Technical Driver's side blind spot

[APearce]

I love my Fiat Pop, but I am not thrilled about the big ol' blind spot on the left side of the car. I know other models have a different mirror on that side. Pop owners, what have you done to increase your visibility?

Alissa

 

[loveshandbags]

I love my Fiat Pop, but I am not thrilled about the big ol' blind spot on the left side of the car. I know other models have a different mirror on that side. Pop owners, what have you done to increase your visibility?

Alissa

Hi Alissa.

Give the shortness of the 500 and openness of the rear I didn't experience any blind spots. If you were driving a 500c or in my case a MiTo - you'd know all about blind spots !

 

[Murano16v]

Hi Alissa.

Give the shortness of the 500 and openness of the rear I didn't experience any blind spots. If you were driving a 500c or in my case a MiTo - you'd know all about blind spots !

I've had a 500 and now drive a Mito and to be honest I don't think the Mito is that bad and no worse than the 500. Forward vision is pretty good, but you do have to treble check when joining a motorway. The high back seats in the Abarth 500 really cut the rear vision down. Gone are the days of cars with flat bonnets where you could really position the car on the road, you don't generally see anything beyond the dashboard now.

 

[loveshandbags]

I've had a 500 and now drive a Mito and to be honest I don't think the Mito is that bad and no worse than the 500. Forward vision is pretty good, but you do have to treble check when joining a motorway. The high back seats in the Abarth 500 really cut the rear vision down. Gone are the days of cars with flat bonnets where you could really position the car on the road, you don't generally see anything beyond the dashboard now.

You must have a short memory.
Can you explain why Alfa now fit the MiTo with rear parking sensors as standard the same as the 500c ? although the big mirrors do help.
Granted the A500 with the bucket seats and having the rear head rests at full height on the F500 doesn't help.

An issue with all small cars is that it can act as a blind spot for other drivers as I discovered one morning when a guy 'tipped' me on the side.

 

[austenw90]

Any good looking car will have poor rear visibility I think. Big rear windows aren't exactly a good design feature on modern hot hatches

 

[dave]

it may be different for the op as they are sitting on the left

 

[mishaparem]

Stock pop mirrors on mine. No blind spots here. I move the passenger seat forward to line up the back of the seat with pillar B on the passenger side when I glance that way. If you're not turning your head to check just in case, then you're probably the person that doesn't see me splitting lanes on my motorcycle.

 

[fiat500prestopresto]

Put a two inch sized convex miror on the flat mirror at the outer edge. Also, turn your head and look over your shoulder and lean a bit forward to change the angle of the view in the flat mirror and you can see the adjoining lane very well.

As for lane splitting on motorcyles, that is foolish in heavy traffic. It is illegal in most states.

 

[mishaparem]

Eh not sure why/when/how I disliked the previous post, if there's a way to un-dislike let me know I will do that, the suggestions are valid.

Splitting lanes is legal in CA, and a lot of bikers take advantage of it, some abuse it, and a tiny fraction bite the road and get in a wreck over it because they were going faster than they could react and stop. It's safer to split lanes in stop and go traffic (at a reasonable speed) than it is to split lanes in normal/light traffic IMO.

 

[Rose500]

i got my pop the other day and i find the blind spots a nightmare round roundabouts, on drivers front side.

 

[snes]

Thanks for getting back to explain, Misha.

A lot of folks do "dislikes" on here due to the dreaded iPhone thumb.

But you had a good point and made it well. Send some CA sunshine this way plz...

 

[arorat]

I love my Fiat Pop, but I am not thrilled about the big ol' blind spot on the left side of the car. I know other models have a different mirror on that side. Pop owners, what have you done to increase your visibility?

Alissa

It will help anyone's driving if they turn their head and look out of the windows instead of just relying on the mirrors, as a biker this is almost forced onto you, else it's suicide, also it's a good neck excercise

The side mirrors are oversized due to safety regulations (as I read somewhere) and are much better than they used to be. I thought all 500 mirrors were the same size but some not as sexy.

Look out for the bikers...

 

[vascrats]

Does the pop have different side mirrors than the sport (shape and size wise)? I have a 2012 sport and I did not like the visibility down the driver side even with the extra mirror on the end...but once I got used to using the little mirror in addition to a quick head check, it doesn't bother me.

If the size and shape are the same, wonder if you could just get the actual mirror part or if you'd have to get the entire side mirror assembly. Just thinking out loud I guess. ...and if all else fails, try to replicate it by doing what a previous poster suggested and put that extra mirror on the end.

(mirror shown is stock to my 2012 sport)

P.S. I love replying to old threads before you ask

 

[RobinPJ]

That's a different mirror to what we plebs get in Europe.

 

[OrangeSport]

500s have big blind spots in my experience, but as both me and the missus have many years on two wheels under our belts we are used to performing shoulder checks and keeping a general awareness of what's around us. If a car was in our mirrors ten seconds ago and now it's not it must be somewhere.....

 

[kevmckonline]

Hi all,

I have a '13 500c (US). I haven't found the blind spot to be any worse on this than any of the other cars I have driven.

The trick to eliminating the blind spot on almost any car is to adjust the side mirrors further out so that you cannot see the side of the car and such that cars coming up in the adjacent lane are visible in the mirror until the car is visible out the window beside you. This feels a bit odd until you get used to it, but it does eliminate blind spots and virtually eliminates the need for a head check.

My two cents (and my first post here),

- Kevin

 

[306maxi]

Hi all,

I have a '13 500c (US). I haven't found the blind spot to be any worse on this than any of the other cars I have driven.

The trick to eliminating the blind spot on almost any car is to adjust the side mirrors further out so that you cannot see the side of the car and such that cars coming up in the adjacent lane are visible in the mirror until the car is visible out the window beside you. This feels a bit odd until you get used to it, but it does eliminate blind spots and virtually eliminates the need for a head check.

My two cents (and my first post here),

- Kevin

Welcome Kev

 

[kevmckonline]

Thanks!

 

[Melanabb]

Good first post Kev, learned something there... Welcome!

 

[UFI]

The trick to eliminating the blind spot on almost any car is to adjust the side mirrors further out so that you cannot see the side of the car and such that cars coming up in the adjacent lane are visible in the mirror until the car is visible out the window beside you. This feels a bit odd until you get used to it, but it does eliminate blind spots and virtually eliminates the need for a head check.

Yup, that's what I've done since my Isuzu MU (pick up version) with an impossible blind spot. I feel it prudent to mention that you have to be more careful when reversing, as posts, letter boxes etc are now hidden, although generally tilting you year side to side will spot them. I also make it a habit of always looking around behind the car before getting in and reversing. Of course, C's have reverse sensors standard, but they can still miss things.