General Outdated side window design

[Geolith]

Forgive my nickel-and-dime rant, but seriously, who needs a quarter glass design in the 21st century? That vertical bar not only obstructs the traffic view, it even covers the side mirror partially. I understand the technical reasons behind this decision, but this is seriously outdated, they don't do things like that anymore.

Bonus rant on windshield wipers: My previous car had symmetrical wipers, cleaning the whole windshield equally on both sides. I will never understand why the manufacturers overwhelmingly prefer to install asymmetrical ones, when they are clearly inferior, leaving a large chunk of the windshield estate unwiped.

 

[chris3234]

Don't know about on the 500x but the wipers thing is often so they can run both wipers off of one motor rather then requiring 2

 

[Geolith]

Don't know about on the 500x but the wipers thing is often so they can run both wipers off of one motor rather then requiring 2

Economy vs functionality, eh? I still don't follow their logic when it comes to individual model decisions. Why Volkswagen, for instance, makes symmetrical ones for Golf Plus, but asymmetrical ones for the regular Golf, basically the same car.

 

[Alanw47]

I had asymmetrical wipers on my last car too, and don't really notice a problem

 

[cowabunga]

I like my wipers, think they clean a large majority of the screen in front of my field of view. Don't necessarily care about bits in the far corner, its not a place i need to look anyway.

 

[cowabunga]

I forgot to say though, one thing that does slightly annoy me is the size of the rear view mirror housing which feels a bit excessive. It kinda has the effect of blocking the centre of the windscreen. I find myself tilting my head around the space, and thats with the seat at the lowest position (I'm 5' 11"). I appreciate that the mount itself has to be of a fair size to accommodate what I expect is space for a rain sensor, but surely they could have made this smaller?

Pics below of the 500x, juke, and captur for comparison:

http://www.motorlia.com/uploads/img/2014/10/images/fiat-500x-2.jpg

https://www.autocar.co.uk/sites/aut...nissan-juke-driving-the-car.jpg?itok=27HGxkRN

https://www.nationwidevehiclecontracts.co.uk/m/2/renault-captur-interior.jpg

 

[Geolith]

I like my wipers, think they clean a large majority of the screen in front of my field of view. Don't necessarily care about bits in the far corner, its not a place i need to look anyway.

I've had some occasions when I needed to look there. Rarely, but still, cars can be exactly in that far corner, depending on the terrain and road situation. Also, I've had many occasions when at crossroads I needed to check the roadside traffic lights through that corner, because other lights were obscured from the view.

 

[ntullett]

The 500x is not alone, look around next time just noticed the new Astra has the same.

 

[TrevC]

Never really noticed the quarterlight to be honest. Most of the area obscured by the narrow edge strip is obscured by the door mirror anyway. My wife's Suzuki SX4 S-Cross has exactly the same set up and neither of us have regarded it as an issue in either car.

 

[Geolith]

Never really noticed the quarterlight to be honest. Most of the area obscured by the narrow edge strip is obscured by the door mirror anyway. My wife's Suzuki SX4 S-Cross has exactly the same set up and neither of us have regarded it as an issue in either car.

Not an issue, per se, too unimportant for that. Just a questionable detail in the design flow, that's all. In older cars there was actually a need for that, now there isn't and it simply feels redundant.

 

[TrevC]

Yeah, I guess it's to do with the door design and styling, and providing enough room for a full length window to retract fully.

 

[Geolith]

Yeah, I guess it's to do with the door design and styling, and providing enough room for a full length window to retract fully.

Yep, those are the technical reasons, but most modern cars manage without a quarter glass, so there's that.

 

[Garree001]

First world problems.

 

[TrevC]

Indeed. But its triggered my curiosity for trivia! Similar window design used on Peugeot 2008, Toyota C-HR and forthcoming Lexus UX. I wonder why? You would think it is cheaper to build with a single piece of glass than an additional pane and frame.

 

[chris3234]

Indeed. But its triggered my curiosity for trivia! Similar window design used on Peugeot 2008, Toyota C-HR and forthcoming Lexus UX. I wonder why? You would think it is cheaper to build with a single piece of glass than an additional pane and frame.

Doubtful probably extra cost to get a single piece custom made in that size and designing the internals if the door to raise and lower it

Likely the window is the same size as existing modules

 

[Geolith]

I wonder why? You would think it is cheaper to build with a single piece of glass than an additional pane and frame.

A simpler shape and a smaller size of the retractable glass make the internal door design easier, and probably cheaper. That additional pane and frame was probably a lot less bother.