Top Gear April 1st XC60 vs AR Stelvio

[HamDenFede]

Full episode here. Entertaining to watch, although it feels bit weird to watch them trash cars for fun, that most people will never be able to afford. The Velar in Denmark is roughly £150.000. And btw, why did they hand Chris Harris a second Volvo, knowing he completely smashed the first one?

Word of warning: As the site for streaming is free, lots of commercials throughout the episode.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6h6w85

[Waggatron]

When they buy three "bangers" and demolition derby them...then fine. But I don't enjoy watching £50k plus cars trashed for the sake of "entertainment".

I assume to the manufacturers marketing departments that the screen time/viewing figures, compared to other forms of advertising, is worth the cost of the cars being returned broken....as most sensible people won't base their next car purchase on watching three hooligans taking them outside their design parameters for day to day motoring (unless of course, you are actually crashing....and then survival is the only overriding consideration....not the strength of the engine mounts).

Anyway....TG and TGT both beat Call the Midwife anyway day of the week!

[reggie59]

[QUOTE=MOzS90;2388347]The show portrayed the Volvo towing an Ivor Williams horse box actually getting airborne over a jump and being ragged silly over terrain a World rally Car would struggle with.

No one will ever need to do that with a Volvo therefore the failing thing is a hugely mute point and total bollocks.

I find it very amusing the Range Rover didn’t drive the final “race” - that was either because it would have murdered the other two or JLR were “scared” it would end up like the XC60.

The intimation on the show was the XC was the runaway winner. That’s good enough for me to uphold the honour of the company.[/QUOTE
Well, first I do not think the car were mistreated that much compare to manufacturer stress tests... So this brings 2 questions... Why did Volvo not pick up the engine mount weakness during their hard tests... Then... How many UK pothole will stress the metal as much as tg test... Chris Harris said the engine mount are tiny alluminium one... I bet we will see some failure within 2-3 years...

Great tg that was btw...

[anotherv60]

I don't think I can recall a currently on sale Volvo model being on mainstream car show in the last 20 years on the BBC. Older Volvos that they crash - yes, but not one that is new.

Although the alfa did finish the course they chose the catching up section to be on the bumps not on the flats, based on the film the Volvo looks like it was going much faster over those than the alfa, also remember the Volvo is 400Kg heavier and making bigger jumps!!! It is just maths, even if they both have the same connectors the Volvo is going to have much more kinetic energy if it is jumping that higher!

I did find the show entertaining.

[deepsix]

I did a Motorcycle manufacturers anniversary weekend at Mallory Park where we were able to use any model on the track, off road and on road. The whole weekend involved ragging the new demo bikes. There was one model I really fancied but would never buy any of them second hand from that day on in case it was one of that test fleet.

[ukden]

Originally Posted by DeZemBer

Either way, it's not a good publicity for Volvo. If it's only a 1 car show, then we can say that the car was not supposed to be treated that way. But the fact that the Alfa went thru the same thing and didn't need a car change, that's a big Ouch for Volvo

Actually the Alpha did not go through the same "thing". The Alpha did not complete the gymkhana course with the horse box attached, it became detached at the first jump. It then continued without horse box.

The XC60 was the only car to complete all three "tests". The Velar did not participate in the final "race".

I am surprised that it was only engine mountings that were broken.