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It has a small interior. When I tried Ford sedans at a dealer last summer, the Taurus had the least head room. The others were bad too; it seems modern cars hav

by tropo 9y ago

It has a small interior. When I tried Ford sedans at a dealer last summer, the Taurus had the least head room. The others were bad too; it seems modern cars have shrunk. I had a Taurus from the 1980s and it was fine.

sangnoir 9y ago
> The others were bad too; it seems modern cars have shrunk. Modern American cars. To my untrained eyes, it looks like a common design language in American cars is to lower the roof and sometimes simultaneously raising the body (exemplified by the Chrysler 300). This leads to very limited fields of views - rear windows are almost vestigial at this point. After driving a Charger, being in a Prius feels like you're driving an all-glass car with panoramic views.
- perl4ever 9y ago
  I agree with you up until you posit the Prius as a counter example. It caught my eye that you mention rear windows in particular - do you really think a Prius has good visibility behind? I test drove the new Honda Clarity and it similarly has questionable rear visibility because of the aerodynamic hatchback shape's rear windows. One car that is commonly cited as an example of good visibility is a Subaru Forester, although I haven't driven one to see. Something I noticed while driving a 30 year old car with spectacularly good visibility is that one factor is the skinny A and B-pillars compared to modern cars. I imagine that might be related to (lack of) rollover protection, not to mention airbags.
  - sangnoir 9y ago
    > do you really think a Prius has good visibility behind? No, I wouldn't say it has good rear visibility, objectively. However, my statement was explicitly comparative, and I think the Prius has better all-round visibility than a Dodge Charger.
    - perl4ever 9y ago
      I haven't driven a Charger, so maybe you're right. Based on test driving both the current generation Prius and the last one, and looking at the Charger, it would surprise me though. The most annoying thing about my 2016 Honda Accord coupe is the massive A- and B-pillar blind spots. It's got one of the rare all-around 5 star ratings for crash tests, including rollover, and has lots of airbags, so of course you can't have everything. I don't think I ever notice any issue with the rear window.
  - tropo 9y ago
    We test for rollover protection. We don't test for the ability to avoid crashes by seeing well. Unsurprisingly, we get what we test for.
    - perl4ever 9y ago
      I think fatal accidents have been decreasing for a while, so it's probably the case that objectively we are optimizing the right thing overall with safety regulations. On the other hand, I am enjoying having an old car, and sometimes I think if we allow motorcycles and three-wheelers on the roads, why not allow recreational four wheel cars that are exempt from most safety equipment (other than say, seatbelts). Beyond just grandfathering them in, that is.

by tropo 9y ago

sangnoir 9y ago

> The others were bad too; it seems modern cars have shrunk. Modern American cars. To my untrained eyes, it looks like a common design language in American cars is to lower the roof and sometimes simultaneously raising the body (exemplified by the Chrysler 300). This leads to very limited fields of views - rear windows are almost vestigial at this point. After driving a Charger, being in a Prius feels like you're driving an all-glass car with panoramic views.

perl4ever 9y ago
I agree with you up until you posit the Prius as a counter example. It caught my eye that you mention rear windows in particular - do you really think a Prius has good visibility behind? I test drove the new Honda Clarity and it similarly has questionable rear visibility because of the aerodynamic hatchback shape's rear windows. One car that is commonly cited as an example of good visibility is a Subaru Forester, although I haven't driven one to see. Something I noticed while driving a 30 year old car with spectacularly good visibility is that one factor is the skinny A and B-pillars compared to modern cars. I imagine that might be related to (lack of) rollover protection, not to mention airbags.
- sangnoir 9y ago
  > do you really think a Prius has good visibility behind? No, I wouldn't say it has good rear visibility, objectively. However, my statement was explicitly comparative, and I think the Prius has better all-round visibility than a Dodge Charger.
  - perl4ever 9y ago
    I haven't driven a Charger, so maybe you're right. Based on test driving both the current generation Prius and the last one, and looking at the Charger, it would surprise me though. The most annoying thing about my 2016 Honda Accord coupe is the massive A- and B-pillar blind spots. It's got one of the rare all-around 5 star ratings for crash tests, including rollover, and has lots of airbags, so of course you can't have everything. I don't think I ever notice any issue with the rear window.
- tropo 9y ago
  We test for rollover protection. We don't test for the ability to avoid crashes by seeing well. Unsurprisingly, we get what we test for.
  - perl4ever 9y ago
    I think fatal accidents have been decreasing for a while, so it's probably the case that objectively we are optimizing the right thing overall with safety regulations. On the other hand, I am enjoying having an old car, and sometimes I think if we allow motorcycles and three-wheelers on the roads, why not allow recreational four wheel cars that are exempt from most safety equipment (other than say, seatbelts). Beyond just grandfathering them in, that is.