The xenon lights thread got me thinking:
"..The reason why car companies are switching to xenons is that they can charge a lot more for replacements bits when they go wrong.."
Maybe car manufacturers will eventually shoot themselves in the proverbial foot(feet?) with these ever more costly items to repair.
Show me a car without a damaged door mirror and I'll show you a car that doesn't get used much!
The dumbest thing for motorists and one of the best for manufacturers has been ever more fancy door mirrors on wider and wider cars. First they were black, unheated, manually adjustable and reasonably cheap to fix or replace. Then we got colour coded ones, then they became electrically adjusted and heated and now we have blessed indicators in the very tip of them.
In 5 years time we'll be getting cars written off after a mirror to mirror nudge in a narrow street.
More than once this daft idea has given a car a negative point in my purchasing thoughts.
Edited by Dulwich Estate on 21/01/2009 at 15:59
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adjustable and reasonably cheap to fix or replace. Then we got colour coded ones then they became electrically adjusted and heated and now we have blessed indicators in the very
If people didnt want them, or they did not make a car more desireable or easier to sell, the makers would not fit them.
Personaly, I find heated mirrors a boon and will spec a car with them every time. And the fold when parked feature.
Show me a car without a damaged door mirror and I'll show you a car that doesn't get used much!
Laguna, two years 47k miles*
Touran, 18 months 40k miles
Altea, 14 months 24k miles
so thats approx 5 years and over 100k miles with no mirror damage
* Ok the mirrors got damaged when i wrote it off.
Edited by Altea Ego on 21/01/2009 at 16:18
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Personaly I find heated mirrors a boon and will spec a car with them every time. And the fold when parked feature.
i have to admit, i really miss heated mirrors as on my Astra there is non, my prev cars had them and the 1st one i got with heated mirrors i didnt think they where needed, but i find them brill for gettting rid of ice/wet etc by the press of a button, now i have to do it myself and get wet/cold hands i really miss them
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>If people didn't want them, or ..
I don't accept that. The hi-tech mirrors were put on the cars, which were then sold to eager punters. I don't believe any punters asked for them.
>Approx 5 years and over 100k miles with no mirror damage ..
Agreed. 9+ years and 70K on my 306 - mirrors and colour-coded fairings almost as new.
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I don't accept that. The hi-tech mirrors were put on the cars which were then sold to eager punters. I don't believe any punters asked for them.
you conveniently missed out the .... "make a car more desireable or easier to sell"
which I assume is your "eager punters"
we didnt ask for heated rear windows, or climate control, or diming interior lights, but they were offered to us as technological devices and things to make our driving more pleasant.
we didnt say no did we.
Say what you like. Electric heated mirrors are a boon and a significant safety device.
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The dumbest thing for motorists and one of the best for manufacturers has been ever more fancy door mirrors on wider and wider cars.
Bad example I'm afraid.
Many years ago the mirror glass got broken on my very first car, a Mk2 Ford Escort. The mirror was a bog standard chromed assembly with no internal adjustment. The glass itself was nonreplaceable and I had to buy a complete mirror. This was not such a problem. The problem was removing the entire door trim to get access to the mounting screws and then having to go back to the dealer to buy all the little plastic retaining clips which got broken.
Contrast this to my experience when the mirror glass got broken on a Mondeo I used to have, which had body coloured mouldings and heated glass. I went to the Ford Dealer, fearing the worst, paid about a tenner for a replacement glass with heater element and it took me all of about 20 minutes to pull the old glass off and stick the new one in its place.
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Having just spent £270 on a Kia Sorento complete mirror, which ordinarily would need painting as well, after some berk pushed it forwards (paperboy?) and damaged the gearing I am still feeling a bit sensitive to this subject.
What made it worse was that removing the old one gave me the opportunity to strip it down to see what the problem was as it had become loose and the parking feature did not work.
They are somewhat intricate but I found a cog which drives the parking feature. This had some teeth ripped off. Only 1/4 of the teeth are used so I moved it 180 degrees and hey presto, once reassembled it was as good as new.
Now I know I should have done that before I ordered a new one but sods law dictates I would have ended up with a pile of bits and still had to order new.
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Coloure-coded bumpers - amazes me how many people have the slightest scratch sprayed or even bumper replaced.
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Show me a car without a damaged door mirror and I'll show you a car that doesn't get used much!
Stop being dramatic!
My car is 5 years old, does 10,000 miles per year (a goodly proportion of which is on narrow twisty roads at the highest speed I can attain without blatantly exceeding the limit) and it still has unmarked door mirrors.
I've only ever once in my 50 years of driving clipped another car's door mirror with mine, and all it did was remove a minute amount of the colour-coded surface.
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