Your feelings about reduced visibility on new cars

[Bottom_Feeder]

The visibility on newer cars is atrocious. I guess I've been spoiled by how great it is on my '01 Impreza and my wife's '02 Corolla- nothing but glass above mid-shoulder and with thin-ish pillars. I can see EVERYTHING from the driver's seat.

I wasn't a fan of the Pontiac Grand Prix or Chrysler 200 I've rented in the last few years. The rear and rear quarter windows are almost useless in these cars. And my friend's '12 Mustang felt like a coffin when I sat in it. No thanks.

 

[Spazdog]

Yeah! Why can't they make cars with great rearward visibility like my old Mustang?

Oh yeah,

The fastbacks from that era were worse. Torino or Mustang.

I think the high points were the late '80s/early '90s Hondas. The pillars were so thin on the 4th gen Civic and 3rd gen Prelude. There were practically no blind spots.

 

[morepwr]

I am not a fan of the high beltline on the new cars either. As weird as it may sound, I like to drive with the window down and even rest my arm on the door versus using the AC. Some cars have the beltline up near your shoulder once your sitting in it.

 

[yesthatsteve]

I'd rather give up a little bit of extra protection in case of a crash in exchange for the visibility to better avoid one.

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

Originally Posted By: yesthatsteve
I'd rather give up a little bit of extra protection in case of a crash in exchange for the visibility to better avoid one.

Well said!

 

[cchase]

I'd rather give up a little crash protection in exchange for being able to see out of the car, too.

It seems our Honda invites an accident every time you have to cross an intersection - the A-pillars are so thick they obscure the entire road to the left of the car, and often the right side as well. Our older cars don't have that issue with their much thinner A-pillars.

The number one way to survive an accident is to not have one in the first place. Outward visibility goes a long way towards that end.

 

[Papa Bear]

This is a good post. My brother has a new Equinox and let me drive it. It is a nice vehicle but I had a hard time seeing out of it.

I remembered my 1990 Civic and what great visibility it had, it was so open and bright.

Then I remembered my first car, my '51 Ford that had bumpers on it that actually "bumped' things and didn't require a $1000.00 repair. I could push cars with it without damage.

I want big windows and big steel chrome bumpers again !!

 

[Rolla07]

Friend of mine bought a 2012 Civic.. talk about blind spots... driver is about 6ft tall and I sat in the car ( im 6ft 6) and in that car you feel like you are sitting on the floor!! No visibility anywhere!! bad design. My 07 corolla is designed better. oh well, guess it depends on the person and what you like.

 

[morris]

ever drive a 1966 dodge charger? BIG blind spots.

 

[RS250]

Bunch of whiners. Some people cannot accept change, and have to blame somebody or something.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Originally Posted By: morris
ever drive a 1966 dodge charger? BIG blind spots.


Absolutely. And my 68 wasn't a whole lot better!

 

[JetStar]

I rather like the smaller windows, and higher belt lines we have today. Even if there are some visibility issues. It takes a little extra effort, but you get used to it. I never liked the rolling greenhouse picture window styled cars. Glass is heavy and expensive. Perhaps you'd like an AMC Pacer

 

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted By: coolbird101
I have been running around in service vans for so many years with massive blind spots and mirror usage at a premium, driving any car is a treat for me visibility wise..


I don't even LOOK out the back...I have been driving box trucks, wreckers, and buses for so long.

 

[jrustles]

IMO it's a cheap way to strengthen the unibody without resorting to exotic 'high tensile steel' and the like, resulting in super thick A & C pillars, super rounded window cutouts, unreasonably high beltlines... Its just the same approach as using ridiculously high OD/Final Drives to get economy ratings instead of improving thermal efficiency, friction etc. When faced with new regulation challenges, there are plenty of tricks automakers will play to comply.

 

[spackard]

Originally Posted By: JetStar
I rather like the smaller windows, and higher belt lines we have today. Even if there are some visibility issues. It takes a little extra effort, but you get used to it. I never liked the rolling greenhouse picture window styled cars. Glass is heavy and expensive. Perhaps you'd like an AMC Pacer

With all that glass I couldn't rest my arm on the top ledge of the door because AMC put a large cheap plastic "shark fin" on the inside that stuck up in the way of my arm. You can see the plastic sticking up over the ledge in this photo:

 

[JetStar]

Originally Posted By: spackard
Originally Posted By: JetStar
I rather like the smaller windows, and higher belt lines we have today. Even if there are some visibility issues. It takes a little extra effort, but you get used to it. I never liked the rolling greenhouse picture window styled cars. Glass is heavy and expensive. Perhaps you'd like an AMC Pacer

With all that glass I couldn't rest my arm on the top ledge of the door because AMC put a large cheap plastic "shark fin" on the inside that stuck up in the way of my arm. You can see the plastic sticking up over the ledge in this photo:

I seem to remember something odd at the top of the door panel. What was it for?

 

[rslifkin]

I love the visibility in my Jeep. With the mirrors set correctly, there's no blind spot big enough to fit even a Smart car in. Plus, the belt line is low enough that you can see fairly close next to you.

 

[spackard]

Originally Posted By: JetStar

I seem to remember something odd at the top of the door panel. What was it for?


amcpacer.com says it was for side-impact protection, plus an experiment in plastics and UV resistance, which didn't end well.

 

[Trav]

I drove a new 2012 Ford C-Max diesel. Aside from its absolutely miserable driving manners (Ford did a horrible job on the turbo diesel) it was like running through busy traffic with a blindfold on holding a pair of scissors.

The pillars are huge and the whole bloody car is a blind spot to the point its dangerous.
This has to rate as one of the worst car i ever drove.

 

[CharBaby]

I'm jumpin' in here late and didn't read every single reply. YES I have noticed the many blind spots on new vehicles today. The new Taurus has many customer complaints as does the Camaro. This is all for strength and crash protection with less glass to to shatter along with some new style as well.

I drove my buddy's '11 Equinox. What a nice vehicle but man, I couldn't see out of it compared to what I am used to. Even though he has a "Backup Camera" he still backs into things. Already been in the body shop 2X!