Glass surfaces getting smaller in new cars- just design?

[tonedepear]

IIRC the Spitfire/Herald was GR17 for U-turnz as long as you don't turn the wheel too far and just lock the front wheels horizontal.

 

[trigger]

My old BMW 1602 was the best car to park in the world eva!, I really mean it, You could see everything, The side windows height was perfect, Out of the 800+ cars I've driven over the years that was most definitely the easiest car I've ever had too park.

[Pete-M]

What ya need is 500 bhp and RWD.

[Negative Creep]

MR2 has some of the best visibility of any car I've driven. Add a small turning circle and it's incredibly easy to park, even without power steering

[CIH]

I really hate cars wih small glass areas. I almost always try and get a glass sunroof as it adds loads of light. I get mildly claustraphobic in new cars. Mondeos especially.

[Pete-M]

If I have a glass sunroof it's almost never opened, and it it's got a blind it'll always be shut. Hate 'em.

[Father Ted]

I have a glass sun roof and its always open, even in winter - i drive with the windows down too (even in winter) - I like the fresh air in my face.

Im looking for a second hand webasto or brittax sunroof and then I will be out with the Blak and Dekka jigsaw

[eddyramrod]

Whenever I've had a glass sunroof with a blind, my first act upon taking posession has been to slide the blind back and let in some light. Even on my MG Maestro which was wonderfully airy. Modern cars have been getting more and more claustrophobic since the Sierra! I had a rental Insignia last year and could barely park it. At all, anywhere. And I can park trucks.

 

+1 on the 240/740 being easy to park; especially the estates. Bloody marvellous tools, I'd have another like a shot.

 

Visibility is one reason we got rid of the PT Cruiser. Mrs Ramrod couldn't see where it ended, in any direction (much like me with the Insignia) and even I (somewhat taller and slimmer) found the rear screen rather too high-up and slitty. Shame, but then it had a criminal turning circle too so it had to go.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

I love sunroofs. They make the car so wonderfully light and airy. Especially important now modern interiors are a choice of black or dark grey.

 

I keep an eye out on eBay in case anyone ever tries to sell a complete Herald roof with a Webasto fitted, although I don't know how I'd transport it or what I'd do with the old one. No idea how people drive Minis without glass sunroofs. How do you see the traffic lights if you at the front of the queue?

 

If i had a P6 I'd definitely want the super rare Triplex glass roof panel:

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

I'm not really bothered about the presence or absence of a sunroof in a car- I usually keep it closed because I don't like the wind noise, plus I think I may have a subconscious fear of it just refusing to move and remaining in the "open" position (I think that may be a syndrome commonly found in former and current owners of the wonders of British manufacturing that go under the name of OVER). I guess that my preference for large glass surfaces is mostly related to visibility issues, especially since I often park in "difficult" places (basically anywhere I can get away with parking without paying or getting an enforceable parking ticket).

[oldford]

With todays trend of tinting the rear windows it compounds the problem of rear visibility. I quite often have to manouvre some quite large modern cars in confined spaces and with the numerous beeps from front and rear parking sensors and reversing cameras you tend to get a bit of sensory overload. In the old days you just had to look out the back and use your mirrors and my boss can testify that sometimes it's not good enough after reversing a new SD1 Rover into the corner of a wall in the depths of a multi storey car park.

 

Sunroofs, I like them, I've got a standard slide/tilt glass one in the Sierra. It's even better now that I have converted it to electric operation and repositioned the switch to where the electric window ones are. It gets used on most days.