Visibility

TallFella · Apr 13, 2006

Picked up a new Leon this morning as a courtesey car. It's a 1.6 Stylance, in black, alloy wheels etc. Looks nice. Bit gutless compared to my LC, which is to be expected, but one thing I've noticed is that visibility is a bit poor. I'm 6ft 7 in my stockinged feet, and seeing anything on the near side is nigh on impossible. Because of the windscreen being so heavily raked, the rear view mirrow blocks out anything to the left of the bonnet, and the thick A-pillars block the rest out.

Are Seat planning on manufacturing a narrower rear view mirror, as I can see more than the rear window through the mirrow. Not sure what help being able to see the rear headrests actually is.......

Other than that, not bad. Feels a bit light and flimsy, but I'm used to the LC. No doubt if I drove an LCR that'd feel even more substantial than mine, but as courtesey cars go, good effort Coupers of St Albans! :thumbup:

DanGB · Apr 13, 2006

Yeah ive had mine a few days now and it does take getting used to especially after owning a small car. Thank god for the reversing sensors!
Visitbilty aint too bad at the backas my headrests have always been at the lowest position - almost as low as the seats are.
Yeah i did notice how big the mirror is, its ok for me as im quite small so sit alot lower

TallFella · Apr 18, 2006

This is causing me a bit of a dilemma.

I want to wait for the new Cupra, just to see how good it is but, there is always the risk that it has been over-hyped and I'm then turnoed off by it. My other option I guess, is trade-in for an out-going LCR and hold on until the new one arrives. I just can't get over the fact that I can't see anything out of the car. The rear visibility in my current LC is nigh-on non existent, but I'm used to that - and let's face it, how often to you drive backwards?

My main beef is the lack of forward facing visibility. New cars now have pretty much adjustable everything, steering wheel, seat up/down, foward/back, even some cars with adjustable pedals, but who's going to be the first to offer adjustable rear view mirrors. Ok, you can tilt it, but that only changes the angle by which you view the rear window, not the height of it.

Someone else, vertically unchallenged like myself, must have noticed this too?

Waddoo I do?

carl4x4 · May 1, 2006

I have had my new Leon for a couple of days now and I have to say the rear view mirror is getting on my nerves allready. It's a great car but I can see me having to do something about this if I can't get used to it...

Ozy · May 9, 2006

Not just tall ppl. I am only 5'7 but I cannot see out of it. It has huge blind spots (both sides) when on motorway. So much so I will not be getting one (was going to order FR to replace my 54 LCR) we had a Leon TDI sport for about 3 weeks but both my husband and I were unable to get over the visibility problems, we were finding ourselves doing lifesavers on the motorway (when doing above "average" speeds that is not a good place to be looking!) We have had an altea for about a week now and visibility is really good in that, so much so we have ordered an FR (no kids just us and a dog). It is so much more of a car, I think SEAT have produced the Altea and Leon the wrong way round, it seems because the Altea came out first the Leon sits behind it, it is not until you drive an Altea the Leon makes sense.

carl4x4 · May 9, 2006

Funny but I've more or less got used to the mirror now. If by blindspots you mean the thick widscreen pillers, then I guess I got used to those in my '03 Accord so they don't seem too much different, although they are a little trickier if you're on the outside lane of a roundabout and have a car at about 1 o'clock. They're not nearly as bad as the Peugeot 307 a friend has though! The old Leon was one of the old-school non-pedestrian friendly bonnet/windscreen designs. An awful lot of new cars now have the long raked windscreens. If you're 5' 7" I suspect you had the seat a lot nearer to the windscreen than a taller person. The blindspot angle on the pillar increases almost expenentially the closer you get to it. My headreast for example sits well into the rear window !!

I tried the Altea but couldn't get used to the driving position, I didn't like the more horizontal angle of the wheel (becauase I sit quite far back), and the seats were far too narrow for my liking. Still it's horses for courses as they say.

TFSI 2006 · May 23, 2006

No pain, no gain - Leon is one of most beauiful cars today, mostly because of that aeronautic body/windows proportion...

Search

Visibility

TallFella

Hello Tom, come down Tom

DanGB

Who need's a Diesel....

TallFella

Hello Tom, come down Tom

carl4x4

Full Member

Ozy

Beware of the Puppy

carl4x4

Full Member

TFSI 2006

Guest

Similar threads