Driving with the hatch open

I finally decided to test out driving with the hatch open as we had to haul a long box home from the local hardware store (only 2 blocks from our house)... I wondered about the rear lights... this is probably old news to some, but since the brake/turn signals are on the hatch and can't be seen, the extra red lenses in the bumper become brake and turn signals

ze German engineers are so smart :lol:

SSi3 said:

ze German engineers are so smart :lol:

Click to expand...

I think they have to be because their stylists are so stupid!

We don't have a motor in the interior mirror for a memory function because it is too heavy, uses too much power, costs too much, violates the simplicity of a city car, etc. but we can haul around a spare set of turnsignals and brake lights? And all because of a band-aid solution to a safety problem caused by the styling guys insistence on putting all of the lights in the hatch.

Do you think they ever bothered to walk out into the parking lot and look at how it was done on any of the millions of Golfs sold in Germany? I wonder why VW never thought to put their rear lighting system in the hatch.......

But then we'd have bland generic styling like a Golf :twisted:

The tiny SMD LEDs in the rear bumper lights have to weight over 1,000 times less than an electric motor.

I would personally be willing to give up 5 miles of range for a memory power seat in the driver's side.

Me too, but I thought the mirror was a better example. I am guessing that a powered mirror can be built to weigh less than 1000gm and that the wiring, bulbs and lenses for the extra lights weigh a lot more than 1gm. Probably more than 100gm.....

As far as generic styling: there is no reason putting the lights on the body and not the hatch has to look boring. Besides when I am driving I can't see what the car looks like and it's not what anyone would describe as attractive anyway.....

/shrug
I like the seamless tail lights hidden behind glass. It's very TRON looking.

I'm just glad the i-series aren't like the rest of the BMW lineup that still use incadecent bulbs front and rear until the mid-cycle LCI refresh!

I sure wish someone could figure out how to have those illuminated in addition to (at the same time) the ones on the hatch, well, perhaps not the turn signals but the running and brake lights. I don't think you can ever have too many lights on a car. I think it would look good to even if it were just for running lights.