It was with some exasperation that I read in today's Motoring Telegraph that the new Vauxhall Astra is to be longer and wider than the current car. When will car designers realise that while each of their new models might increase in width, that of the standard single garage does not? One of the two main reasons why so many cars are today parked on forecourts and cause congestion on roads is that they can no longer fit into the average garage. (The second reason is that the garages are full of household junk). My wife and I are both in our mid-70s, and our only off-road parking space is our garage, into which our 03-reg Astra Estate just fits, but my wife is finding manoeuvring in reverse in the garage increasingly difficult. We have been seeking to replace it with a compact estate car of not more than 1,700 mm in width, excluding door mirrors, but nothing seems to be available. We have tried the Skoda Fabia but have been deterred by its high sill and uneven load area. A Renault 4 would fill the bill admirably, but unfortunately they do not make it any more.