Can you see the front of your CX-7 from the driver seat ?

I have test drove the CX-7 twice, once in the city and the second time for an extended highway drive. Although, I am sure I may wish I had a bigger engine, I did enjoy driving vehicle and found it surprisingly responsive and agile. One thing that I noticed, and I am not sure if it will be an issue ... I found you cannot see the front of the vehicle from the driver seat ... in fact, I don't see past the windshield wipers, as the hood seems to fall away from view. I am not sure if this will be an issue for parking (parallel or perpendicular) if you can't judge where your front bumper is.

I am curious whether any of the new owners have noticed this to be a problem. Has anyone bought the rear view camera option (with NAV) and I am curious whether this is helpful ?

Thom_y said:

you cannot see the front of the vehicle from the driver seat ... in fact, I don't see past the windshield wipers, as the hood seems to fall away from view. I am not sure if this will be an issue for parking (parallel or perpendicular) if you can't judge where your front bumper is.

I am curious whether any of the new owners have noticed this to be a problem. Has anyone bought the rear view camera option (with NAV) and I am curious whether this is helpful ?

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I've had my CX-7 for almost a week now. I'm like you, I can't see the hood. At first it bothered me a little, but I'm getting used to the size of the vehicle the same way you get used to how wide or narrow a new vehicle is. I haven't bumped into anything in front of me, but I also don't have to parallel park on a daily basis.

I also have the rear view camera. I think it's nice, although I really haven't needed it. I think for backing into spots, or (again) parallel parking, it would be quite handy.

Thom_y said:

I found you cannot see the front of the vehicle from the driver seat ... in fact, I don't see past the windshield wipers, as the hood seems to fall away from view. I am not sure if this will be an issue for parking (parallel or perpendicular) if you can't judge where your front bumper is.

Click to expand...

Don't have the camera option, so I can't be of help on that one, but as far as not seeing the front of the vehicle, nope, can't see it a bit.
After the first few miles, I didn't even notice it. Doesn't take long to get used to this car, and so far, even in parking lots this hasn't proven to be a problem. Can't remember the last time I had to parallel park, but even then I don't think it would be an issue.
Most of the time, even when you can see the front of a car, you don't really look there, you just sort of "know" where the corners are.
You'll get that way with this one in short time as well.

I can't see the front either. But it does not seem to be an issue. I love the rear view camera. It comes in handy backing into certain areas. So far, It's a great car.

Sounds like it needs a front camera, too!

I've had mine for about a week as well.

I guess I'm a different sort of driver, though. I get a "feel" for where the wheels and corners are when I first drive a vehicle, and let it go from there. I don't hit things when parking, either.

As for the rear camera, I'm old school, and would rather use a combination of turning my head, and using the side mirrors. In spite of my username, I can still turn my head. Seems to work fine for me.

I've found that the CX-7 has a remarkable field of view around the vehicle. There don't seem to be any blind spots anywhere. Not so in my old Mazda6. It's a refreshing change.

As for the front, I'd suggest (a) getting to know where it is, or (b) raising the driver seat to the max, and add a small phone book.

I don't have the CX-7. However, my Dodge Stratus is the same way, I can't see the hood from the driver seat. The way I approach this is that the bumper corners is an extention of what you see beyond the windshield corners. That's been pretty acurate for me on the Stratus. Have never bumped into anything for the 9 years that I've driven it.

I have the rear camera on my Infiniti FX35. In my opinion, it's very helpful on backing up and parallel parking.