im looking to buy a new civic. i like the looks of the two door better than the four but i am worried about visibility mainly with lane changes and possibly at intersections where cross traffic does not stop.
is the two door not very safe or is it just something to get used to? any close calls?

 

Ive had both... the coupe was not bad for blind spots but the 4 dr is sooooooooo much nicer having alot more visibility.

 

on my coupe, lane changes to the left are hard to see because of the pillar in the way.

 

im short as hell at 5'5

the a pillars in my coupe get in the way sometimes. i can only see 80% of my speedometer. the other 20% is ccovered my my steering wheel. moving the seat up any more than it already is would look MORE wierd. but i still have control. and the fact that i cant see any part of my hood isnt a problem, except when im in parking garages, going up the hill. i can balance the clutch but i cant see whats comming lol so i scoot up my chair for that 2 minutes in the garage.

no problems with blindspots, i look over my shoulder and with some help from "Broadway wide view" rearview mirror

 

^ damnn you are short.

 

Convex Broadway mirror FTW.

The only other thing that kinda pisses me off is the A-Pillar when I'm in the mountains. I am constantly moving my head to see around it around the switchbacks etc.

 

I have a coupe and yes it is hard to see blindspots even when you turn your head. I'm not fully used to it yet so I take my time when changing lanes.

 

i am going to go insane trying to decide between the coupe and the four door.
i wish the four door came with the same seats!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by coot_er &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i am going to go insane trying to decide between the coupe and the four door.
i wish the four door came with the same seats!</TD></TR></TABLE>

What seats does the 4 door have?

 

they don't have the side bolsters that hug you on the sides
i guess you could say they are flatter. more like a folding chair compared to a race bucket seat.


Modified by coot_er at 8:15 PM 9/19/2007

 

a slight curve can be bothersome with the A pillar. 90s and 45s arent a big deal, but you get below 45 and the road ends up right where the pillar is.

As for changing lanes, there is a blind spot pretty bad on both sides on the back, you usually have to turn your head just to double check. I've looked in mirrors to see nothing then get surprised when i turn to see a car next to me.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Demonis &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">a slight curve can be bothersome with the A pillar. 90s and 45s arent a big deal, but you get below 45 and the road ends up right where the pillar is.

As for changing lanes, there is a blind spot pretty bad on both sides on the back, you usually have to turn your head just to double check. I've looked in mirrors to see nothing then get surprised when i turn to see a car next to me.</TD></TR></TABLE>
Exactly what he said.

I too like the styling of the Coupe much more. You can get used to rechecking the blindspots.

 

So is the general consensus a Broadway mirror+ be a little more attentive?

Which Broadway is the best?

 

You can adjust your side mirrors to MOSTLY cover the blind spots. For me, the side mirrors are turned all the way out. Once a car disappears from my rear view mirror, it shows up in one of the side mirrors. Once it disappears from the side mirror, I can see it beside me. There is a little space between when a car will disappear from the side mirror and when I can see it on the side that I have to turn to see it. But this only happens with the smaller cars.

My mirror adjustment will probably be different from everyone else's because of my height (6'6") and seat position, so here is how I do it. For the driver side mirror, lean against the window and turn the mirror out until you can just see the back corner of the car. For the passenger side, lean over as far as you can towards that side of the car without coming out of the driver seat and turn the mirror out until you can just see the back corner of the car. Setting the mirrors up this way will take some getting used to, but it works very well. I still glance back sometimes when changing lanes just to make sure.