🚀 go-pugleaf

Kiki,

Your basic problem is that you are trying to look out the back windows of
your Pathfinder.  Use those big mirrors and abandon the rear windows
entirely.  That's what I do with my truck and what I did in the Toyota
4-runner I had before that.  If I look out the window a) I get a miniscule
view due to the small size of the rear quad cab door window (that's on the
right side, on the left I see nothing at all) and b) I am looking over the
top of 70% of the vehicles on the road.  However, if I look in my huge side
mirrors I have a really excellent view of everything.

Despite what others posted here, I do believe that side view mirrors need to
include a rear fender in the view.  This is needed to have some perspective
so that you can determine how far a car is away.  I'm sure you've read the
warnings on convex mirrors.

Regarding rolling over things rather than swerving around: of course it is
unpleasant to roll over an obstacle and "hope".  You don't do it
intentionally.  However, it is just one more point contributing to the issue
that roll-over stability is not as simple as the ratio of wheel separation
to center of gravity height.

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

Kiki <tigress@havoc.gtf.org> wrote in message
news:93v5as$q97$1@news-int.gatech.edu...
> In rec.autos.driving Mike Locke <lockem@scrserv.com> wrote:
>
> : 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
>
> Hey, I put my requisate disclaimer that it could just be due to my
> Pathfinder's design :). But in my Pathfinder, the last two windows are
> practically useless cause I really can't tell if there is a car there or
> not.
>
> This also has a lot to do with cars. There are cars with blind spots too..
> blind spots do have a lot to do with the design of the vehicle itself.
>
> : 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.
>
> Ah, never had to deal with this. My first car was an old 82 Saab that had
> excellent visibility around the car, and the last was a Porsche where it
> was pretty easy alos to see if there was a car next to me.
>
> : 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
>
> Agreed here. It's easier to back my Pathfinder up because of the large
> side mirrors (the Saab was easy to back up because of power mirrors, easy
> to adjuts them at a whim).
>
> : 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
>
> I still wouldn't want to roll over those things that would damage other
> cars at high speeds.