Mazda Bongo Vs Cr27 Vs Delica L300

[The Don]

with all do respect The Don. lots of mechanics says 5 door van are stronger than 4door vans

afaik they are two more pillars in 5 door van correct me if im wrong.

You might be right Nexus. I was just trying to hi-light that cutting away body work to add doors compromises structural integrity. Engineers obviously try to counteract this by adding pillars or other forms of strengthening and some of these implementations are more suffering than others. So you kind of have to study it from a model to model basis.

Best example is convertible cars or coupes for that matter..

But one thing it does do is add body weight!

[AnUsHa_SL]

I’m having CR36 near 8 years and didn’t give any major issues. Yes fuel consumption is bit lower than and spare parts are bit expansive when we compare it with 2WD. But you can ignore those when compare the advantage of having 4WD.

Edited February 24, 2011 by AnUsHa_SL

[The Don]

I’m having CR36 near 8 years and didn’t give any major issues. Yes fuel consumption is bit lower than and spare parts are bit expansive when we compare it with 2WD. But you can ignore those when compare the advantage of having 4WD.

Anusha, I'm just curious, have you ever used the 4WD system ?

[AnUsHa_SL]

Anusha, I'm just curious, have you ever used the 4WD system ?

Yes lot of times it helped me. mm.. why you ask like that

[The Don]

Yes lot of times it helped me. mm.. why you ask like that

No, because I've always had cars, low ground clearance and front wheel drive, but I've never gotten stuck and believe me I've been all over the place in not so ideal conditions. I was wondering about the value of the 4WD system in daily use. I guess it depends on what you use your vehicle for and where you live as well.

[BLu3HaZe]

Cuz most people don't find a use of 4WD in Colombo on flat roads. It did come quite handy in short times we'd had vans, especially on slippery hills and driveways here in Kandy

[BLu3HaZe]

No, because I've always had cars, low ground clearance and front wheel drive, but I've never gotten stuck and believe me I've been all over the place in not so ideal conditions. I was wondering about the value of the 4WD system in daily use. I guess it depends on what you use your vehicle for and where you live as well.

Well just to give an example, virtually no 2WD car or van can make it up our driveway on a rainy day unless coming at atleast 40km/h and that speed is quite dangerous for others who aren't used to it as there's a 90 degree bend in the middle of a nearly 45 degree inclination

Edited February 24, 2011 by BLu3HaZe

[AnUsHa_SL]

No, because I've always had cars, low ground clearance and front wheel drive, but I've never gotten stuck and believe me I've been all over the place in not so ideal conditions. I was wondering about the value of the 4WD system in daily use. I guess it depends on what you use your vehicle for and where you live as well.

No, Don you can't compare car with a van Van is back wheel driven, it slippery on hills specially when driving with less weight as BLu3HaZe pointed. So this gives me the evident of driving it in any road conditions.

[The Don]

No, Don you can't compare car with a van Van is back wheel driven, it slippery on hills specially when driving with less weight as BLu3HaZe pointed. So this gives me the evident of driving it in any road conditions.

Ok, I understand. The problems you talk of actually exist on rear wheel drive cars as well. It's actually what prompted the move to front wheel drive (apart from cost savings and easy of assembly).

[KMG]

The serena is rather under powered and very bouncy. The version of the Serena I would buy is the FX Turbo version.

could u please tell us what is the advantage of FX Turbo version

[Skyline R33]

You might be right Nexus. I was just trying to hi-light that cutting away body work to add doors compromises structural integrity. Engineers obviously try to counteract this by adding pillars or other forms of strengthening and some of these implementations are more suffering than others. So you kind of have to study it from a model to model basis.

Best example is convertible cars or coupes for that matter..

But one thing it does do is add body weight!

I don't think they cut the metal to put a door on the RHS. The vehicle is designed with that door when the shell is made it self I guess so I wouldn't agree they cut it apart just to put a door. AFAIK a 5 door will be more rigid than a 4 door but obviously a 5 door van will be more heavy than a 4 door one. Also our CR51 is a 4WD and we get around 10km/L in City and I think 2WDs give the same as well. May be 1km/L more I would say. I drove it in SL last December specially when we went to the hills and I would say the grip was perfect.

[nexus]

You might be right Nexus. I was just trying to hi-light that cutting away body work to add doors compromises structural integrity. Engineers obviously try to counteract this by adding pillars or other forms of strengthening and some of these implementations are more suffering than others. So you kind of have to study it from a model to model basis.

Best example is convertible cars or coupes for that matter..

But one thing it does do is add body weight!

you right The Don does add little body weight but they are few advantages in 5 door vans if the side get to accident you dont have to repair whole panel just easily add new door to van in long journeys 5 doors get quite handy in loots of lots of times.

[The Don]

I don't think they cut the metal to put a door on the RHS. The vehicle is designed with that door when the shell is made it self I guess so I wouldn't agree they cut it apart just to put a door. AFAIK a 5 door will be more rigid than a 4 door but obviously a 5 door van will be more heavy than a 4 door one. Also our CR51 is a 4WD and we get around 10km/L in City and I think 2WDs give the same as well. May be 1km/L more I would say. I drove it in SL last December specially when we went to the hills and I would say the grip was perfect.

