h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

... are God's way of telling you that you are driving just a little bit too close to that car what you have just passed.

Living in a road so narrow - cars are parked on both sides of the road, room only for one vehicle to pass along between the lines with a foot or so leeway - I've never understood why some idiots insist on parking their car 18 inches away from the curb.

I clipped the badly parked car's wing mirror, and simultaneously the wing mirror of the correctly parked car on the other side of the road, on my way to the shops.

When I got back I see that someone else has been along the road, but in something probably a bit bigger than me, and moving a tad faster than I was. Both the stuck out wing mirrors were gone; now lying smashed and broken in the road.

And that's the story you'll be telling the magistrates, is it?

B

I slowed right down and went past them at walking pace or less. They just went click for me, not bang.

As a driver of a big car I used to find driving down and parking on your street quite worrying! Still I often could not find a space anyway so had to park a way a way and on a wider road.

You have to feel sorry for the car that had parked well.

Since these are one of the most vulnerable parts of the car you've got wonder at people who keep buying cars with ever more feature-laden wing mirrors. Wing mirrors used to be fairly simple affairs - a mirror mounted in a metal frame and fixed to the car with a simple ball and socket joint. Easy to flatten against the side of the car if you had worries about them getting hit while you were parked, and cheap(ish) to replace if they got busted.

Then they started making those wing mirrors you see on most cars these days - the ones in plastic frames which don't move anywhere near as easily as the metal frames and which can't be flattened against the side of the car like the old ones, except with the use of great force, which results in breaking the entire assembly - much more expensive to replace.

Now I'm seeing cars that have turn indicators built into the wing mirror housing - even more expensive to replace.

If anyone ever doubted my theory that manufacturers (of anything) have no regard for the interests of the consumer and are only concerned with maximising sales and profits by making products that are either a) easier to manufacture even though their usability is reduced or b) more complicated and therefore expensive to replace, only has to look at this example.

Some cars you see now have wing mirrors that fold in when you turn the engine off - probably really expensive to replace and while they would still be in danger when you are driving (especially if close to GD!!!!) they should be less vulnerable when you are parked

I've seen a lot of those that fold in, I didn't realise that they did it when the engine turned off though. My dad has to press a button to close his. They are a good idea though.

I used to like driving the taxi espace, because it was slightly higher you could pass much closer to cars because my wing mirrors would pass above theirs.

Oddly enough, I was discussing wing mirrors with a colleague today. I'm a non-driver, but I did take some lessons a while back. It occurred to me that it must have been safer when wing mirrors WERE wing mirrors, which you could see without having to look away from the road ahead, rather than modern door mirrors which require you to look to your left and right. My friend, also a non-driver, suggests that they were moved from the wings to prevent damage to squishy pedestrians. Any thoughts?

hey PF! Long time no see - how are you?

I dont find I have to look away from the road to see in my wing mirrors - they are in my perifforal vision and when moving along I use them mainly to know that there is something there. The time I look in them most carefully is when I am reversing.

As to using them to protect the rest of the car from pedestrians - now there is an idea

What does anyone else think?

I've had a car with them on the actual wings, and it's a pain in the backside to see anything with them so far away. I use mine mostly on manouvering and on motorways (and reversing of course!), but I do look in them a hell of a lot anyway. It doesn't feel as if I have to move very far to look in them, no further than I have to move my head to look into the rearveiw mirror, anyway.

I've got a big Fiat (well how else would I transport my family around ?) and the wing mirrors are electric, and I always fold then in before I turn off the engine. So some sod went to the trouble of prising mine up and removing the glass. This is expensive because there is a heating coil beind them so you can defrost them in winter.

Wingmirrors on the wings require - wings - which the current transport does not have.

Aagh! Not a Multipla, please...

B

No - I'm old - not tasteless. I have a Ulysse.

I'm not old enough to remember wing mirrors on the wings, but I do remember when they only put them on one side of the car. I rely on both of mine so much I can't see how anyone could drive with only one.

The last three or four vehicles I've had have had manual collapsable wing mirrors. I found out the hard way that one of the benefits of this is that the mirror housing will collapse in (or back, depending on the direction of impact) when hit. Just push them and they snap back into the correct position.

" I have a Ulysse"

Hmmm...I'd keep that. Might be a collectors' item one day.

B

What's a Ulysse?
Is it as big as mine? (I have a Ducato )

Wing mirrors are a dirty word for me at the moment. (Well, two dirty words). Mine are attached by a pair of solid steel posts (each) but they do fold in. Last summer I was creeping along in one of those horrific rainstorms southern Scotland had, with my nearside wheels sloshing through the water, when White Van Man came tearing round a bend, mostly on my side of the road, snapped the steel posts and catapulted the mirror into the vehicle (through a closed window), showering us all with glass, and had disappeared from view before we realised what had happened. I still haven't got my confidence back.

One would think A roads ought to bewide enough for anyone

A Ulysse comes with 7 seats in 3 rows 2-3-2 but can be upgraded to 2-3-3 which is what I have. Its the same as the Peugot 807 but badged Fiat.

The Ducato is the same chassis (I think), but is about a foot longer.

I used to have a Peugeot 505. Looked like hearse. Bench seat in the back had slightly restricted head and legroom. By the time the boys reached mid teens their knees were round their ears. Is the 807 similar?

Oops! Missed that last sentence. It's a van chassis then? Is there a lot of boot space behind the 3rd row?

You've hit the problem - virtually none - you can buy a roof thingy (horrendously expensive) or get a tow-bar and a trailer.