This might just be b/c i was driving for the first at night but when i took my versa home from the dealer, i noticed that the rear winshield was really small. Plus it had the temporary licence paper, so that didnt help. Does anybody else feel uncomfortable with that?

Looking through the rear view mirror I don't have any problems with the back window, it seems plenty big.

What I find extremely dangerous is trying to reverse and look over your shoulder. I don't know if it is the head rests or pillars or what, but you might as well be blind. I back out of our space like a Grandma!

I totally agrree, i felt like that when i was coming out of my spot at autozone, i had my whole body turned around.

Rear vis doesn't bother me any, I always back up looking over my shoulder. Just habit I suppose..

I removed the two rear seat headrests just for better visibility. The pillars inside are pretty big too, so u have to becareful, especially if your glass are tinted. i almost hit someone while changing to the right lane once at night.

also i noticed the objects inside the mirror appear to be smaller than normal.

To me, the head rests are more of a visability problem than the windows.

My only complaint is that the rear view mirror is a little large, why do I need ot see teh rear pillars? Otherwise I don't think it's much worse than any other hatchback. The car is so short and narrow, that the side view mirrors are almost better for backing up anyway. I'm used to motorcycles which only have side view mirrors, so I use them more often.

FYI - be sure to re-install the rear head restraints if you have rear seat passengers... they are actually "head restriants", not "head rests," they are almost as important as seat belts for rear seat passengers. Rear passengers risk severe neck injury if you are involved in an accident. I was kind of shoicked when I saw that the rear head restraints had to be removed on the Honda Fit to fold the rear seats forward. Not nessesary on the Versa, since there is so much rear legroom.

Oh agree, a smaller mirror would be great. I've also noticed a bit of destortion in my mirror depending on how I sit in my seat.

The only complaint that I have for visibility is. I cant stand those small front 'A' pillar windows at the front of the car they dont work too well when you look out of the drivers-side in the drivers seat.

motoguy128 wrote:I was kind of shoicked when I saw that the rear head restraints had to be removed on the Honda Fit to fold the rear seats forward. Not nessesary on the Versa, since there is so much rear legroom.

Not necessary on the Fit either, the rear seats fold all the way down without having to remove the head restraints. You just have to slide the front seats forward a little, then slide them back into place after you put the rear seats down. That's actually one of the nifty things Honda touted about the Fit.

I don't remember anything about the back window when I test drove the Versa but I did almost run into someone while changing lanes. The sticker was on the driver's side rear window and totally blocked my line of vision. I'm surprised there aren't more accidents in test drive cars from that.

One of the first things I noticed when I bought my Versa was the fairly narrow field of vision out the back. It's part due to the narrow width of the car, and part due to the wide pillars in back. The latter is pretty common to hatchback designs, but the Versa's pillars are a lot wider.

You don't think so? Nissan pulls off some very clever visual trickery to hide it. The hatchback window in the Versa is actually quite small, but Nissan surrounds it with black paint. From the outside, your mind "sees" the black paint as part of a wide hatch window.... but the actual glass is much narrower. For example, see....

zer...4.JPG

Realize that the *actual* rear pillars of the car are not only the body-painted areas aft of the rear side windows, but the black-painted areas on each side of the hatch window. From the outside, though, the eyes see the black paint as part of the window itself.

It's pretty clever.....

Ron

u know waht thats exactly waht i noticed when i got my car at the dealer. he was showing me everything and when he show me the trunk and close it, i noticed the whole "illusion". u know i dont see the point of that, why couldnt they just leave it? cuz i almost hit a car, backing out of a spot (could u imagine, the first few hours i had it!). i really wish they got rid of that black paint or whatever it is cuz i really heavily rely mostly only on the rear view mirror even when changin lanes and stuff. otherwise, my car is the bomb!

is there a way u can change the rearview mirror? like buy a new one and remove the old one? or stuppid question?

Rear visability hasn't been a problem for me.

SVersaS wrote:u know waht thats exactly waht i noticed when i got my car at the dealer. he was showing me everything and when he show me the trunk and close it, i noticed the whole "illusion". u know i dont see the point of that, why couldnt they just leave it? cuz i almost hit a car, backing out of a spot (could u imagine, the first few hours i had it!). i really wish they got rid of that black paint or whatever it is...

The reason for the black paint is...wait for it... Money!

Paint costs less than steel. The Versa has a big rear hatch, which might tend to flex if it's opened in a strong wind. It probably took a pretty good set of steel framing to keep the hatch from twisting, which reduced the area that could be open for a window. Nissan could have made the hatch framework a more-complex design to open up the area for the window, but instead with with something simpler and cheaper.

It's interesting to note (and I didn't check it until AFTER I originally posted this) that the glass itself *is* the full width of the hatch. The black paint hides the structural elements under the glass.

Whether or not one notices the lower visibility probably depends on what one was driving before. I came from a largish sport sedan with narrow pillars; I noticed it right away. But the Versa's better than my '74 VW "Thing" in that regard.

