Five stars for BMW 1 Series, four to Partner

THE Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) has given a maximum five-star safety tick to BMW’s new 1 Series, but awarded only four stars to Peugeot’s Partner van.

ANCAP chief executive James Goodwin praised the 1 Series’ side impact protection for both adults and children, but said concerns were raised over the chest protection offered to adults in the rear and whiplash protection for front seating positions.

“Tests of its autonomous emergency braking system also showed ‘good’ performance with collisions avoided or mitigated in all scenarios,” he said.

“While still within five star bounds, test results for the protection of adult occupants seated in the rear was classified as ‘weak’ and we saw ‘marginal’ whiplash protection for the front seats.”

Dual frontal, side chest-protecting and curtain airbags are all standard across the range, along with autonomous emergency braking and lane keep assist with lane departure warning.

The five-star rating applies to all variants sold in Australia and New Zealand, those being the 118i M Sport Package ($42,990 plus ORC) and M135i xDrive ($63,990 plus ORC).

Peugeot’s Partner light commercial van did not fare so well, being awarded a four-star rating.

The result was based on European testing of the passenger van version of the Partner, the Rifter, which is not available in Australia.

ANCAP deemed the vehicles suitably similar to apply the ENCAP result to the Partner goods van.

According to ANCAP, the Partner scored well for adult occupant protectionbut fell well short for vulnerable road user protection, costing it a five-star rating.

“Overall performance of the Peugeot’s autonomous emergency braking system was rated as ‘marginal’, withthe system unable to respond to cyclists,” Mr Goodwin said.

“Light commercial vans will often spend more time and cover more kilometres onour roads, particularly in busy metropolitan areas, so it is disappointing to see this model score poorly for its ability to protect pedestrians and cyclists.”

Dual frontal, side chest-protecting and curtain airbags are standard across the Partner range, as well as autonomous emergency braking and lane keep assist with lane departurewarning and emergency lane keeping.

The four-star rating applies to both the 1.2-litre petrol and 1.6-litre diesel variants, available from $25,490 (plus ORC) and $29,990 (plus ORC) respectively.