Cars are getting far too big.

petra

Dylis

I see so many, very elderly people driving huge cars. They can barely see over the steering wheel and have no idea how to park. My sisters FIL has just taken delivery of a huge 4x4 and he is 92!

The elderly people who buy these cars didn’t buy them they were sold them by unscrupulous car salesmen/ women.

Why should elderly people be more likely than any other age group to succumb to a salesman's blarney?

rosie1959

Everyone has a choice on what car they drive and what is right for them and quite honestly a lot of parking spaces are too small. My husband drives an SUV because due to physical difficulties it’s easier for him but he has to be careful where he parks as he needs room to get out. It’s fine if I am with him as I can easily get in.
My son has just been round and his car is huge but it’s a work horse.
My car is normal size and that works for me but it would be a pain for us on long trips as it has the acceleration of a go cart lol

We have had SUVs for many years, but they are far wider and bigger than they used to be. We bought a Skoda 10 years ago that was fitted for a wheelchair and lifting equipment and it was smaller than current SUVs.
As they have got longer the doors have got bigger - so unnecessary.

The parking spaces are the same as they have always been, it is the manufacturers who have made much wider cars.

As to speed, I drive a 1.5 Toyota Yaris - it is 6 years old and is six inches narrower than the current model - why? It cruises easily at 70.

when I changed my last car, a Ford KA, which is a smaller car than many, I went to the Ford garage and they had nothing of a similar size. Their mantra seemed to be bigger, bigger, bigger, faster, faster, faster. Its not what I want or need; at 64 I want a small reliable runaround, and equally something that actually fits into our garage. I ended up getting a Kia Picanto, which is a tad smaller than my old KA and am really pleased with it

Dalrymple said Having said that, in the Seventies I managed to get two babies (one in a child seat, one in a Moses basket) plus all their paraphernalia plus an Old English Sheepdog into an MGB GT!!!! Most people would have an attack of the vapours at the very thought of that these days!

Snap! We had a baby and a toddler, us and enough gear for a two week holiday stuffed into an MGBGT! We lived in Thurso then and drove all the way to Kent in it. We were made of stern stuff.

For the people who don’t need them, it tells you something about them…

My husband and his three teenage sisters went with his mum and stepfather on holiday to "Europe" in a Mini Witzend.

We still have photos of this trip.

It was eventually our car for a year or two and we used to lend it to our neighbours (who had four children by then) for family days out.

Obviously this was in pre car-seat days!

Many years later we used it for drying out onions etc in the garden before it made its final journey.

singingnutty

Yes cars really are getting very big. A couple of days ago I saw an original sized old mini outside a garage, obviously awaiting restoration, and was reminded that as a young adult I went on holiday in one with 3 other full size young adults. How we all fitted in along with our luggage I can't imagine.

My first car was an old blue Mini, with an 850 engine that didn’t much like having to chug up Reigate Hill with 4 of us on a night out!

My DM’s first car was an old Mini, too, and when it finally died she had to leave it on the drive, because a window had been left open and a robin had made its nest inside!

No Boadicea it was a 504 - still my favourite ever car.

Actually we had two of these - both "Family" models - one petrol and one diesel. I think the second was a slightly different shape.
Both seated eight - all facing forward - and could fit all seven of us, all the camping gear, a few of days of food and a weeks worth of clothes and waterproofs in the boot (and in the footwells of the smaller children). I admit it was tight but still was amazing.
The first one was pre seat belts in the back. I think it had them in the front.
I spent two days fitting them into the sub frame. The belts were super-expensive. I think we actually paid as much for the seat belts as the actual car!

If you folded all the back down (two rows) the boot was enormous.
(Great for moving behives)

My first car was an old style Fiat 500 which accommodated me, two children and the week’s shopping with ease but was an absolute rust bucket. Many years later (2013) I had a new one, my favourite ever, which I passed to DD when it became impossible for DH to get in and out of. DGD learned to drive on it and it’s still going strong!

Greyduster

^Someone needs to make a movie where the hero drives an electric car....^

They don’t make an exciting addition to the soundtrack either!

Movie makers are clever enough to make whoosh, a scream or a burble.
In fact many EVs do have a fake noise the driver and switch on, I have one on my EV, it's rubbish and remains off

Someone needs to make a movie where the hero drives an electric car....

They don’t make an exciting addition to the soundtrack either!

ROMILO I have just bought a Fiat 500, cinquecento. It's 10 years old and has been admired.
It's even smaller than the 15 yr old Yaris it has replaced.
But I don't think that they are made anymore.

I think the reason people drive these monsters with big bums boots about is that this is what is available.

Someone needs to make a movie where the hero drives an electric car....
But even these are bigger than necessary.

