

$20,000 - $25,000

New cars in the $20,000-$25,000 price range we'd be happy to put our kids into include the

• VW Golf
• Subaru Impreza
• Holden Astra
• Honda Civic
• Mazda3
• Citroen C4
• Renault Megane.

If you go used you'll get a bigger car, such as a Subaru Liberty or Forester, both of which carry five star NCAP ratings. You can also pick up a Mercedes-Benz A-Class, Saab 9-3 or a Volvo S40 at this money.

$15,000 - $20,000

In $15,000-$20,000 territory you can buy a new small car such as the

• Toyota Yaris
• Renault Clio
• Honda Jazz
• Suzuki Swift
• VW Polo
• Astra
• Golf
• Impreza
• Civic or Mazda3 that's a few years old.

Below the $15,000 price point you're looking at only a few new cars, the pick of which is the little Hyundai Getz.

You can also put your P-plater into a 2003-2004 Mitsubishi Magna or Toyota Camry at this price. If they are going to be doing a lot of highway kilometres, larger cars like these are particularly worth considering. Crash impacts tend to be more severe at open road speeds, so the mass advantage of a bigger, heavier car should make a difference. The Camry and Magna - both front wheel drives - are as easy to drive as smaller cars.

Below $15,000

Below the $15,000 price point you're looking at only a few new cars, the pick of which is the little Hyundai Getz. A used Toyota Echo or VW Polo would also be OK.

Among larger cars, a budget of up to $15,000 can buy several older models which, at the time of their release, were well regarded for safety, scored highly in NCAP tests and continue to record favourable results in Used Car Safety Ratings surveys.

These include the

• Volkswagen Golf (1998 on)
• Holden Astra (1997 on)
• Holden Vectra (1997 on)
• Honda CRV (1997 on)
• Peugeot 306 (1994 on)
• Toyota Corolla (2001 on)
• Toyota Camry (1998 on)
• Subaru Impreza (1996 on)
• Liberty (1999 on)
• Forester (1997 on)

While the RTA last year banned P-platers from driving V8, supercharged or turbocharged cars, six cylinder Falcons and Commodores are still permissible P-plate transport in NSW.

In fact they're the most popular cars among P-platers, especially young males, because they're cheap, fast, freely available and have that all important street cred among young driver peer groups.

However, there's a strong argument that that P-platers really shouldn't be allowed anywhere near them. They are very easy to get into trouble in, and very unforgiving when you do.

A big, old VN-VP Commodore or EA/EB Falcon sedan or ute with a large capacity, powerful six cylinder engine up front, rear wheel drive, a live rear axle, cheap tyres, no airbags (on pre-1993 models), seat belt pretensioners, ABS brakes, traction or stability control - and a testosterone-charged teenage male at the wheel - is a disaster waiting to happen, especially on a wet or slippery road.

The scenario is as follows: the boy puts the pedal down, deliberately or inadvertently, the surge of torque causes the rear wheels to break traction and the back end of the car snaps sideways. In an instant, he's helpless.

He doesn't know what's happening. It's called oversteer, and can be corrected, but he does not know how. He has no safety technology, such as traction or stability control, to help him.

His natural instinct is to overcompensate for the instability by reefing at the wheel, which causes the car to fishtail and end up on the wrong side of the road, or run off the road altogether. What or who he hits is in the lap of the gods.

Which, in some ways, sums up the P-plate road safety dilemma. It's difficult to put an experienced, cautious, considerate head on young shoulders. To this end, NRMA also supports additional supervised driving for learners, help for parents working with their kids in the graduated licensing system and programs targeted specifically at young men.

No matter how well prepared our young drivers are, though, you'll be doing yours what may be the favour of a lifetime by putting him or her behind the wheel of a well engineered, safe car.

We also have a comprehensive selection of features on car safety, including ANCAP results, used car safety ratings and technology such as stability control.

If you're teaching someone to drive, we can also help with suggestions and advice.

By Bill McKinnon, January 2007