Under normal circumstances, it isn't a problem. Where it does arise is when backing out of a diagonal parking spot, such as in a mall parking lot. The rear pillar is then directly in the driver's line of sight as you're trying to look back to see if traffic is coming.

For those who might be concerned, the Versa Sedan might be a better pick. That should have a narrower rear pillar, but the Hatchback's truncated rear end does mean that there's not much car poking into the traffic lane until you can see....

I did a quick Photoshop job, to illustrate the actual small size of the Versa's rear window. I left the actual glass area, but colored in the black-painted zone....this illustrates how wide the pillars actually are.

Ron
Modified by rwanttaja at 9:15 AM 10/3/2006

SVersaS wrote:i really wish they got rid of that black paint or whatever it is cuz i really heavily rely mostly only on the rear view mirror even when changin lanes and stuff. otherwise, my car is the bomb!

What the hell are they teaching you kids in Driver's Ed these days?

You never EVER rely solely on your rear view mirror for changing lanes! There is NO vehicle on the market that has a stock rear view mirror that can see out BOTH sides of the car when properly adjusted! The rearview mirror is for what it says... looking out your rear. Guess what your side view mirrors are for? Viewing behind to your sides!

And what do you do in a vehicle that has no rearview mirror, say a 27' moving van? You use only the side mirrors! Because that's all you have!

That being said, and going back on topic... Here are my thoughts:

Rear view mirror: It's actually perfectly sized. I have it adjusted so that the mirror edges start right where there is visible area on either side of the rear hatch. There is a little vertical size on the bottom lost (I can see part of the cargo cover), but this allows me to see the WHOLE rear window area in the mirror with no adjustment.

A-pillar windows: Cool looking, absolutely useless for visibility. They're not there for visibility, they're there to tie into the style of the car. See also Suzuki Aerio.. has the same things, they're just as useless.

Side mirrors: I have the mirrors adjusted to the point where I can barely see parts of my rear quarter panels on the extreme insides of both mirrors. On the right side, this adjusts out the blind spot created by the C pillar. I can see cars on that quarter just fine in my right side mirror. I don't need to see 2 lanes over because most of the roads I drive on are 2 lanes anyway. On the driver's side, this adjustment is less critical and I could play with it if I wanted. I sit so far back (1 notch forward from the rearmost seat position, 1 or 2 notches reclined from vertical) that when I shoulder-check over my left shoulder, I am looking out the rear passenger window, and can't even see the C-pillar in my line of vision.

In short: I have my car set up so I don't actually have to head-check, and I still have 360 degree views. I still head-check for safety because that's the way I taught, and I firmly believe that it helps to double-check.

rwanttaja wrote:I did a quick Photoshop job, to illustrate the actual small size of the Versa's rear window. I left the actual glass area, but colored in the black-painted zone....this illustrates how wide the pillars actually are.

Ron

Modified by rwanttaja at 9:15 AM 10/3/2006

about the pillars, i just noticed it today that the black area is trying to cover it up. Nice job with the photoshop, now that i see it though, it looks OK with the matching paint. i guess it really doesnt make a difference.

Ever Victorious wrote:What the hell are they teaching you kids in Driver's Ed these days?

I do use my side mirrors but im just saying that i heavily rely on my rearview cuz i like to be aware of the traffic around me even if im not planning to change lanes so in case i need to do something sudden i'll have an idea. usually i'll keep glancing at the rearview to see where everything is at, its help me dodge some bullets in the past.

SVersaS wrote:
I do use my side mirrors but im just saying that i heavily rely on my rearview cuz i like to be aware of the traffic around me even if im not planning to change lanes so in case i need to do something sudden i'll have an idea. usually i'll keep glancing at the rearview to see where everything is at, its help me dodge some bullets in the past.

True point. I always leave myself an out too. It drives commuters nuts. They tend to cut me off. I get the finger a lot more than I used to. Oddly, I also get courtesy waves a lot more than I used to. But it's all in the name of safety.

I just noticed something today. If a car is following directly behind me at more than 3 carlenghts and on a straightaway, I can see it in all 3 mirrors. Those side mirrors have some serious coverage.

Ever Victorious wrote:True point. I always leave myself an out too. It drives commuters nuts. They tend to cut me off. I get the finger a lot more than I used to. Oddly, I also get courtesy waves a lot more than I used to. But it's all in the name of safety.

I just noticed something today. If a car is following directly behind me at more than 3 carlenghts and on a straightaway, I can see it in all 3 mirrors. Those side mirrors have some serious coverage.

I've always been a driver that leaves myself an out just incase I needed to use it. I also noticed I would get cutoff and get the finger more often. So I installed a train horn on my truck. Now when I get cut off or a bird gets tossed my way, I'll wait until the person's in the lane completely and the car has straightened out and has a little bit of distance, then I'll give them a blast. Sweet Sweet Revenge. I have to be careful around the cops though.

The mirrors and glass are plenty big to see the guy coming up behind you that is about to rear end you, which is what happened to me this morning! I find that with the rear view and side mirrors, I don't have any blind spots, at least no more than anything else I own.

Never mind the photoshop job -- I just like the HRC sticker.