Hi Skyline, When I said cut the metal I didn't mean literally And yes the re enforcement is designed in, but remember these vehicles share the same chassy and most of the body, so this extra re enforcement are added on top of the standard shell.

The focus of the engineer is NOT to make the body more rigid but but to have similar properties to a 4 door, but this is quite a challenge. Re enforcement beams on the top and bottom are not the same as body work running straight through, not to mention the gap in the middle and the weaker areas where the door is attached to the body work (in closed status).

A good example is drop top vehicles, of which quite a lot of them have more body flex than the equivalent model with a metal roof. The ones which don't are significantly heavier than the solid roof versions. The same comparison cam be made between coupe' s and 4 door sedans as the coupe' s tend to be lighter but also generally have less body flex.

So I cannot agree they are stronger than the 4 door version ! At best they will be as strong, because overdoing it would make the body so heavy it will result in other disadvantages. I mean think about it, the standard vehicle has side impact beams running all through one side of the body (the other side obviously has the door), but on the 5 door, the side pillars are re enforced, the door itself has a side impact beam inside it but its not continuous.

[The Don]

you right The Don does add little body weight but they are few advantages in 5 door vans if the side get to accident you dont have to repair whole panel just easily add new door to van in long journeys 5 doors get quite handy in loots of lots of times.

Yes you are right ! Plus it's a lot easier to get on and get off, and also load and unload. I think there is also a notion that 5 doors were mostly used for delivery purposes (I don't know if there is any truth in that, but I've heard it from a few people) so that has also affected the value. I think this possible misconception has affected the value more than any concerns about safety. To be honest I've never heard about that from anybody before !

My argument on structural rigidity was based on what I've read on auto-mobile design than any issue or concern I've ever heard or read with regards to 5 door vans. I just want to make that clear ! For all intensive purposes they are safe and reliable vehicles, though I can't accept they argument they are stronger than the 4 door versions.

No offence to all the competent mechanics out there but I sometimes feel our mechanics just make assumptions without actually exploring the facts behind it. My worst experience of this is the assertion by many AC repair shops that piston based compressors are better than rotary compressors, so they sometimes urge customers to switch to them. It is true, that on lower revs they provide better compression. But what they seem to have ignored is they also require more torque to turn around. This is fine and dandy on low revving diesels where the maximum torque comes in at much lower revs, but for small diesels, and petrol engines this is just completely unsuitable. Another general assumption is a big condenser is better for a AC. This again is true in theory but NOT if it ends up obstructing the flow of ambient air to the radiator and as a result the radiator gets too warm and results in a boiling engine and transferring the heat back to the condenser. I've heard similar misconceptions about front wheel drive, automatic transmissions and I mean I can go on and on and on .... sigh ....

Hence I've always tried to keep my vehicles to as original a condition as possible, because I assumed the engineers who designed and built them knew more about the vehicles than anybody else !

[nexus]

Yes you are right ! Plus it's a lot easier to get on and get off, and also load and unload. I think there is also a notion that 5 doors were mostly used for delivery purposes (I don't know if there is any truth in that, but I've heard it from a few people) so that has also affected the value. I think this possible misconception has affected the value more than any concerns about safety. To be honest I've never heard about that from anybody before !

My argument on structural rigidity was based on what I've read on auto-mobile design than any issue or concern I've ever heard or read with regards to 5 door vans. I just want to make that clear ! For all intensive purposes they are safe and reliable vehicles, though I can't accept they argument they are stronger than the 4 door versions.

No offence to all the competent mechanics out there but I sometimes feel our mechanics just make assumptions without actually exploring the facts behind it. My worst experience of this is the assertion by many AC repair shops that piston based compressors are better than rotary compressors, so they sometimes urge customers to switch to them. It is true, that on lower revs they provide better compression. But what they seem to have ignored is they also require more torque to turn around. This is fine and dandy on low revving diesels where the maximum torque comes in at much lower revs, but for small diesels, and petrol engines this is just completely unsuitable. Another general assumption is a big condenser is better for a AC. This again is true in theory but NOT if it ends up obstructing the flow of ambient air to the radiator and as a result the radiator gets too warm and results in a boiling engine and transferring the heat back to the condenser. I've heard similar misconceptions about front wheel drive, automatic transmissions and I mean I can go on and on and on .... sigh ....

Hence I've always tried to keep my vehicles to as original a condition as possible, because I assumed the engineers who designed and built them knew more about the vehicles than anybody else !

i agree with you

[Reckless]

Wow lot of good info mates. Thanks.. and haven't you guys noticed that a lot of cr42s comes with 5 doors.

I assumed the engineers who designed and built them knew more about the vehicles than anybody else !

but i dont think thats entirely true when it comes to Chinese vehicles. They doesn't know anything about structurale integrity. I saw a crash test ones those things are like papadum!!!

Edited February 25, 2011 by Reckless

[nexus]

Wow lot of good info mates. Thanks.. and haven't you guys noticed that a lot of cr42s comes with 5 doors.

but i dont think thats entirely true when it comes to Chinese vehicles. They doesn't know anything about structurale integrity. I saw a crash test ones those things are like papadum!!!

yes lots of cr42s and the new hiace van come with 5 doors.