First post, so be gentle with me!
I've had a couple of test drives and found the size of the wing mirrors a bit of a problem for visibilty, especially the drivers side. I'm only 5ft tall and obviously have to sit a bit closer to the stering wheel than most. On my first test drive I was so eager to get going that didn't get the seat set perfectly, so when I came to the first road T-junction to turn right and couldn't see over, under, round the wing mirror for traffic coming from the right. Didn't make for a quick get away!
Is anyone driving who's my height (or has a partner my height) can reassure me that they're coping with no problems?
My 2nd test drive was in a Prestige and I did get the seat set a bit better for a bit of a view over the top of the mirror, but this was with the seat up at maximum height and back of seat tilted up to max. My car of choice is a Pure, but checking the specs realise that this doesn't have the tilt adjust that the Prestige has. Prestige is out of my price range at the moment.
As I'm paying upwards of 35K for a car I don't want to have to sit on a cushion!!
First of all, welcome to the forum. You'll definitely learn a thing or two from the forum members here!
Interesting problem you described there....you could probably try setting the steering wheel column to protrude outwards (towards you). The steering column has a lever at the bottom which you could unlock to give you adjustments for up/down/in/out. Then from there on, you could adjust your seat.
I found the mirrors better on the 5dr than on the coupe as the windscreen is a bit larger.
This has been discussed earlier in the year when many of us we taking test drives.
It is something you would have to come to terms with.
Try test driving the automatic (if you haven't already) - the fact that you don't need to move the seat as far forwards as in the manual (where you need to be able to depress the clutch fully), may leave you with more options as to where you set your seat position.
Thanks for the patient replies.
First test drive was Manual, 2nd was Automatic. Currently driving a SLK so used to sitting as far back as leg length will allow, I did try this with the Evoque and had a play moving the steering wheel about too. First choice is for a Manual, going for an Automatic would mean losing a few of the extras to keep in budget.
So decisions, decisions. Thought the test drive would just be a tick box exercise, can I touch the pedals, see over the steering wheel, took it for granted that the view out of the rest of the windows would be better than the SLK, so did find it a bit disconcerting. I hope I'm worrying unnecessarily, but great to hear of no bad reports so far.
Toothfairy, I am 5ft 2" and picking mine up on Wednesday - will let you know how I get on! I ordered back in June and didn't test drive before ordering. Have been in the dealership and happy I am comfortable with seat position, but didn't think to check mirrors as we were inside
Welcome toothfairy. While I am a little taller than you at 5'10", I know exactly what you mean about the the mirrors causing visibility issues (and I do remember reading this in a post a while ago as Evo-king mentions), especially at junctions etc.
However, in my short experience of driving mine over the last week, and in particular the 600 mile round trip last weekend to Bolton funnily enough, I found the size of the mirrors fantastic in adding to the all-round visibility. Because the rear window is quite small and very low when looking back at traffic through the rear view mirror, the door mirrors really provide valuable extra visibility. I personally feel this outweighs the slight inconvenience of a bit of extra looking at junctions.
Coming from driving a small van without a back window I am used to using door mirrors only, and have to say that I love the Evoque's elephant ears.
Cobkelly
Agree totally, the large mirrors are highly advantageous for rear visibility - and just occasionally require slight shifting of the body when turning onto a side street etc.
I'm 5ft5 ish so not super tall. Surely there is some height adjustment/telescopic setting of the seat/steering wheel that will work for your Evoque!
Another thought, we did mention the mirror fold option, on a few of my cars there is a button by the wing mirror control that fold the mirrors in, maybe at junctions, you could use that, it is a long time since I drove the Evoque, Sept, so don't know where it is.
Can any lucky owners comment.