ADUK Archive

Mr Cholmondeley-Warner wrote:I have a very simple rule for door mirrors, and no matter how I try and set them up for other purposes while stationary, I always return to it:

On a multi-lane road, in whichever lane I am, I want to see the edge of the adjacent lane in the bottom corner of the appropriate mirror. So in the middle lane of a motorway, I would have two white lines streaming out of the bottom corners of each door mirror.

I can set up the mirrors while stationary to allow me to park, or other similar task, but once out on the open road, I'm not happy until I've returned them to the position mentioned above.

Kimosabe wrote:So we've got the in - out bit nailed but what about the up - down tilt? I have my nearside mirror pointed slightly downwards and my offside pointed slightly upwards as this gives me the greatest view. Otherwise I get loads of unnecessary sky.

I wrote:As for the mirror height adjustment, you can adjust them so the line of the horizon is just below the center of the mirror for common driving purposes. For percision manuevers like parking near the curb, adjust it inward and down so you can see the rear wheel.

Astraist wrote:

I wrote:Adjust the seat height so your eyes are level with the upper half or third of the windshield. For most private cars, this can be more accurately measured by keeping a margin of four to five fingers between your head and the ceiling. Readjust steering angle so you can see all the instruments in the panel and ensure that your reach at the steering and pedals remains unhindered.

TripleS wrote:One caters for normal driving as you've just described, and the other setting caters for low speed manoeuvres like parking. These alignments should be capable of being preset by the driver at the touch of a button or a single switch. In fact they could be made responsive to the speed of the vehicle, with the changeover point being something like 5 or 10 mph.

I don't know why dimwit car designers can't provide that sort of feature instead of foisting overly complex and unwanted crap on us.

lordgrover wrote:Bimmers have had automatic alignment when selecting reverse for years; my old E46 330C 2002 had it.
I took it for granted and thought of it as a gimmick, but I've missed it on most cars since. I know it's not much of a faff to adjust my mirrors for reversing but it irks me.

revian wrote:I've been driving for nearly five decades (not non stop!) but in my BMW 318d (2008) without the sports seats its taken me ages to find a reasonably comfortable distance driving position.... And a position for the steering wheel that is also comfortable/practical. I'm 5 ft 5/6 in 'tall'... And not wide...

Anybody have experience or advice?