NotSpaghetti - was that the 806? We were gifted a 20 year old one from a friend in France and my favourite ever car! So versatile and so much space inside. Just a shame it was petrol and didn't do many mpg.
Prior to that I had a 1984 Volvo estate which I loved; again lots of space to haul furniture or all my decorating gear including ladders . Great turning circle too, although it was actually the same length as our camper van and the first car I'd had with powered steering.
Now we have a 2003 Citroen C3 which cost us £500 euros just before we returned to England in 2019. Every year we think it's not going to pass another MOT but somehow scrapes through! It's diesel, averages about 60 to the gallon, only £30 a year road tax, will squeeze into the tiniest spaces (just as well as we only have on street parking where we live) but can accommodate a surprising amount inside.
I'm dreading having to replace it as I don't like these modern cars which seem so big on the outside but so small on the inside :-(

DS54

Ar parks near me ( not the UK) have larger spaces in some parts of the car park but they are more expensive and the larger vehicles are not allowed in the area for smaller cars. There is also a section reserved for women after 6pm with more security features alarm buttons.

Excellent. Hopefully, this system will come to the UK soon. People have every right to choose to drive larger cars, but why should their choice be allowed to have a negative impact on those people who drive smaller cars?

Ouch REKA!

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but a rather nasty accident occurred when the driver of an SUV in Florida drove over the top of a Lamborghini. Nobody hurt. Let's hope her insurance pays out .

DD54, I found your post about the car park arrangements where you live interesting. Perhaps we need to think about car parking differently, with different sizes of spaces, and " safer" zones. We have simply carried on with the previous model of car parks, and might benefit from a rethink.
Norah, I would not criticise your choice of car, but is it your contention that my grandchildren are not safe in my Aygo?

We are now down to one medium sized plug in hybrid and a love the fact I can tuck it away in the garage at night.

The vast majority of cars here are huge, more like truck sized. Mine is very small in comparison ( just a normal Toyota ) and it is not a 4 wheel drive vehicle either. Maybe the potholes and state of the roads is a reason . I hate parking next to the big things because you can’t see to back out and have to be very cautious parking next to them.

silverlining48

We have an older Fiesta and all these huge cars with blinding headlights really irritate me. They take up all the parking space and more, hanging over the lines thus denying access to spaces left between for smaller vehicles. I sometimes have to climb into my car from on the passenger side which is awkward given my age, because of the inconsiderate parking of these monsters. I am far too old for this indignity.
For all the extra safety it may give the owners of these huge cars it makes for more danger for those of us in small vehicles.

These huge cars are not only more dangerous for people driving smaller cars, they are far more dangerous for pedestrians. Some posters are arguing that their cars are larger because of improved safety features. Someone pushing a toddler in a buggy around a busy town or city is not going to feel safer because of the increase in these huge vehicles.

There are also concerns, expressed by the Institute of Structural Engineers in a report in 2023, about the effect these ever larger, heavier vehicles is having on ageing multi-storey car parks.

For the last twelve years of his life, DH bought ever bigger cars, much to my dismay. The last one was a top of the range hybrid Honda CRV - not a year old when he died, but I sold it and bought a Mini Cooper, which I love, but the Honda practically drove itself and had every base covered, so it felt like a much safer car.

We started our married life with a basic Mini two door saloon - and they were very basic back then - and now I have come full circle. Still a joy to drive.

Sago we used to have an 8 seater Peugeot. It could "turn on a sixpence". If I had to go into town when I knew parking would be an issue (say, Saturday mid morning) I would always take this car rather than the little car as it would go into tiny kerbside spaces and awkward corners of car parks so much easier!

Some cars are just really fantastic to drive.

Big are are subject to higher emission taxes and also the luxury car tax on new cars costing over £40k. (£50k electric), electric cars are pretty much the same size although are usually heavier, the real pavement damage is by delivery trucks and vans unloading in narrow streets.

I remember when Volvo Estates and Saab's were considered to be large tank like like machines.

And the introduction of the first Range Rover caused a huge hue and cry.

A lot of the new Chelsea type tractors and flashy big cars are not owned by. large families with pets.
Or well off country people who own horses

But are just status symbols for the snotty, class conscious and got a few bob to show off in.

Many of them live in the suburbs of large towns and cities.

Also ,so.l have been told that Electric Cars need to be larger because of their batteries.

Pavement parking is a real problem in my area. Surely the size and weight of these cars must be damaging the pavements even more so

As for car parks..Maybe bigger parking spaces at a higher charge for larger cars. And an increase in MOT and car tax for cars over a certain weight and length.

Catalytic converters are often cited as a good reason to drive a giant car.

Catalytic converters of all kinds (twin or otherwise) only convert the particulates produced by the engine into water and carbon dioxide. They do not reduce carbon dioxide (and definitely not lower than the air taken into the engine). The only way to reduce this toxic air pollutant is to decrease fuel consumption. This can be compared between vehicles by looking at each vehicles average miles per gallon (or km per litre)