Cinco de Mayo Bicentennial

[Xan]

I always apply those little round extra mirrors to my side mirrors. No more craning around to check blind spots.

Actually Ford is really good about including that kind of mirror built-in.

[flyingpylon]

My concern about cars these days is poor visibility around the blind spot. I know you can adjust mirrors, but I dont like it.

Get a car with blind spot monitoring. I still look over my shoulder and sometimes you have to ignore the alert in heavy traffic, but it does come in handy. Probably saved my butt a few times.

[Xan]

It's nice to have, but I wouldn't want to rely on it. Do you really change lanes without looking as long as that thing isn't going off?

[dualstow]

It's nice to have, but I wouldn't want to rely on it. Do you really change lanes without looking as long as that thing isn't going off?

I think he said the opposite. He still looks even when it is sounding.

[Xan]

It's nice to have, but I wouldn't want to rely on it. Do you really change lanes without looking as long as that thing isn't going off?

I think he said the opposite. He still looks even when it is sounding.

Oh, you're right. Somehow I missed that. And in fact he still changes lanes even when it's sounding!

[Kriegsspiel]

My car is a stick shift with no radar/cameras, which I've seen argued is the safest type of car to drive.

[flyingpylon]

To clarify... I always look, because I have been driving for over 30 years and it's a habit. And because I don't trust machines. I use the blind spot monitoring as an additional driving aid and I have found it to be valuable.

In case you're not familiar with how it works, the visual indicator in your mirror turns on as a vehicle enters your blind spot (I also get an indicator in the heads-up display in the windshield). If you activate your turn signal when the visual indicator is on, an alarm beeps to warn you.

However, the car monitors a fairly large distance behind you to provide a margin of error. Sometimes when you're in tight traffic (e.g. rush hour) you can look over your shoulder and see that you're clear, but the monitoring system will still beep because a vehicle is within that large margin of error. So you ignore it.

I have found it most valuable when I am about to change lanes and believe I'm clear, but some idiot is approaching in that lane at a significantly faster rate. The car is very good at sensing that condition and it has saved my bacon a few times.

[ochotona]

When are they going to get rid of physical mirrors and just do cameras? The aero improvement would be substantial

[Kriegsspiel]

I actually want to go back in time, to when aerodynamics weren't taken into account. I LOVE the look of the old boxy, straight line vehicles from the 90s. Or even the ones from the 70s and 80s that were a bit curvier.

[Xan]

I actually want to go back in time, to when aerodynamics weren't taken into account. I LOVE the look of the old boxy, straight line vehicles from the 90s. Or even the ones from the 70s and 80s that were a bit curvier.

I'd love to have one of those late 80s/early 90s Suburbans.

[ochotona]

I actually want to go back in time, to when aerodynamics weren't taken into account. I LOVE the look of the old boxy, straight line vehicles from the 90s. Or even the ones from the 70s and 80s that were a bit curvier.

I had a 1981 VW Jetta, I loved it. It wasn't reliable, though. The photo is a 1984 model.