Seating & Visibility

The SRX seats five people and follows the common practice of having a large cargo area at the expense of backseat room. I didn't have enough legroom to sit behind a driver of my height (6-foot-1), and headroom felt cramped. Also, the rear seats don't slide forward and back, which might have solved the cargo-versus-passenger tradeoff.

Up front, there's a manually extending seat bottom that offers more support for your thighs. It works better than a lot of powered ones, and it's a nice touch for us longer-legged sorts. More cars should offer this feature.

Visibility to the sides and behind is poor because, as the roof slopes downward, the bottom sills of the rear windows slope up, making the rearmost window vestigial. This is more common these days among passenger cars, but it's a bit more of a hazard in the higher-riding SRX: Low-slung cars can creep in "below" you. You have to really make sure you have your mirrors set properly — more so than in other vehicles I've driven. It's a true blind spot.

    See also:

    Folding Mirrors
    Manual Folding Mirrors Vehicles with manual fold mirrors are folded inward toward the vehicle to prevent damage when going through an automatic car wash. Push the mirror outward to return it to ...

    Engine Fan
    The vehicle has electric cooling fans. The fans spinning at low speed during most everyday driving might be heard. The fans can turn off if no cooling is required. Under heavy vehicle loading, tra ...

    Antilock Brake System (ABS)
    This vehicle has the Antilock Brake System (ABS), an advanced electronic braking system that helps prevent a braking skid. When the engine is started and the vehicle begins to drive away, ABS chec ...