It's quite common now for cars (particularly high-end ones) to 'remember' the seat and wing mirror settings for various drivers. I find that I prefer my mirrors to be set in one position for driving on the motorway and slightly differently for driving around town and on single-carriageway 'A' roads. The car's mirror memory is linked to it's navigation system and when it detects you are on a motorway, it changes the mirrors to the M-way setting. On leaving the M-way it reverts to the 'around town' setting. Obviously this is only really viable in expensive cars that have all the other gadgets and only useful for people like me who actually have a preference that differs.-- oneoffdave, Aug 01 2003 can it have a third setting; towards the driver when I, sorry, she wants to apply some lippy?-- po, Aug 01 2003 Sounds good to me because I do likewise (like [dave] does, not [po]). I also position the seat differently, so perhaps the device could include this.-- angel, Aug 01 2003 so you all stop on the slip roads to adjust everything? bet you are popular.-- po, Aug 01 2003 Hmm. I think that one mirror setup is appropriate for everything. My Dad taught me to set the mirrors up so that when a vehicle comes up from behind you on either side, the image of the vehicle should pass from the interior to the exterior mirror seamlessly as the vehicle overtakes you. This means setting the side mirrors out much further than people usually do, such that the sides of your own car are not visible in the side mirror at all.
This setup holds true regardless of vehicle speed or road configuration.-- bristolz, Aug 01 2003 I think bris is right. If you have to change your mirror positions, you must be doing it wrong.-- waugsqueke, Aug 01 2003 GM makes cars whose mirrors tilt down when you reverse (Buick Park Avenue Ultra).-- Cedar Park, Aug 02 2003 [po] No, I just lean across and do it on the fly.
[bris] The setup you describe is how I have mine for most driving. However I do prefer to alter the vertical orientation in heavy town traffic as this gives me better visibility of the corners of my car, which I don't need on faster roads.-- oneoffdave, Aug 04 2003 random, halfbakery