If you really use your side mirrors, you find that the rear window isn't all that useful. You can see a car in your lane, but that's about it. The side mirrors are much more useful for nearly everything else.
I noticed that my HCH-I has less visibility than I would like,
especially when looking out the rear window in reverse.
But all I did was complain about it in my mind (wah-wah boo-hoo sniffle).
I once had a truck with a tow package on it that came with huge mirrors,
I didn't know what I was missing until I had mirrors that could see everything
with no blind spots.
I could even see the bottom of the rear tires, talk about easy parallel
parking. That and heated mirrors together would make my day.
Now if only they would come stock, or as an option, I could just check the
box like I did with the truck.
Have you considered selling your 05 and buying an 06?
Check www.kbb.com to see what you could get for your 05 selling it to a private party.
Then see how much under MSRP you can get an 06 for.
Then subtract the $2100 in tax savings.
I did that.
My new 06 only costs me only $850 after selling my 04.
Sell your 05 in a big city.
Buy your 06 in a rural area.
You will save lots of money, like I did.
Need fewer troops to support.
Drive a hybrid.
Best tank 71.65 MPG.
Before this car I spent two years learning hypermiling on my 2004 HCH1.
I once had a truck with a tow package on it that came with huge mirrors,
I didn't know what I was missing until I had mirrors that could see everything
with no blind spots.
I could even see the bottom of the rear tires, talk about easy parallel
parking. That and heated mirrors together would make my day.
Now if only they would come stock, or as an option, I could just check the
box like I did with the truck.
That said, the wink things look kinda cool. :-)
- Kurt
My subaru Forester has very large side mirrors for a passenger car. I love them. Having been a truck driver, I really use them a lot and find that they tell you so much more than the rear view ever could. Most people never discover that.
If the '06 was a hatchback and MT I would buy it in a heartbeat,
but I can buy mirror addons for less than $850 and I get
to keep my MT.
I recently have had two near collisions due to my inappropriate lane changes,
leading me to believe my right-side mirror has inadequate field of view.
I found a dizzying array of mirror add-ons on the internet.
Amazingly, my local auto parts store had most of them in stock.
So I bought a Wink, and some of the small square stick-ons
which let me see my tires for parallel parking. I liked the square ones
because they take less real estate from my side-view mirrors
than the round ones do.
And after all that I checked my mirrors for adjustment,
and wouldn't you know it, my right one was way off. The cheapest
solution of all would have been to adjust them properly.
I am not sure I am going to like the wink, while its field of vision is
nothing short of amazing, it interferes with the sun visors and lacks night mode.
I almost never drive at night so it may be ok, and since it
is a clip-on I can rip it off for night driving. If I did a lot
of night driving this would irritate me enough to chuck it however.
The square stick-ons are a no brainer however, they take so little
from the mirror and add so much, they will go on all my cars.
Improving rear visibility in 2006 HCH
