How do others feel about driver visibility in modern cars?
I feel it is shocking!
A friend of mine who has been driving an 17 year old Corsa recently decided to look for a new car
She was happy with the Corsa and had had it since 2 years old, and it was generally in good condition too but had got to the stage where she would have had to either spend a grand and keep it another couple of years or replace it.
Anyway, she got a real shock driving the modern equivalents (Corsa/Ka/etc)
At the first junction, she came up (more or less) to the line and exclaimed "I cant see, how can I pull out??"!
Massive "A" pillars like a set of blinkers on a Horse!
The cars are also quite a bit bigger and she cant see where the front, rear (or even sides) of the car ends. Poor visibility from rear and rear side windows too (Almost like driving a small van).
I was having to explain that they are all like that nowadays, that and how many of the smaller cars are also going over to 3 cylinder engines which may tick all the green boxes but they sound like demented lawnmowers and dont seem to have any useful torque below 2500RPM, thus requiring a very different driving style than she was used too. I would think a long journey in a 3Cyl would be a bit wearing.
Anyway, the best of the lot, for her, seemed to be a Ka+ with the older design 1.2 4cyl engine. She seems to be getting the hang of it and hasnt bashed it yet.
But I had my own "Cant See" moment in a late model A class merc. Again, same.
Massive A pillars, a very high "Waist" level on the side windows and rear side windows like portholes and a letterbox for the rear window!.
Add to that not having any visual clue where the front, rear and sides of the car actually extend too, unsurprisingly the owners wife had scraped it on the gateposts on both sides within a fortnight of buying the car.
You can joke about women drivers all you like but she had my sympathy.
One wonders if engineering cars to be safer is countered by an increased risk of actually having accidents
(Especially the side visibility at junctions thing. I would have thought that many modern cars are going to be SMIDSY/T-Bone magnets for people trying to exit side-roads!
)
I feel it is shocking!
A friend of mine who has been driving an 17 year old Corsa recently decided to look for a new car
She was happy with the Corsa and had had it since 2 years old, and it was generally in good condition too but had got to the stage where she would have had to either spend a grand and keep it another couple of years or replace it.
Anyway, she got a real shock driving the modern equivalents (Corsa/Ka/etc)
At the first junction, she came up (more or less) to the line and exclaimed "I cant see, how can I pull out??"!
Massive "A" pillars like a set of blinkers on a Horse!
The cars are also quite a bit bigger and she cant see where the front, rear (or even sides) of the car ends. Poor visibility from rear and rear side windows too (Almost like driving a small van).
I was having to explain that they are all like that nowadays, that and how many of the smaller cars are also going over to 3 cylinder engines which may tick all the green boxes but they sound like demented lawnmowers and dont seem to have any useful torque below 2500RPM, thus requiring a very different driving style than she was used too. I would think a long journey in a 3Cyl would be a bit wearing.
Anyway, the best of the lot, for her, seemed to be a Ka+ with the older design 1.2 4cyl engine. She seems to be getting the hang of it and hasnt bashed it yet.
But I had my own "Cant See" moment in a late model A class merc. Again, same.
Massive A pillars, a very high "Waist" level on the side windows and rear side windows like portholes and a letterbox for the rear window!.
Add to that not having any visual clue where the front, rear and sides of the car actually extend too, unsurprisingly the owners wife had scraped it on the gateposts on both sides within a fortnight of buying the car.
You can joke about women drivers all you like but she had my sympathy.
One wonders if engineering cars to be safer is countered by an increased risk of actually having accidents
(Especially the side visibility at junctions thing. I would have thought that many modern cars are going to be SMIDSY/T-Bone magnets for people trying to exit side-roads!
)
