Car designers have made some real advancement over the years but I don’t find some of their improvements all that great;
Getting rid of fly windows, not so bad now that I stopped smoking,
Daytime driving lights, good idea until it’s you’re on a wet or misty road on a gloomy day and you suddenly come up behind one of these non-coloured vehicles because they have no taillights showing
High beam switch is another thing, mine is on the column and I wish they’d put it back on the floor,
thatisall
Turn signals are too quiet in some cars. They used to be clearly audible which let you know to turn them off if the turn you made wasn’t sharp enough. I miss the old-style floor vents.
The side windows that are useless for shoulder-checking. I want big, square windows that I can see behind me and to the side, not cutesy little useless windows. Check out the windows on the Sundance like one I used to have - I could parallel park that thing in a spot six inches longer than my car, I had such good visibility. Compare that to a modern Honda Civic - the windows actually slope up, in case the small size wasn’t bad enough. They try to pretend that the mirrors eliminate the need to shoulder check - they are wrong.
Not quite the same, Cat Whisperer, as the Civic to which you link is a 2-door model, while the Sundance is a 4-door (even though the picture’s file name indicates otherwise). You are still on-point, just not exactly an apples to apples comparison. Here’s a 4-door Civic.
Much of this probably has to do with the shape of vehicles nowadays, which is at least partially driven by aerodynamics in an effort to maximize gas mileage.
The rear window is not the problem; the fact that the trunk is so large is. People want big trunks and so that cuts down on the rear view.
It’s not the trunk. Side rear visibility is poor on modern hatchbacks too. I think it’s caused by the need to strengthen the car against side impact and rollovers.
Hell, side front visibility can be poor sometimes too. The A pillars on my Accord are so thick I need to crane my neck to look around it when making tight left turns like in parking lots and such.
I drove a Doge Charger the other day and given the size of the blind spots it may well have been a panel van. Seriously, who designs a passenger car with no visibility out the rear window. We’re not talking about a supercar with fantastic aerodynamics, it’s a glorified passenger car.
I agree that windows are too small; stylistically it’s cute but practically it’s an absolute nightmare.
It’s actually because the wheel wells are getting bigger and deeper on cars, providing for a sportier, more attuned driving style (hugging the road, etc). Bigger wheel wells = smaller windows.
What I’m surprised by is the interior quality of materials, specifically soft touch plastics and multitouch knobs, etc. The decline in overall quality of interior materials between a mid 90’s Subaru and a present-day Subaru is readily apparent.
I’ve witnessed this in entry level cars up through 60K models.
