I agree, those vents are probably one of the better vent designs on any vehicle. Sadly, the US gets the gimped version of these vents, as the rest of North America and the world have the more functional version where in addition, you can pull-out or push-in to direct the exact amount of airflow.
And the circular design is such a simple concept. It's like having two wheels on a wheelbarrow. Why didn't these kind of things appear looong ago? The outer vents on the dash of our Versa Note are circular and the ability to choose any direction is handy. With the winter we've had, defrost of the side windows has been much improved
And the circular design is such a simple concept. It's like having two wheels on a wheelbarrow. Why didn't these kind of things appear looong ago?
These kind of designs did appear long ago. The Audi's is very similar to aircraft vents except much larger (better for low speed air) and made of plastic instead of aluminum (cheaper). Mazda has been using circular vents just like the one in your Versa picture for over 12 years now, which is also somewhat similar to the vents from the 60's and 70's except back then they were a lot less sturdy and they were eyeballs instead of flaps.
Back in England my dad's 1968 Ford Cortina MkII had circular "eyeball" vents that are still the gold standard in flow and adjustability IMHO. Every vent design since compromises flow and/or directional adjustability. That old Ford design just plain works.
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Weak! My car's fan goes up to 11!!!