Driving cars where you cannot see the hood???

[Leo99]

Originally Posted By: expat
It used to be considered a safety feature to be able to see all four corners of the car from the drivers seat.

I admit, it's one of my pet peeves of modern cars that you have very limited visability.


You have increased visibility when you can see road instead of your own hood blocking your view. After driving Japanese style cars for so many years, I find it very weird to drive an older American car where you see the giant hood. I don't need to see my own car, I want to see other cars and things.

 

[Merkava_4]

That's one of the things I appreciate about my Buick LeSabre; no hood blocking my view of the road.

 

[Nick1994]

No hood seen when driving the Beetle...

 

[Pop_Rivit]

Never bothered me at all. I know exactly where each corner of the vehicle is located, and I've never had an issue parking, backing, etc., even when I can't see the end of the hood or trunk.

 

[tinmanSC]

My 1995 grand prix was the same way, unless you had the seat all the way up (vertically, not up like toward to steering wheel) you could not see the hood at all. There were no run down businesses, no street gangs, no boarded up windows. Driving around the Lawndale neighborhood of chicago was actually quite nice, not a single house with a poorly manicured front lawn.

 

[earlyre]

Originally Posted By: TFB1

It by no means a modern thing, you want hoodless?? Try a '80s/'90s Areostar(drove one for nine years & loved it)... The first Econolines as well... Wasn't anything beyond the windshield but the wipers...



Amen brother. My Dad had a Series of Aerostars as company cars(Turned 'em in @ 60K mi, for a new one, which ended up being maybe 1.5years) from about '90, until they went out of production, and they switched him to windstars

he always had the option to buy them from the company after the turn in, and he did buy a '94 model. standard wheel base, RWD, Vulcan V6. this is what i learned to drive in. and yeah, you couldn't see anything out front....
i actually thought about a set of those "rookie bars" or even a fluorescent orange driveway marker, but never allowed.

he finally sold it in 2004, and amazingly for a 10year old Aerostar in the Rust belt, it was just starting to Rust.(Small hole into the cabin hear the fuel filler.)

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: earlyre
Originally Posted By: TFB1

It by no means a modern thing, you want hoodless?? Try a '80s/'90s Areostar(drove one for nine years & loved it)... The first Econolines as well... Wasn't anything beyond the windshield but the wipers...



Amen brother. My Dad had a Series of Aerostars as company cars(Turned 'em in @ 60K mi, for a new one, which ended up being maybe 1.5years) from about '90, until they went out of production, and they switched him to windstars

he always had the option to buy them from the company after the turn in, and he did buy a '94 model. standard wheel base, RWD, Vulcan V6. this is what i learned to drive in. and yeah, you couldn't see anything out front....
i actually thought about a set of those "rookie bars" or even a fluorescent orange driveway marker, but never allowed.

he finally sold it in 2004, and amazingly for a 10year old Aerostar in the Rust belt, it was just starting to Rust.(Small hole into the cabin hear the fuel filler.)


That sort of a setup is why I decided to lear to drive and take my driving test in a minivan (Toyota Previa) vs a smaller sedan...

You don't have a huge hood, and the rear is chopped flat so you know what you see out the rear window is what is right there.

 

[rationull]

I had a 2007 Civic where you couldn't see the hood at all just due to the geometry of the situation. But it's not like the belt-line was super low giving you a great view of the road, either. I didn't like it very much. I like being able to see the hood for whatever reason.


OTOH I had a 280zx with a looooong hood -- you could see most of it but there was probably 2' at the front that you couldn't see since it curved downward. That didn't bother me nearly as much.

I guess I just like having a visual reference outside the cabin.

 

[KrisZ]

Why would anyone need to see the hood while driving? When parking the car, yes it can be helpful, but while driving it's simply dangerous.

 

[Traction]

Originally Posted By: KrisZ
Why would anyone need to see the hood while driving? When parking the car, yes it can be helpful, but while driving it's simply dangerous.

Seeing part of the hood just gives you a line of reference. Problem is on cars with a tall cowl/dash and you lose all sense of the front of the car. On my C5 Corvette it has a very long low hood, with a cowl that is the same height as the hood, which allows you to see were it drops out of view in front of the tires. The forward visibility would be the same with a high cowl/dash, but with no reference it would be very difficult to drive. By comparison if you ever drove a open wheel car, you would know what a difference it makes to see the corners of the car.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Small as the Regal is (compared to its predecessor, the big Park Avenue), I can usually glimpse the hood as it slopes away and down. Now the rear view is a challenge. The backlight slopes strongly, so my view is a tiny bit distorted. Normally there's no trouble. But when I stop at one local store, I back up toward a plain white wall with no markers or features to judge the distance -- and the Regal doesn't have the rear sensor the PA did! Every time I edge back until I think I'm right on the wall. When I get out to check, I still have 3-4 feet to go.

