🚀 go-pugleaf

Kiki <tigress@havoc.gtf.org> wrote in message
news:93pmpn$4d5$1@news-int.gatech.edu...
> In rec.autos.driving Eric Lee Green <eric@badtux.org> wrote:
> :
>  vision, and b) huge blind spots on the sides caused by you being unable
> : to see low enough to see cars beside you.
>
> Agreed... I always move over slowly in the Pathfinder in case I didn't see
> anyone (that way they have time to honk or get out of my way). I'm not
> sure if it is cause of the Pathfinder or all SUVs (I'm sure some are worse
> about this than others). But there is definitely a spot I can't tell for
> sure if there is some one there or not.

I have to disagree here.
I've got two extremely different vehicles: 2000 Dodge RAM 2500 4x4 and 1999
Mazda Protege'.  The roof of the Protege' does not come up to the bottom of
the windows of the truck.  I can tell you without qualification that I can
see to the sides far better in the TRUCK than in the car.  This is due to a
number of factors, the two biggest being:

In the last couple of years auto makers have all decided to go with "swoopy"
designs with the rear of the car much higher than the front.  Net result:
turn your head to look to the side in one of these cars and all you see is
the rear passenger's seat.  The view out the rear view mirror is not much
better.

The truck's mirrors are several times larger than the car's mirrors.  A can
also confirm that most of the time I can spot obstacles much sooner in the
truck than in the car.  The truck has big wheels and loads of ground
clearance and can simply roll over things that would damage or compromise
control of the car.  Of course, the truck can probably be rolled and the car
probably would not roll on smooth pavement.  This is only one factor in a
much more complicated picture.

On the highway, the car gets 34mpg, the truck gets 20mpg, which is something
else that responsible folks need to factor in too when choosing what and
when to drive.

--
S'later, Mike Locke     lockem@scrserv.com