Nissans of old and new meet, and it's not a pretty sight
It was reported recently that the Nissan Tsuru, once known in New Zealand as the Nissan Sunny many moons ago, was finally going to be phased out of production after scoring a dreadfully dismal zero-star rating in its latest NCAP tests.
That's something slightly comical about that fact — that a car could be so incredibly useless to claim zero stars. But comedy gets swapped for outright fear when you see exactly how garbage the Tsuru is when compared directly with a more contemporary equivalent. In the case of this video, the equivalent is the current US-based Nissan Versa.
While it's been a long, long time since the Tsuru was ever classed as a new car in New Zealand, up until recently it was still a car for the masses in countries like Mexico. As a half Filipino, I'm aware that they're everywhere back there too — and it's a worrying thought when compared to vision like this.
This comparison video was made by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) in the US, comparing the Tsuru to a Versa — a car that's scored 'good' results across multiple other IIHS tests. The two cars collide at 65kph, with a 50 per cent overlap.
It's clear to see almost immediately who the winner is in the crash imagery, as the Tsuru almost straight away begins to fold in half; its door structure and roof caving in as if made out of papier mâché.
The Versa doesn't really look a million bucks either, but that's largely due to its advanced crumple zones exploding like confetti as the force of the impact surges around the car. Once the plastic settles you can see that there's barely any damage to the much newer car beyond the fire wall.
But the scariest footage of all is the view from the Tsuru's interior — as interior trim and crumpled up door blankets the innocent test dummy inside.
Cars like the Tsuru can be produced and sold for markets like Mexico and the like because those markets often have weaker safety regulations for cars. And sadly while the Tsuru has now met the axe, it's not the only car of its kind getting by with much weaker safety standards than others.