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Cool tech. A natural extension of the 360 view many luxury cars offer. I must however protest that I miss low hoodlines and narrow a-pillars that seem to rob ha

Cool tech. A natural extension of the 360 view many luxury cars offer. I must however protest that I miss low hoodlines and narrow a-pillars that seem to rob half the view of the road in newer cars. I am convinced the huge wheel trend is just to visually offset the highwater beltlines endemic on modern cars. The back-up camera, blind-spot camera, and offroad cameras seem like nothing more than band-aids slapped over bad design. Its all down to (some) asinine regulations forcing cars to be the same. Which is why so few cars are made today. All sales are trucks, suv's, or 'crossovers' today, simply to dodge the regulations. Which helps nobody but fords f150 plant and oil companies. Meanwhile in the actual consumer world; How easy are the lenses to access and clean? How cheap to replace when offroading? Seems like a good feature to check out on a leased british car. Even LR's biggest fans still bemoan parts prices, and availability after a few years. British electronics have come a long way but still suffer under the cursed memory of Lucas made wiring in wet climates.

dsfyu404ed 8y ago
Yes, modern cars suck from a visibility perspective but that's what you get after a 30yr (and counting) of manufacturers competing in safety arms race. The belt-line got higher and the pillars got bigger so you could barrel roll down the median in comfort. People want to be safer in a highly unlikely event serious crash at the expense of greatly increasing the likelihood of a less severe crash from lack of visibility (e.g. cornering over a cyclist). Everything has trade-offs and the consumers (and the regulatory agencies) have signaled which trade-offs they prefer.
- tomatotomato37 8y ago
  The worst part of this arms race is how much its caused by regulations, especially when those regulations end up completely working against environmental/mpg regulations that end up forcing automakers to pick some crap median that ends up pissing both sides off. You're not going to get good gas mileage with 2 extra tons of airbags, superfluous pillar reinforcements, and an massive SUV hood needed to satisfy pedestrian requirements
  - wil421 8y ago
    Who cars about MPGs? I would much rather drive a safe car than an efficient car. It’s the same reason all that crap is removed for race cars. Extra weight and lower MPGs are a small price to pay for safety. ICEs will hopefully lose their dominance in the next 15-20 years. Fully electric cars could have some crazy looking designs but I doubt they will.
    - 0db532a0 8y ago
      https://tanks-alot.co.uk https://tanks-alot.co.uk have a few tanks for sale right now. Take your pick.
      - wil421 8y ago
        Great, now I’m debating quitting my day job and starting a tank rental business in the US. Edit: There’s a Tank Town USA amusement park someone not even 1.5 hours away from me. I can even pay extra to shoot a machine gun from one.
- duxup 8y ago
  Most of the visibility issues I encounter don't seem to be because of safety, more so design / style choices. I've driven a few where the rear windows for no good reason turn into sideways pseudo teardrop shapes. There's not an airbag or anything else that explains it other than design. Plenty of vehicles manage to do without such designs. Others simply choose it.
  - burfog 8y ago
    It's roof strength. You're lucky the windows are better than the side windows on passenger planes. For strength, picture a truss made of triangles. That is where we are headed, with little "sideways pseudo teardrop shapes" between the triangles. People demanded rollover protection, not that rollovers happen much or couldn't be reduced with a lower center of gravity. We got rollover protection. Now we can't see out well enough to avoid crashing into things. Yea, progress!
- smacktoward 8y ago
  I'm wondering how long it will be until we see a car that omits windows entirely and relies 100% on cameras and screens for external visibility. Some manufacturers have already started inching in that direction by replacing the traditional rear-view mirror with a rear-facing camera, which lets them stop worrying about sight lines being obstructed by headrests, small back windshields, etc. I wonder how much safer you could make a car if you could take all the glass out altogether.
- interfixus 8y ago
  Also: Airbags. I intensely dislike driving with an armed, explosive boxing glove in front of my face. Drive with attention, foresight, and good sense - and the risk of serious crashing approaches zero.

dsfyu404ed 8y ago

Yes, modern cars suck from a visibility perspective but that's what you get after a 30yr (and counting) of manufacturers competing in safety arms race. The belt-line got higher and the pillars got bigger so you could barrel roll down the median in comfort. People want to be safer in a highly unlikely event serious crash at the expense of greatly increasing the likelihood of a less severe crash from lack of visibility (e.g. cornering over a cyclist). Everything has trade-offs and the consumers (and the regulatory agencies) have signaled which trade-offs they prefer.

tomatotomato37 8y ago
The worst part of this arms race is how much its caused by regulations, especially when those regulations end up completely working against environmental/mpg regulations that end up forcing automakers to pick some crap median that ends up pissing both sides off. You're not going to get good gas mileage with 2 extra tons of airbags, superfluous pillar reinforcements, and an massive SUV hood needed to satisfy pedestrian requirements
- wil421 8y ago
  Who cars about MPGs? I would much rather drive a safe car than an efficient car. It’s the same reason all that crap is removed for race cars. Extra weight and lower MPGs are a small price to pay for safety. ICEs will hopefully lose their dominance in the next 15-20 years. Fully electric cars could have some crazy looking designs but I doubt they will.
  - 0db532a0 8y ago
    https://tanks-alot.co.uk https://tanks-alot.co.uk have a few tanks for sale right now. Take your pick.
    - wil421 8y ago
      Great, now I’m debating quitting my day job and starting a tank rental business in the US. Edit: There’s a Tank Town USA amusement park someone not even 1.5 hours away from me. I can even pay extra to shoot a machine gun from one.
duxup 8y ago
Most of the visibility issues I encounter don't seem to be because of safety, more so design / style choices. I've driven a few where the rear windows for no good reason turn into sideways pseudo teardrop shapes. There's not an airbag or anything else that explains it other than design. Plenty of vehicles manage to do without such designs. Others simply choose it.
- burfog 8y ago
  It's roof strength. You're lucky the windows are better than the side windows on passenger planes. For strength, picture a truss made of triangles. That is where we are headed, with little "sideways pseudo teardrop shapes" between the triangles. People demanded rollover protection, not that rollovers happen much or couldn't be reduced with a lower center of gravity. We got rollover protection. Now we can't see out well enough to avoid crashing into things. Yea, progress!
smacktoward 8y ago
I'm wondering how long it will be until we see a car that omits windows entirely and relies 100% on cameras and screens for external visibility. Some manufacturers have already started inching in that direction by replacing the traditional rear-view mirror with a rear-facing camera, which lets them stop worrying about sight lines being obstructed by headrests, small back windshields, etc. I wonder how much safer you could make a car if you could take all the glass out altogether.
interfixus 8y ago
Also: Airbags. I intensely dislike driving with an armed, explosive boxing glove in front of my face. Drive with attention, foresight, and good sense - and the risk of serious crashing approaches zero.