 

[KrisZ]

Originally Posted By: Traction
By comparison if you ever drove a open wheel car, you would know what a difference it makes to see the corners of the car.


My whole contention is that, unless doing slow speed maneuvers, or slow off-road driving, if the driver is looking 10-15 second ahead, he/she will not even notice the hood or the corners of their vehicle.
If they do see the hood, or open tires of their vehicle, it simply means they are not looking ahead far enough, which makes it dangerous.

It's sort of like wearing glasses; one does not focus their vision to see the frames, but instead look far enough so that your eyes do not focus on them. It doesn't mean you don't see them, but your focus is far beyond the frames making the frames irrelevant.


I guess it's hard for me to explain this, but when I drive, especially on the highway and I focus on the road far ahead, I simply do not notice the dash, the steering wheel, heck it could even be a slight drizzle on the windshield and it will not bother me, unless I start thinking about it. On our trips, my wife often times asks me why I do not turn on the wipers when the rain starts, but I simply do not see it until she mentions it.

 

[supton]

I usually still have my wipers on intermittent when I start noticing others are driving with theirs on high speed. Could be because they have never changed their blades, but I tend to use my wipers less than others,

 

[rationull]

Originally Posted By: KrisZ

My whole contention is that, unless doing slow speed maneuvers, or slow off-road driving, if the driver is looking 10-15 second ahead, he/she will not even notice the hood or the corners of their vehicle.
If they do see the hood, or open tires of their vehicle, it simply means they are not looking ahead far enough, which makes it dangerous.

It's sort of like wearing glasses; one does not focus their vision to see the frames, but instead look far enough so that your eyes do not focus on them. It doesn't mean you don't see them, but your focus is far beyond the frames making the frames irrelevant.


I guess it's hard for me to explain this, but when I drive, especially on the highway and I focus on the road far ahead, I simply do not notice the dash, the steering wheel, heck it could even be a slight drizzle on the windshield and it will not bother me, unless I start thinking about it. On our trips, my wife often times asks me why I do not turn on the wipers when the rain starts, but I simply do not see it until she mentions it.



Well, sure. But low speed maneuvers, parking, etc. are all part of driving too.

 

[jmb3675]

I have no problem driving vehicles I can't see the hood. I learned how to drive in my grandpa's 88 Aerostar. He also made sure I could parallel park it anywhere it fit. It took me a while to get used to seeing the hood on the cars I drove after that. I also spent some time making deliveries with an Olds Silhouette. I know a lot of people that get nervous parking if they can't see the hood though.

What I don't care for is the poor visibility out the back and side windows on a lot of newer cars. I personally would rather have better visibility than a stronger roof, even if it is a government mandate for roll over protection. I just think I would get better value out of being able to see better. Rollovers just aren't as common as people passing behind you while backing.

 

[Traction]

Originally Posted By: jmb3675
I have no problem driving vehicles I can't see the hood. I learned how to drive in my grandpa's 88 Aerostar. He also made sure I could parallel park it anywhere it fit. It took me a while to get used to seeing the hood on the cars I drove after that. I also spent some time making deliveries with an Olds Silhouette. I know a lot of people that get nervous parking if they can't see the hood though.

What I don't care for is the poor visibility out the back and side windows on a lot of newer cars. I personally would rather have better visibility than a stronger roof, even if it is a government mandate for roll over protection. I just think I would get better value out of being able to see better. Rollovers just aren't as common as people passing behind you while backing.

On the older mini vans, etc. you sit far forward over the front wheels. Sitting further back does make it harder to judge distance.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: KD0AXS
Perhaps you just need a set of rookie rods

I put a fat lip winch bumper on my Jeep. I was considering finding a set of chicken sticks and shortening them. It sticks out quite a bit - not only forwards but to the side.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted By: BowNisPar
Originally Posted By: horse123
Stop putting your seat so low. Seriously, I don't what's wrong with people who have their seat really low yet are significantly shorter than me. I always have it at the top in my car. I don't try to pretend I'm in an F1 car.


No value comment.


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