Whats With that? - New Cars with Door mounted mirrors

"magman007" (magman007) 12/10/2013 at 14:34 • Filed to: new cars, whats with that, rambling

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Welcome to Whats With That? My periodical ramblings about new trends in auto design that rub me the wrong way.

Today I would like to discuss door mounted mirrors. Whats with that? On some cars, its perfectly acceptable, but in the past month I have witnessed 2 vehicles released that not only feature these mirrors, but I feel their placement detracts from the cleanliness of the vehicles lines. The first offender is the new Subaru WRX. While this car has taken a lot of flack for not being exactly like the concept, and lets face it, we knew we were never going to get the ultra thin slivers of a mirror the concept showed, the mirror on the concept is mounted slightly forward of the production car, and asthetically appears to be more towards the front of the a - pillar glass.

vs production location

To be completely honest, if the mirror had been mounted in a more traditional location (where there is clearly space to mount it) the roof line would not seem so ungainly, giving it a more streamlined high belt line look. Instead they put a non opening quarter glass there that envokes the feeling of the 1972 Vanboree.

The second offender is the new 2015 mustang. while not as offensive as the wrx the mirror placement still creates an odd gap of color and proportion between the fender, the mirror being down a bit, and the roof line when viewed from a 3qtr view.

Now, on some cars, this look is perfectly acceptable, and does not bother me.

NA miata - Great!

Mini - Fantastic!

Etc.

I just wonder how much longer we have to wait until fender mounted mirrors are back en vogue.

Nibbles > magman007 12/10/2013 at 14:36

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" I just wonder how much longer we have to wait until fender mounted mirrors are back en vogue."

Just move those door-mounted mirrors forward a foot or two and you can restart the fad yourself!

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > magman007 12/10/2013 at 14:37

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Fender mounted mirrors ueber alles ( Richard Hammond picture ).

Hooker > magman007 12/10/2013 at 14:45

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Possibly for aerodynamics?

DocWalt > magman007 12/10/2013 at 14:49

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Door mounted mirrors are fine by me... but my BRZ's mirrors are mounted very close to the little quarter window, and there's a little sliver of paint that shows that's hard to clean. Ugh.

dinobot666 > magman007 12/10/2013 at 14:52

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I think it has a lot to do with how steeply raked windshields are nowadays. This is mostly done for fuel economy, which doesn't leave enough room to mount the outside mirror in the 3 point area at the front of the a pillar.

Even if you could mount it at the front of the a pillar, it'd be too far away from you (the driver) to see behind you.

Textured Soy Protein > magman007 12/10/2013 at 14:53

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On cars like the Fit, WRX and Miata, there's that non-lowering quarter glass you mention, so mounting the mirror there doesn't work. My gf's '13 Civic has the same type of thing and it helps with visibility. When I had an NB Miata, the glass helped to keep wind buffeting down.

The Mini, well, not sure the exact reasoning there but I suppose it's probably to do with placing it at an angle that gives you a good view out the back.

vdub_nut: scooter snob > magman007 12/10/2013 at 14:55

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Hopefully not long.

Dusty Ventures > magman007 12/10/2013 at 15:01

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My guess is it's a safety thing (and might even be federally or EU mandated). The closer to the driver the mirror is the larger the visible area in it. Fender mirrors look fantastic but are practically useless (I sat in an old Toyota Corona Mark II GSS that had them. Comically bad).

Katsumoto > magman007 12/10/2013 at 15:05

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Look at the Honda Fits.

They have a door mounted mirror, which I own one, it's prone to getting pushed around in the car wash, plus they have a tiny ass triangle window, for what?

I think the car could have been without that tiny glass, mirror mounted there and be fine.

Squid > magman007 12/10/2013 at 15:05

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With regards to the NA and NB miata mirror placement, I find the Miatas mirror placement virtually useless as they are too close to me while driving. I need those silly old person convex mirror addons to be able to see the blind spot or anything behind me while the top is up. If they would be have just put the mirrors a few inches forward it would make a huge difference. . .

magman007 > Katsumoto 12/10/2013 at 15:23

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Exactly! I feel the same way. Stupid Superfluous little window.

magman007 > Dusty Ventures 12/10/2013 at 15:24

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My fathers 54 MG has fender mirrors I swear they are purposed womens compacts, and they are useless. That being said, they look awesome, and better than this dumb trend.

magman007 > dinobot666 12/10/2013 at 15:26

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Good point, I had not taken that into account, Still, the mirror could be mounted approximately where it is on the WRX, just instead of the quarter window, and be just fine. its been mounted there for years, and now it just ruins the body line.

magman007 > Textured Soy Protein 12/10/2013 at 15:27

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But why the glass? Get rid of it, and mount the mirror there, while it may help a tiny bit with visibility, would you really notice if that glimmer of visibility wasnt there?

magman007 > DocWalt 12/10/2013 at 15:29

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Sorry, the BRZ hadn't even crossed my mind, now that i notice it, it irks me a bit too, not nearly as bad as the wrx, because of the wrx's tall roof line, but still. Now, just imagine they were mounted on the a pillar more traditionally, the car would look that much sleeker.

Dusty Ventures > DocWalt 12/10/2013 at 15:34

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You have a BRZ? Have you put any Nameless stuff on it yet? ;)

Chteelers > magman007 12/10/2013 at 15:58

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I think it's mostly an engineering solution to buffeting noise around the a-pillar. The mirror wing helps keep airflow attached as it flows from windshield around the a-pillar, and along the side windows. And I do agree that it looks bad on some cars (like the WRX). It may solve an engineering problem, but it shouldn't do so at such a huge styling cost.

Another example of this is the new Highlander. It is common now to have bumps in the plastic light coverings, which are also aero aids. But some of them get out of hand, like these on the Highlander. They are huge, and you can see the tail lights jutting out in the front view, and you can see the headlights sticking out in the rear view. It's weird, and it needs to stop.

And yes, fender mirrors need to return ASAP.

magman007 > Chteelers 12/10/2013 at 16:05

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Thanks for the science behind it. I didn't thing subaru would give a damn about buffeting, especially seeing as how the GD chassis (02-07) has this terrible wind whistle from the mirror around 80mph they never decided to fix. Its mildly annoying, but not something I notice any more.

Now WRX's have never been pretty, but I would deal with some buffeting for the benefit of the looks. Or they could just hollow out the center of the support like an e90 m3 or e36 m3.

DocWalt > Dusty Ventures 12/10/2013 at 16:58

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Just picked it up a month ago, and haven't had much time to drive it yet, sadly. I'm awfully tempted by their UEL header though...

DocWalt > magman007 12/10/2013 at 17:00

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Yep! I appreciate having that extra glass though, it's so much easier to see past the pillar. That said, my old GTI has the mirrors at the pillar and it's not an issue there. Looks a lot cleaner than the earlier GTIs with the door mounted mirrors.

Dusty Ventures > DocWalt 12/10/2013 at 17:12

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The headers are brilliant. As I told Squid, they counteract a design quirk in the engine block itself

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DocWalt > Dusty Ventures 12/10/2013 at 17:18

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I'm curious if the UEL headers even that out as well. I wasn't aware of that "design feature" from Toyota. I'd really like to keep this car mostly stock, and relatively quiet, but more power is oh so tempting.