Green NCAP has published the results of three popular, high-selling cars, and the Mazda2 comes out on top with 3.5 stars. Ford’s crossover Puma checks in with three stars and the DS 3 Crossback gets a 2.5 star rating.
Mazda2
The Mazda2 was tested with the 1.5 litre Skyactiv-G petrol engine and turned in an “impressive” performance, the tester said. The lightweight car scored particularly well for energy efficiency, with an index of 6.9/10 for this aspect of its performance.
Control of pollutant emissions is “good”, but Green NCAP said the car would benefit from a gasoline particulate filter (GPF ), as measurements of particulate numbers were elevated in some of the more demanding of Green NCAP’s tests.
Ford Puma Crossover
The Puma, Ford’s small crossover SUV with the 1.0 litre mild hybrid, direct-injection petrol engine, sits comfortably in the three-star band, with a “good” score for its energy efficiency and respectable results in control of pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions.
Ammonia NH3, a pollutant which is not regulated by legislation, lets the score down in the Clean Air Index and an improvement in this area “would surely” have had the car joining the Mazda in the 3.5 star bracket, Green NCAP said.
DS 3 Crossback
The DS 3 Crossback brings up the rear in this round of tests. Like the Ford, the DS3 Crossback’s struggles to control emissions of ammonia, and those of NOx also cause problems in Green NCAP’s tough robustness tests. However, the particulate filter fitted to the 1.5 litre turbodiesel engine works well, with particulate emissions well controlled in all tests, the tester concluded.
Aleksandar Damyanov of Green NCAP said the tests proved that modern combustion-engine cars could perform well.
"Green NCAP’s tests will, we hope, encourage manufacturers to strive for the very best levels of emissions control and this means using all of the tools at their disposal.
“For instance, ammonia emissions need to be better considered in order to receive a higher rating. Particulate filters do a great job of controlling very fine particles and the Mazda2 would have performed even better if it had been fitted with one. But, in any case, congratulations to Mazda on the impressive performance, especially in terms of fuel consumption.”
