Considering 06 Civic-question re visibility

I went for second test drive last night and noticed that I can't see the
front of the car beyond the windshield because the hood slopes down.
For those of you with this car or another which does the same thing, did
you indeed get "used to it"? If yes, how long do you estimate it took?
Have you hit anything because of it?

 

I'm like this with my new van. Old van had a flat front, new one
doesn't, but i've not hit anything either. Of course, I'm paranoid
about it (because i'm still, at heart, a RHD driver, in a LLHD
country) . I got some broom handles, and put them at the front corners
of my car, and got some references to mark where I am. I then got some
little cones from the dollar tree (you get 4 for a buck, about 6-7
inches high, made of orange plastic, used for football, sorry, soccer
training) and tried to drive and stop with the front as close as
possible, without going over. Works like a champ. I can now park this
Town+country as precisely as I can my 88 civic.

 

I never noticed that, but now that I think about, yeah I see what you're
saying. I have only nudged a few of those dang concrete "things" in
parking space, not with the bumper, but that small plastic thing hanging
down beneath it. Has not happened in a month or so since though. I would
not worry about it unless your vision is not great, and in that case
maybe a trip to the optometrist would be in order?

--Nicholas

 

It is a cab forward design similar to previous generation Chryslers. The
front hood is so short that it will probably not present a problem. Most of
the front end is in the dashboard depth.

 

I've had my '06 Civic for about a month now, and yes I've gotten used to it. For
me it took about two weeks to really get a good feel for where the front end is
at.

I haven't hit anything (knock on wood) due to it, but I have scraped the very
bottom of the bumper on one of those concrete parking lot partitions. But I
used to do that fairly often with my old car, too, so that's probably a personal
quirk.

 

I drove an 06 today and when I took it in the parking garage at work I was
able to park in my space without hitting the wall - I judged but the size of
the headlight beam, but no matter how I tried to look, I could not see the
hood - but with 30/40 mpg, I'll accept that! an outstanding engineering
result!
Rocky

 

Besides the front issue I am careful when taking curves (lots in Pittsburgh)
due to the "A" pillar that blocks your view. But again I'll trade that off
on looks and performance any day.

 

This is a real pet peeve of mine, more and more modern vehicles are
reducing visibility in favor of "style". This is a real safety issue.
I wonder how many additional small children are going to get run over
because drivers didn't see them in their stylish vehicles.

I hate the visibility from my '03 Accord. There is much to like about
modern Hondas, but visibility around the front pillars is not one of the
things to like!

John

 

If you're referring to the fat A-pillar, that has nothing to do with style
and everything to do with side-intrusion crash legislation.

The NHTSA's crash tests require a certain minimum intrusion into the
passenger compartment in their standardized side-impact tests, and this can
usually only be achieved by making the A-pillars really fat and strong.
Even the automakers don't like it because of the visibilty issues, but they
have little choice.

For extreme examples, check out most late-model minivans. To minimize
visibility loss, automakers are forced to make the A-pillars triangular in
section, with the point of the triangle pointing at the driver. Some
pillars are 5" thick from outside painted surface to the inner point.

Your tax dollars at work.