It is great to have the NCT road testing monopoly in a country with poor roads.

18MonthsaSlave

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/lousy-roads-to-blame-for-nct-failures-304179.html

Lousy roads’ to blame for NCT failures


Our "lousy roads" — along with a failure to keep our cars in good condition — are the main reasons for failing the NCT, according to the AA.
Test results show that cars fail the test due to the impact of wear and tear on suspension, tyres, braking systems, and lights.
Figures show that just over half of all cars tested up to the end of November had failed their NCT.
This continues a trend in 2013 and 2012, which marked an increase on the previous years, when it stood at around 48%.

contd.

drumswan

We don't have lousy roads

18MonthsaSlave

drumswan wrote: »

We don't have lousy roads

I understand that forums are more lively when people have opposing views but it aids discussion if you actually back up your position with a reasoned argument.

I know that the roads in Southern Germany where I live and work are infinitely better than the roads around the part of Ireland I come from.

johnayo

A lot of the secondary roads in this country are in very poor condition.

jca

18MonthsaSlave wrote: »

I understand that forums are more lively when people have opposing views but it aids discussion if you actually back up your position with a reasoned argument.

I know that the roads in Southern Germany where I live and work are infinitely better than the roads around the part of Ireland I come from.

Why are you starting this thread when you don't even live here anymore?? What are the failure rates for the German equivalent of their nct. Do you own an irish car?

bazz26

Poor roads are not exclusive to Ireland though. I'd like to see some similar stats from other countries that have regular road worthiness tests for comparison.

drumswan

18MonthsaSlave wrote: »

I understand that forums are more lively when people have opposing views but it aids discussion if you actually back up your position with a reasoned argument.

I know that the roads in Southern Germany where I live and work are infinitely better than the roads around the part of Ireland I come from.

So a part of Germany has better roads than a part of Ireland. That's amazing and really relevant.

There's nothing in this article to show that areas with secondary roads have more failures related to suspensions or how Ireland compares with anywhere else.

I've lived in Australia, New Zealand and Canada and our roads are miles ahead of all three.

corktina

it's a story for a slow news day....written to gain the support of all those who don't want to spend money on maintaining their car....if the roads are so bad, just slow down and drive around the potholes.

Alias G

Ireland has one of the most extensive road networks in Europe due to the amount of boreen traversing the countryside. How exactly are we supposed to fund the maintenance of it. If people prefer to live in the back of beyond the reality is poor infrastructure is a disadvantage to that decision

Chips O'Toole

jca wrote: »

Why are you starting this thread when you don't even live here anymore??

Yeah! Stick your foreign opinions.

ezra_pound

drumswan wrote: »

So a part of Germany has better roads than a part of Ireland. That's amazing and really relevant.

There's nothing in this article to show that areas with secondary roads have more failures related to suspensions or how Ireland compares with anywhere else.

I've lived in Australia, New Zealand and Canada and our roads are miles ahead of all three.

The population density per sq km is 228. In Ireland it is 67. It makes obvious sense that there would be much better roads there.

The roads in Ireland are now of a high standard. Only if we stop one off housing and get people back to living in towns would it make economic sense to improve the standard of our roads.

18MonthsaSlave

jca wrote: »

Why are you starting this thread when you don't even live here anymore?? What are the failure rates for the German equivalent of their nct. Do you own an irish car?

I have an Irish car and a German car.
I find it funny how so many people who haven't emigrated want to hear nothing from emigrants.
German TUV has nothing to do with this.

BTW that www at the start of the URL stands for world wide web.

antodeco

I live in central Dublin. One if the main roads to the M50 near me is a disgrace. There's always trucks on it which have badly damaged the road. From my house, directly to the red cow, has 14 (I counted) potholes that are wider than one foot wide.

Combined with the obscenely high ramps, I no longer take thus route in my classic. In my day to day car, it still get a quite a wallop, and my dashcam beeps constantly from all the impacts.

colm_mcm

failure to keep our cars in good condition

Anyone see this bit?


Thread title doesn't really match the article, looks like yet another NCT bashing thread.

Most roads aren't bad..... NCT is a great value, thorough inspection, GREAT country.

18MonthsaSlave

I am led to believe that the suspension set-up we get in the new Avensis sold in Ireland is different to that in the rest of Europe after Toyota undertook extensive suspension testing on our still somewhat unique Irish roads. The result is a car that rides and handles as though it were designed for Ireland, well it was!

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ZFMkvo0CofAJ:www.offalyindependent.ie/dev/motoring/articles/2009/05/15/39511-new-toyota-avensis-improves-original-winning-formula/&hl=en&gl=ie&strip=1

jca

18MonthsaSlave wrote: »

I have an Irish car and a German car.
I find it funny how so many people who haven't emigrated want to hear nothing from emigrants.
German TUV has nothing to do with this.

BTW that www at the start of the URL stands for world wide web.

The TUV has everything to do with it, what are the German statistics? You're comparing a terrible Ireland to a fantastic Germany, now back it up with some figures please? P.s. what did your Irish car fail on? ( If you really have one that is)

18MonthsaSlave

My Irish car with 50k km on it has a broken coil spring at present.
The car I gave to my sister with 12k miles on it failed NCT on a bust front shock even though it was only ever lightly used in the city.

Isn't it terrible how you try to personalise a thread because you don't like its content even though the quoted newspaper report lists hard statistics which are unarguable.

