Hatchback rear visibility

[NeedThatHatch]

After several weeks of ownership, no issues for me.

Well granted we all know that not everyone has issues with the headspace in the rear seats based on height alone, it would help if we at least knew your height and how often you or anyone of similar height actually sit in the back.

Rear visibility has pretty much been debunked by this thread at least lol. Civic Hatch is pretty average or better rear visibility compared to competition and other cars according to more experienced car owners. I myself am a car noob but found the rear visibility fine. Maybe they're complaining about the inability to see cars that are almost fully hidden in your blindspot from the rear view window at all. Angling your mirrors properly seem to fix the problem with that too though.

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[BarracksSi]

Since this thread got bumped --

How high are you guys setting your rearview mirrors? (no, not the side mirrors, but the center one)

I've got mine up so high that it's almost at the ceiling, and it gets a good view over the hatch's mid-spoiler.

I started pushing my rearview mirrors higher so they wouldn't block my forward view. In my EP, I flipped it upside-down (the day/night lever ended up on top), which helped a lot. Now in my FK7, I've got the mirror almost as far upward -- the mounting arm is nearly horizontal. I can take a pic tomorrow to show what I mean.

 

[360glitch]

Well granted we all know that not everyone has issues with the headspace in the rear seats based on height alone, it would help if we at least knew your height and how often you or anyone of similar height actually sit in the back.

Rear visibility has pretty much been debunked by this thread at least lol. Civic Hatch is pretty average or better rear visibility compared to competition and other cars according to more experienced car owners. I myself am a car noob but found the rear visibility fine. Maybe they're complaining about the inability to see cars that are almost fully hidden in your blindspot from the rear view window at all. Angling your mirrors properly seem to fix the problem with that too though.

5'10", pretty average. No rear passengers of any significant height so I can't contribute to that aspect.

 

[NeedThatHatch]

Since this thread got bumped --

How high are you guys setting your rearview mirrors? (no, not the side mirrors, but the center one)

I've got mine up so high that it's almost at the ceiling, and it gets a good view over the hatch's mid-spoiler.

I started pushing my rearview mirrors higher so they wouldn't block my forward view. In my EP, I flipped it upside-down (the day/night lever ended up on top), which helped a lot. Now in my FK7, I've got the mirror almost as far upward -- the mounting arm is nearly horizontal. I can take a pic tomorrow to show what I mean.

Yeah please do i'm having a hard time following. When I was testing it today I did find that I had to angle the mirror itself a lot to see the rear window, but once again I felt really disconnected with the driving experience because I don't feel comfortable with a salesmen sitting in the car with me, so I don't really remember how obstructive the mirror itself was for more forward visibility, or exactly how high I had to angle it for it to even do its job through the rear window.

 

[BarracksSi]

Yeah please do i'm having a hard time following.

When you get a chance, reach behind the mirror and push the arm upwards until the top of the mirror nearly hits the roof, then adjust the aim of the mirror until the view is square out the back window.

I'm mentioning it because when I first got into mine, the mirror was almost at eye level for me (I'm 6'1").

I can also experiment with the rear view by bringing the mirror lower and seeing whether the mid-spoiler gets in the way.

 

[BarracksSi]

Adding a couple pics to show what I mean --

This works for people of any height, because what matters for the view out the back is the location of the mirror and not one's own head.

 

[ikbenben]

And what about the auto dim function? Aren't the sensors upside down then?

 

[BarracksSi]

And what about the auto dim function? Aren't the sensors upside down then?

Not on the new car; I didn't flip the mirror upside down. My EP didn't have auto-dim, so it was fine upside down.

 

[ikbenben]

Sorry, I think I misunderstood

 

[BarracksSi]

Sorry, I think I misunderstood

No sweat - I don't think I clearly wrote about how I set up the new car's mirror.

 

[neteng101]

No sweat - I don't think I clearly wrote about how I set up the new car's mirror.

Wouldn't it be better to cover all the rear glass both above/below the middle spoiler? Or you're just setting it up high so it blocks less of your forward visibility?

 

[BarracksSi]

Wouldn't it be better to cover all the rear glass both above/below the middle spoiler? Or you're just setting it up high so it blocks less of your forward visibility?

Forward visibility takes priority for me, so that's why I set it up high in the first place. I'll do it on any car I own in the future, too.

The side benefit in the FK7 hatch is getting a bit of a better view over the middle spoiler. The little windows under the spoiler are mostly useless anyway (there just isn't much to see besides the headlights of the car tailgating me). But if raising the mirror helps me see over the blocked-out portion under the third brake light, I'll take it.

 

[AndyAndromeda-AUS]

Hows about letting your wife drive the car and decide for her self.....

 

[WVUGuy275]

I can understand where OP's coming from - before buying my Civic Hatch, I was driving my step-car, a Honda Fit. When I first sat down in the Hatch, I immediately thought "there's no way this could work, I can't see anything!". And, relative to the massive wide glass back panel of the Fit, this was true.

I've been surprised at how quickly I've adapted to the (relatively) reduced rear visibility of the Hatchback. My concern was reasonable, given the context, but didn't play out.

So yeah OP, I can understand your point of view.

 

[gtman]

I was all set to buy a hatch when they first came out. I love the look. Checked dealers every day to see if they had one in stock. When I saw my first one in person I was ready to buy on the spot.

Then I sat in the car. Immediately, my heart sunk. I couldn't believe how huge the C pillar blind spot was. Compared to the sedan, it almost felt claustrophobic. Maybe I could have gotten used to it but I'm overall happy with my sedan.

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