In a separate thread the Car Keys report included the following statement :-
It's a matter of some regret that Hyundai has put no effort into improving the i30's visibility (in fact it appears to have devised a policy of making it worse), but there are compensations such as the lowering of the central tunnel to make it easier to move across the rear seats and the use of a more steeply angled windscreen to reduce aerodynamic drag.
This produced a number of comments from members, such as
Alan,you've had a drive of the 2012 i30, did the windows seen too small?
I was passing the dealership yesterday so I popped in with my tape measure. It is difficult to make a direct comparison, because the widows have a different shape but these are the measurements compared with the (previous car).
Front window 84 cm (77 cm) long x 34 cm (38 cm) tall.
Rear wondow 67 cm (67 cm) long x 37 cm (39cm) tall.
The new car has a higher waist line so there is still as much glass at and above eye level - but if you drive with the windows open and your elbow sticking out to pull the birds (take note Dazz) it might be a tad uncomfortable.
Having sat in the car this morning - to compare windows, I still feel that the new model feels more spacious and lets more light in. However the reviewer may have been influenced by the fact that the windscreen is more steeply raked - the bottom of the screen is further away from the driver and the top of the screen nearer than the previous model. This makes the A pillar more noticeable at and above eye level but does not increase the blind spot at any elevation that matters.