No issues with either the Fabia or the Pulsar. Sit high(ish) in both with big windows.

The Mazda 3 was dreadful for rear vision when I tried one some years ago.

The 3rd and 4th gen Mazda3s, especially the low roofline 3rd gen one is far worse in terms of rearward visibility than my gen-1 car (gen-2s aren't much different to the gen-1 in that respect). The seating position was very comfortable, but like others have commented, I wouldn't want to have to rely on cameras and/or sensors for parking or manouvreing.

Seems to be a feature of many modern cars - even with crossovers and SUVs. Most of this is because having smaller windows means better crash protection from a stronger bodyshell. A pity they need even more electronic gizmos (more to go wrong plus the extra expense when buying) to avoid accidents due to poor visibility in the first place.

It's why I prefer the excellent compromise of the cars from the era of the late 1990s - 2010. A lot more common sense rather than just meeting targets for safety etc in unrealistic crash tests (they don't take into account trying to avoid said accident at the same time) but making accidents more likely due to poor sight lines and taking people's gaze away from the road towards TV screens and relying on sensors which aren't always as accurate as they purport to be, etc.

I agree with you wholeheartedly Andy. Cars up to 2010 were designed with good outward visibility in mind.

I first noticed the trend when I drove the Honda Jazz mk1 with the thick fron A pillers which obscured your front side view.

But driving the Renault Kadja at Millbrook when it was first launched , I was shocked by the size of the A pillars which reduced the front view considerably. But the owners don’t seem to have a problem with it.

I agree. The other thing that the small-windowed modern cars do is make the interiors look dinjy. Not so bad on a hot summer's day, not so much for the rest of the year. I also found that parking with modern cars is far more tricky.

Even mine from 2005 has a high boot line in leiu of a longer boot (which would've made the car look nicer) to achieve the 410L size. No good for rearward parking (I don't have parking sensors on mine), fine otherwise.

I remember years ago seeing this idea from Volvo in a magazine.

img_10561.jpg

Didn't seem a bad idea and I'm not sure why it didn't make production. I suspect either bean counters or the design team.

Of course the technology is now available to have a screen on the inside of the A pillar covering the blind spot. A bit like the feature on some new LandRover/RangeRover cars where you can, in effect, see through the bonnet and engine to the ground right in front of the front tyres.