So we can assume you never owned a Capri then?,

Absolutely true. Nor did I want to.

Pity.......because if you had you would realise that your earlier statement needs to be taken with a rather large pinch of salt.

No pity at all. I'm sure you get the drift I put in my earlier statement. Of course if you look back further than the Capri, 1920s cars had postbox rear windows. But comparing present-day family cars with those of 20-30 years back, our stylists have done us no favours with bulging bonnets, and waistlines that converge towards falling rooflines, making rear side windows near useless.

Certainly agree about the wing mirrors, Skidpan. And when mirrors moved to the door, a nearside one only came with the top of the range.

My first cars were Austin/Morris 1100s, and seeing out of those was pretty good. After that Maxis, then Pug 205s. All were pretty good for visibility. No-one has yet disputed my suggestion that current styling has led to limited rearward visibility for no other reason. Some of it may be aimed at better body strength I suppose?

The Mark 3 Cortina was one of the first cars with the 'coke bottle' styling which is the cause of the problem - this fixation among stylists that a car looks better with the glass area tapering down towards the back of the car. The Marks 1 and 2 Cortina were fine, particularly the estate; ikewise the Hillman Hunter was easy to see out of, the later Avenger much more difficult.

Honda and Volvo are the latest recruits to the fixation. The old Honda Civic was a better car all round than its post-2007 successor (obviously only in my subjective opinion) and had much better rear visibility. The Volvo V40, with its swept-up rear doors and letter-box rear window, is hopelss to see out of, and the V60, despite being an estate, is not much better..

Another reason why I've ordered a third Octavia estate....

(Edit - sorry, Neil - which i suspect is your name - and welcome to the forum. 'Thread drift' often happens with no harm done, but in ths case it's partly because we probably can't help you much. I think you'd have a case only if the kerb in question had been deliberately or negligently hidden from view.)

Edited by Avant on 12/10/2013 at 00:10