Hello, I have purchased a Ford Fiesta 12 plate, I was previously using a old style fiesta as not long passed my test, older fiesta drives absolutely fine, very confident, so purchased a newer one after a year of driving, now this is where it may sound strange! I feel so uncomfortable driving it! The car it’s self is lovely little white fiesta 12 plate, beautiful to drive! I just feel when I’m looking out of the windscreen I’m not seeing what I did with the other one! The windscreen on the left hand and right hand side looks only what I can describe as zoomed in! When I’m driving down a road I cannot judge how close I am to the curbs etc because the lines are not where they should be, now I’ve driven the old fiesta and everything is fine on that one so I no it’s not my eyes! Someone has suggested it could be the heated windscreen that makes it look like this? However it’s not the direct middle where I can see the little lines of the windscreen it’s the left and right hand side of the windscreen? Has anyone else had this before? Or can give me some advice ? Thank you 

Probably caused by the curvature of the windscreen acting a bit like a lens.Does it get better or worse depending on whether the glass is clean or dirty as that can alter the effect.

9 minutes ago, billyboy said:

Probably caused by the curvature of the windscreen acting a bit like a lens.Does it get better or worse depending on whether the glass is clean or dirty as that can alter the effect.

I’ve not really noticed about the dirty or clean part yet, so can that be fixed or is that just the car? I didn’t really notice it when I had a little test drive and obviously my old style fiesta Dosent have this problem 

56 minutes ago, billyboy said:

Probably caused by the curvature of the windscreen acting a bit like a lens.Does it get better or worse depending on whether the glass is clean or dirty as that can alter the effect.

The windscreen should definitely not act like a lens.

2 minutes ago, Bobr said:

The windscreen should definitely not act like a lens.

The way it’s said “acting like a lens” defiantly makes sense to me! It looks only what I can describe as zoomed in! And my eyes are fine lol, I just am clueless as what it is or what to do! 

The effect it's having on your vision through the screen maybe because the heating element 'lines' do not extend to the edges of the screen on both sides which would give you the 'lens' effect. See if you can compare your screen by looking through one on another Fiesta of the same year and see if there is any difference.

Visibility is terrible on newer cars, it is just the curve of the screen at the edges that does this along with the much shallower vertical angle of the screen.  The Mk7 Fiesta and Mk3 Focus are both really bad for it, makes parking quite difficult!  

When you say old style Fiesta...do you mean it was a Mk7 in Style spec without the heated screen, or that it was an older shape, as in Mk6 Fiesta, instead?  Assuming you previously had a Mk6, the Mk7 screen is very different.

I don't know if wearing polorized or tinted glasses would help if it was something to do with the heating wires near the edge. Otherwise it's as Tom say due to the curved glass.

 

2 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Visibility is terrible on newer cars, it is just the curve of the screen at the edges that does this along with the much shallower vertical angle of the screen.  The Mk7 Fiesta and Mk3 Focus are both really bad for it, makes parking quite difficult!  

When you say old style Fiesta...do you mean it was a Mk7 in Style spec without the heated screen, or that it was an older shape, as in Mk6 Fiesta, instead?  Assuming you previously had a Mk6, the Mk7 screen is very different.

Thanks for your reply! Its an old 53 plate so I’m presuming mk6? I now have 12 plate so is there anyway I can change this or is it a case of just get used to it? I’ve been driving it a month now and I’m still not used to it 

nothing you can do to change it . if it is the heated screen elements you could replace it with a non-heated screen but I can't see it being that. 

16 hours ago, Misslewis90 said:

Thanks for your reply! Its an old 53 plate so I’m presuming mk6? I now have 12 plate so is there anyway I can change this or is it a case of just get used to it? I’ve been driving it a month now and I’m still not used to it 

Yep, that would've been a Mk6.  There's nothing you can do to change it, it's just a case of putting up with it unfortunately, unless you change to another model of car instead.  

The Suzuki Swift might be a good alternative.

On 4/17/2020 at 11:46 AM, Misslewis90 said:

The windscreen on the left hand and right hand side looks only what I can describe as zoomed in! When I’m driving down a road I cannot judge how close I am to the curbs etc because the lines are not where they should be

I can't say I've noticed any distortion of the view from My previous MK7.5 Fiesta and neither in my current MK 8 Fiesta.

But you shouldn't be looking to the sides of the screen to judge your distance from the kerbs etc.. you should be looking way ahead into the distance 200-300 metres up the road where possible. If you are doing that then the kerbs and lines will also be in the centre portion of the screen and therefore not distorted.

Also if you are looking far enough ahead you are unlikely to see any of the heating elements as they will be out of focus.  

In certain lighting conditions the heating elements can seem rather prominent, most of the time you wouldn't know it was there. But as the other guys say, I can't see that causing distortion or the lens effect you mention.

It's always possible that the screen may be flawed in some way, but it may well be just the difference between the screen on the Mk 6 and the much "curvier" screen on the Mk 7. I've had 2 Mk 7's and now a Mk 8 - good little cars but visibility is not a strong point.

I regularly drive my wife's SEAT Mii and am always struck by how good the visibility is compared to the Fiesta, so maybe as Tom suggests something else might suit you better next time you make a change.