Over 50% of cars going for NCT are failing with a significantly large proportion of cars failing due to worn/damaged suspension.

bazz26

Lets go burn down the NCT centre so this never happens again!

corktina

antodeco wrote: »

I live in central Dublin. One if the main roads to the M50 near me is a disgrace. There's always trucks on it which have badly damaged the road. From my house, directly to the red cow, has 14 (I counted) potholes that are wider than one foot wide.

Combined with the obscenely high ramps, I no longer take thus route in my classic. In my day to day car, it still get a quite a wallop, and my dashcam beeps constantly from all the impacts.

did you report them?

jca

18MonthsaSlave wrote: »

My Irish car with 50k km on it has a broken coil spring at present.
The car I gave to my sister with 12k miles on it failed NCT on a bust front shock even though it was only ever lightly used in the city.

Isn't it terrible how you try to personalise a thread because you don't like its content even though the quoted newspaper report lists hard statistics which are unarguable.

Over 50% of cars going for NCT are failing with a significantly large proportion of cars failing due to worn/damaged suspension.

God, this is like extracting teeth, what are the TUV statistics for suspension failures in the fantastic Germany?

jca

antodeco wrote: »

I live in central Dublin. One if the main roads to the M50 near me is a disgrace. There's always trucks on it which have badly damaged the road. From my house, directly to the red cow, has 14 (I counted) potholes that are wider than one foot wide.

Combined with the obscenely high ramps, I no longer take thus route in my classic. In my day to day car, it still get a quite a wallop, and my dashcam beeps constantly from all the impacts.

Less pressure on the right pedal will cure that, simples...

George Dalton

As far as I know the TUV pass figures in Germany are very very high (over 90%) I don't have any hard info to back that up so I am open to correction on it.

Does road condition play a part in the difference in pass rates in Ireland and Germany? Probably.

Is it the single biggest factor. Most definitely not.

The main problem is the Irish mentality in my opinion.

The average German motorist's attitude to car maintenance could be summed up as:

My car is the largest (or second largest) investment I will ever make. I use it to transport myself and my loved ones. I need to have a valid TUV in order to use my car on the public road. Therefore I will make sure my car is properly maintained and any repairs necessary are carried out promptly and to a high standard.

Result? Cars generally pass TUV first time.

Average Irish motorist:

Ah shure the car was serviced before I bought it there last year, be grand

Result? 50% failure rate followed by whinging about NCT "money racket" etc etc.

jca

18MonthsaSlave wrote: »

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ZFMkvo0CofAJ:www.offalyindependent.ie/dev/motoring/articles/2009/05/15/39511-new-toyota-avensis-improves-original-winning-formula/&hl=en&gl=ie&strip=1

It reads more like a party political broadcast on behalf of the Toyota party tbh, the Offaly independent the Mecca of motoring journalism, Beam me up Scotty, is it beer o clock yet???

jca

George Dalton wrote: »

As far as I know the TUV pass figures in Germany are very very high (over 90%) I don't have any hard info to back that up so I am open to correction on it.

Does road condition play a part in the difference in pass rates in Ireland and Germany? Probably.

Is it the single biggest factor. Most definitely not.

The main problem is the Irish mentality in my opinion.

The average German motorist's attitude to car maintenance could be summed up as:


Result? Cars generally pass TUV first time.

Average Irish motorist:



Result? 50% failure rate followed by whinging about NCT "money racket" etc etc.

Spot on. Probably the reason I've a 100% pass rate will all cars I've owned.

pablo128

18MonthsaSlave wrote: »

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ZFMkvo0CofAJ:www.offalyindependent.ie/dev/motoring/articles/2009/05/15/39511-new-toyota-avensis-improves-original-winning-formula/&hl=en&gl=ie&strip=1

You are correct. Irish cars get the 'Toyota Rough Road Pack' which has different shocks and springs and it rides a bit higher than uk spec cars. I have a uk spec avensis, which is lower than the irish ones and handles better. Guess what. It passed the nct a month ago first time. My fathers '99 Toyota 7 seater passes the nct first time every time. There's over 250k miles on it, and believe it or not is on it's original shocks.

If you went a bit easier on your car it might last a bit longer.

bazz26

They stopped fitting the Rough Ride Road Pack to Toyotas here a few years back, to further lower Co2 emissions.

visual

Probably all the speed bumps on nearly every road in every city and town have a large part to play with damaging suspension. That and every minor road full of pot holes.

The only roads of good condition are motorways, dual carriageways and main roads

Cuddlesworth

visual wrote: »

Probably all the speed bumps on nearly every road in every city and town have a large part to play with damaging suspension. That and every minor road full of pot holes.

The only roads of good condition are motorways, dual carriageways and main roads

In fairness, most drivers I see hitting speed bumps think mechanical sympathy is a band from the 80's.

Atlantic Dawn

The majority of cars fail the NCT on defective lights and tyres, these are something that anyone who doesn't know how to check shouldn't be driving a car.

18MonthsaSlave

pablo128 wrote: »

If you went a bit easier on your car it might last a bit longer.

Is this directed at me? If so, on what grounds did you form the opinion that this comment should be directed toward me? I'm interested to understand your thought process.

In any case, in the black of night on an unfamiliar unlit road one needs ESP to know where the potholes lie.
ESP above would be extra sensory perception not electronic stability program.