Inherently Dangerous Car

[recumbentpanda]

Owing to a minor rear-end shunt our car has had to go in for body work. As a courtesy car we have been given the current Vauxhall Corsa coupe. I am frankly horrified by this thing. It is of course capable like most modern cars of blistering accelleration, and although small is built like a tank -a heavy, overpowered panzer masquerading as a sporty coupe -seems to be a favourite recipe these days.

But the really alarming thing is the lack of vision. This thing is not just heavy like a panzer, its nearly as hard to see out of! The 'A' pillars have a huge slope, and are therefore hideously thick, which means a huge, near-horizontal stripe is taken out of your field of view. The 'B' pillars are just where you want to look over your shoulder for a 'lifesaver' before pulling out. As for the 'C' pillars, you could quite easily lose the Edinburgh Tattoo behind them, never mind a cyclist. Add to that the feckless dribbling stupidity of tinted rear and back windows and you have a rolling death-trap -for anyone one not actually sitting inside it. I have driven vans with better visibility. When you combine this with the kind of driver most likely to actually drive these out of choice -my blood runs cold.

And while it is uniquely bad, it is not untypical of a good many vehicles on the road today. I bet it looked really cool drawn in magic-markers and pastels with lots of glossy reflections -but that's where it should have stayed. I am so shocked by this abortion of a product I am thinking of writing to General Motors to complain.

Cyclists, keep well away from this thing! The poor driver inside has NO IDEA where the truck behind is, never mind you!

 

[BentMikey]

You should get a flag, riding one of those recumbent deathtraps.

 

[XmisterIS]

I agree with you about lack of visibility - I tend to keep out of driver's blind spots whenever possible! (e.g. I won't sit in someone's blind spot like some people do).

As for overpowered ... whaddayamean?! There's no such thing as "overpowered"! I like cars and motorbikes that suck your eyeballs through the back of your head when you open the throttle!

 

[fossyant]

Lots of cars now have really bad blind spots, mainly due to crash test safety, and sometimes styling........

 

[Jezston]

Jeeebus...

 

[Wobbly John]

The faster you drive, the narrower the angle of vision you need - You were obviously not driving the thing fast enough!

 

[BentMikey]

That's not as dangerous as this puke's car - apparently the new car smell made him stoned, and that's why he nearly killed a cyclist:

http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20101213/NEWS/101219942/1078

 

[mickle]

The faster you drive, the narrower the angle of vision you need - You were obviously not driving the thing fast enough!

 

[Firestorm]

I have a Corsa and I hate the visibility on it, that said I don't really like driving that much anyway, much prefer the motorbikes for that , only just back on the cycle so age , weight and general lack of fitness means I can't go far ....

As for blind spots, I always sit behind cars in a position where I can see the drivers face in the wing and rear viwe mirrors, If I haven't seen his eyes then I know he hasn't seen me. Plus being off centre gives an escape route and a chance to see the traffic in front, I tend to watch the next cars brake lights as much as the one immediately in front

 

[Peter10]

Not only are they what the OP says, my lord they are ugly cars.

 

[Plax]

I hate Ford Focus hatchbacks for this very reason. I had one as a courtesy car a few years back and hated it. The visibility was really bad with the side pillars and silly small back window. I have a Ford Focus estate and that is much, much better. I nearly never test drove it because of the hatchback, but glad I did give it a chance.
I had the older style Corsa for a few years and that was a good for all round visibilty. The newer model Corsa look a bit Focus hatchbackesque for my liking.

 

[snailracer]

Not only are they what the OP says, my lord they are ugly cars.

And as for Corsa drivers...

 

[recumbentpanda]

You should get a flag, riding one of those recumbent deathtraps.

Hehe. Got a nice flag actually, but frankly I think its the car that needs one -a red one carried in front while it proceeds at ten miles an hour!

 

[661-Pete]

I wonder if it's something typical with the Vauxhall-GM marque. I have a note in our diaries, that some years ago in France we rented an Opel Minerva (probably the same bodywork as an equivalent Vauxhall) and I wrote that it had 'appalling visibility'. Trouble is, renting from Avis, you take what they offer you and don't discover this until too late!

Mind you, I drove an old-style (1980s) Cavalier of my own for many years, and never had a problem with that.

 

[BlackPanther]

Not just the Corsa. We have a '57 Zafira, and the A pillar is an amazingly bad piece of design. It has a small triangular window at the bottom, which is almost impossible to look through, but to pass 'safety' regs it can't be solid. The problem is that cars are built to pass crash tests. To hell with the fact that poor visibility causes accidents in the 1st place! On the pushbike, I've had a couple of people completely fail to see me as they exit from a junction. On the motorbike, it's even worse, because if you're on a roundabout, the blind spot for the driver actually 'tracks' the path you take as you approach him, and he approaches the entrance to the roundabout.
As usual, it's up to the person at risk (us) to reduce the risk....assume you haven't been seen and prepare to stop. Oh, and educate anyone who drives your car that they need to move their head to work around the blind spot.