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Winter test

7K views 6 replies 5 participants last post by  berapotter 
#1 ·
Here in Finland our local car magazine Tekniikan Maailma issues once a year a big winter test. Participants in the test are quite different kind of cars because all cars must be totally new models, introduced first time in the recent year. This year there were some quite large and expensive cars, few mid range cars (incl. Cactus) and mostly small cars. The test report is 23 pages full of technical measurements and test drives in different kind of winter conditions.

Here are the members and results:

Mercedes-Benz C220 8,8 points
Volkswagen Passat 8,8
BMW 218 Active Tourer 8,6
Ford Mondeo 8,6
Mini Cooper 8,5
CITROEN C4 CACTUS 110 PURETECH SHINE BRIGHT 8,4
Kia Soul 8,4
Jeep Renegade 8,3
Skoda Fabia 8,3
Nissan Qashqai 8,0
Opel Corsa 8,0
Toyota Aygo 7,9
Peugeot 108 7,8
Huyndai i10 7,5
Mitsubisho Space Star 7,5
Smart Fortwo 7,1
Renault Twingo 7,0

If you keep in mind the price of the best cars, I think that Cactus managed quite well.

Here is a short summary of the measurement and comments considering Cactus:

+ Road handling on different kind of roads
+ Driving comfort
+ Steering
+ Handling on the test tracs (ice, snow, wet, hill slopes, curves...)
+ Brakes
+ Friction on icy and snowy slopes
+ Heating and ventilation

- Emissions and consumption with cold motor in cold wather
- Electric heaters (seats and mirrors)
- Rear brakes got iced and sticked
- Problems with the touch screen in very cold conditions (gets out of order, you can't change eg. temperature or ventilation)
 
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#2 ·
Sounds pretty good for our Cactus. Okay, we had here not so deep temperatures as in Finland, but my first drive with my Cactus on snowy tracks felt really good.

Wasn't it the MB C220 that was towed out of the ditch in the video? Can't believe that this car won ... Maybe they by the most pages for advertising. ;-)
 
#3 ·
Hello Topi
I am new to the forum, in fact I have just posted for the first time tonight! Not a Cactus owner(yet) but very enthusiastic about the car! I have to know whether it'll be safe enough for winter driving- think I will get winter tyres to be more secure. I don;t drive at crazy speed anyway in any weather so maybe it is a good buy? It's a big deal for me to buy a new car! Any advice/comments are welcome. (mpg would be good to know too) Thanks
 
#4 ·
Hello Linnea!

I can confirm you that Cactus is a very good and safe car in winter. I drive almost every day about 200 km in very variable winter conditions. I have had several Citroens, Skoda Octavia and VW Golf. And I think that Cactus is the best winter car that I have ever had.

The winter test which I mentioned above is also very demanding and Cactus got four winter test stars of five. And this means that the car is safe and good to drive. The problems which Cactus suffered in the test were quite minor ones and no one was a safety problem. They were problems with some malfunctions in very cold temperatures like -25C to -30C.

And of course I recommend you good winter tyres.
 
#5 ·
Hey all! My cactus is a late 2014 and it doesn't like the snow at all. Usually what happens is backup camera fails. Parking sensors fails(not blocked) and occasionally ABS, ASR, TPS quits working. Probably iced up. Parking break freezes but usually let's go with some forward/rearward movement. We've hade below zero now for about two weeks and it's predicted to continue for at least ten more days. Some snow also expected. Driving it in snow or on ice is no problem. Really easy to control and parry in slippery turns.
 
G
#6 ·
I can assure you the current (W205) merc c class rear wheel drive is crap in any winter conditions ,i know because i have one and on the merc forum this is complained about every winter
Scrootch said:
Sounds pretty good for our Cactus. Okay, we had here not so deep temperatures as in Finland, but my first drive with my Cactus on snowy tracks felt really good.

Wasn't it the MB C220 that was towed out of the ditch in the video? Can't believe that this car won ... Maybe they by the most pages for advertising. ;-)
 
#7 ·
After this considered opinion by Blackcountrycactus.

Merc c class rear wheel drive is crap in any winter conditions

I'm glad I sorned my SLK and use the Cactus (which I still think is a really good car) even with the remap.
 
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