Anymore!? Good grief, I couldn’t get in the modern Lotuses (Lotii?) when I was 20!
I’ve been in race cars that are easier to get into than an Exige. That door sill is about 3 miles wide.
I first saw the Europa when Emma Peale drove it on The Avengers. I was in love! Both with her and the car. There was an Overhaulin’ episode where one of Jay Leno’s mechanics had a Europa in sad need of an overhaul. The floor was so flimsy that it was easy to put your foot through it, and this was as-delivered from the factory. Like many Lotus models, I think it was meant for racing. There was an engineer at my last employer that owned an Elise, and did race it. Then he decided to drive it on the street at the suggestion of his wife.
A couple of years ago, I decided to sit in a Subaru BRZ (the same car as the Scion FR-S and the Toyota 86) that was on the showroom floor. It wasn’t easy getting into the driver’s seat, but I managed to do it. Then, the REALLY big problem was… how do I get out of this thing?
It wasn’t a pretty thing to see, but I essentially crawled out of the car onto the showroom floor, and then raised my creaky old bones to a standing position.
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LOL, I had exactly the same experience with the Toyobaru. .
It wouldn’t be so bad if they’d put in a seat without such excessive side bolsters. They’d probably sell more of them too.
Re: the Europa, it was meant for racing. I recall it doing very well in its class. I was a little skinny guy when I was young, and I could get into and out of a lot of things that I no longer can. But, even at that, the Europa had to be “put on” rather than “gotten into”.
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Mirrors and cameras are all useful aids, but nothing like the ability to actually SEE what is there when parking, backing up, changing lanes.
Last two fender benders (quite expensive, $1000 each, required replacing the “quarter-panels”) in our Prius were because could not see/judge the distances from trees or extended hitches from a pickup in snowy weather.
Love the Prius for many reasons, but hate the visibility, camera or not. But the Subaru Forester is like a rolling aquarium! If you hit something with this, you must have had your eyes closed.
The Lotus Europa was the first car I thought of. When they replaced the Renault engine with a Ford 1,6L Twin Cam they trimmed down those side panels. I think the Europa’s height was 33 inches! My 1971 Mustang Mach 1 Had a large rear window laying almost flat. It was like looking out of a bunker’s gun slit. That was the first car where I installed the little round convex mirrors on the side view mirrors.
That sounds right. I remember being shocked at how low the roof was.
More like 43 inches.
No vehicle allows you to see such things unimpeded. Cameras actually work better in hitch situations because the camera points down at the hitch and you can line it up perfectly, whereas looking out the back window, the hitch is not visible.
Hitting trees indicates a lack of awareness of your vehicle’s corners - something it’s important to cultivate as soon as you get a new car.
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42.5 inches. I should have checked instead of remembering an old Car and Driver Europa road test. The tester mentioned the incredibly low height of 33 inches adding “My shirtsleeves are 34 inches!” I don’t know anyone with 42.5 inch shirtsleeves.
Yup. I should have looked it up myself. I never realized my belt buckle was that high!
We got a 2017 Rav4, no complaints. Hate the click through stuff, maybe this will help http://thenewswheel.com/modern-vehicle-models-with-the-best-and-worst-visibility/
Just some 2017 research food for thought in similar styles w/a view
https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/2017-Subaru-Legacy-Overview-c26057
VERY FEW LONG “cars” be they SUV/CUV/?UV have enough glass to replicate a sedan but … MAYBE