Read an article in the paper today about how as cars get bigger it is increasingly hard to park them in standard car park bays.
Also saw my first new Peugeot 407 today. Good looking vehicle but its a porker. Seems all new models are bigger than the old ones.
Fair enough but why I wonder? Are we getting bigger fatter? More perceived value for money? Anyone know?
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Customers want more room for same cash?
Safety reasons? Every brand wants their cars to be 5 star ncap rated?
A collusion between line painting companies and car manufacturers who want justification for resizing all car park pays up and down the country?
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Never mind parking bays! Some modern cars are too big for estate built houses David Wilson, Barratt etc. The cars fit but you can't then open the doors
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Yes yes but if the car is on the garage where will all the valuables like a singing Billy Bass fish, various old bicycles, boxes of useful 'stuff' etc go?
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He's only using the Peugeot as an example, in truth it's happening all the time. Look at VW, the latest Polo is bigger than the original Golf! Then the clever marketing people decide what we need is a new small VW so they bring out the Lupo.
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Being sensible for a mo
The Mondeo (cortina replacement remember) is now as big as the Granada/scorpio, The focus (escort replacement) is now nearly as big as the cortina. Fiesta is now approaching Mk1 escort size.
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RF - currently 1 Renault short of a family
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Being sensible for a mo
Bout time and all!! Some, if not all the silly quips have been removed. DD.
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"The focus (escort replacement) is now nearly as big as the cortina"
bet it's quite a lot bigger than the Mark 1 Cortina!! Saw one recently and it looked tiny - and talk about skinny tyres!!
Phil
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"The focus (escort replacement) is now nearly as big as the cortina" bet it's quite a lot bigger than the Mark 1 Cortina!! Saw one recently and it looked tiny - and talk about skinny tyres!!
I googled for a few dimensions. A Fiesta is a lot wider than a Mark 1 Cortina. It's a few inches shorter, but I'm sure that a saloon Fiesta would be longer (don't they make them for some markets?)
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Opps forgot about the mk1 cortina. Thats about mk1 escort size so that got overtaken very early.
Saw a Mk2 consol the other day, as a kid my dads one seemed HUUUUGE, now its looks very very thin indeed, still quite long tho.
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RF - currently 1 Renault short of a family
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"Since RF's car has been shrunked after its unsuccessful attempt to kiss a bus, Peugeots have expand to keep the space constant." Here we go again. More French car bashing. Unsuccessful attempt? UNSUCCESSFUL! not only was it successful it was a positive orgy!
RF, if you do get another French car, may I suggest that it might be safer to order it with the celibacy module?
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A couple of years ago I was looking to buy a brand new house. But the garage was tiny and my car would fit in it but I would have to climb out of the sunroof as there was no way I could get the doors in the car opened. I was advised by the sales person that people use garages for storage now and not for putting cars in. Crazy or what!!!!!!
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I was advised by the sales person that people use garages for storage now and not for putting cars in. Crazy or what!!!!!!
Maybe not that daft. Cars are mostly galvanised now, and don't corrode away like they used to. And now that people have more money, they accumulate morev stuff that needs to be stored somewhere.
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Until a couple of years ago I had a Rover P6 (2000 shape) with the lovely 3.5 v8 engine. When new in 1969 it was a big 'executive' car but seemed positively tiny when parked next to our Honda Legend coupe daily driver - with a 2.7 engine.
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407s start off small but they get bigger and bigger because they swallow so much as they go along. Have you seen the mouth on them? They look like basking sharks.
On a serious note, bigger seems to equal better. To make a Mondeo smaller than the current model would be seen as a step backwards, regardless of how much better it actually was. Keep it the same size and it becomes smaller than the competition. So cars get bigger and bigger until they're phased out. Every so often car companies kill off an old model (Scorpio, 607, XM) and introduce one at the bottom of the range (C1, Ka, Lupo). Sooner or later the Focus will be Ford's flagship sedan, and the Ka will be a mid-size family car.
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Life is complex; it has real and imaginary parts.
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Interesting theory...
I noticed last week that the neighbour's new Passat is absolutely huge compared with the old model. It's particularly striking when I park my Pug 306 in a line of much more modern cars: the Peugeot looks tiny!
Time for a "size amnesty"? You're right; just as space is more and more at a premium, cars are getting so much bigger. Followed a Volvo XC90 (?) back from work the other night - like following a small mobile castle.
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They may be bigger on the outside but they have less space inside. The 407 has less room in the back than the 406, which wasn't itself over-generous.
My Honda Civic still has the best interior space for a car of its size (AFAIK, of course!)
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All the safety features make a car much bulkier outside and smaller inside. Car from over 20 years ago had thin doors and no side protection. No crumple zones and no airbags, and thin pillars.
If you thinkthe XC90 is big, try looking at a Disco 3, its two tons!!
Currently driving (temporarily) a 1995 Fiesta. It is so low and short and narrow. I was rubbing thighs with the very attractive Slovak girl who does out ironing last night!
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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"They may be bigger on the outside but they have less space inside."
Have you ever ridden a NY Yellow cab - Crown Vic or Chevy Caprice. The size of an oil tanker on the outside but with the legroom of a Fiesta. The parcel shelf has the surface area of a desk, it just eats all the room away.
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I think in some ways it is also a result of rising power outputs and engine efficiency...Therefore although weights and size are increasing the rise in power outputs and the ability of larger engines still to be economical allows cars to get heavier and still provide good performance.
I remember when my Dad was shopping for a 2 litre car in the late 70s and alot could not even manage 100bhp. Anything with say 105-110bhp was really rather flash or had new fangled fuel injection (in my dad's eyes bound to go wrong - like electric windows etc) and anything that was a bit bigger and faster like a Granada or Rover or Volvo with a 6 cylinder engine would literally drink petrol (eg 18 to the gallon). Nowadays you can get something Granada sized with a 2 litre engine that can do 130 mph comfortably and return 40mpg.
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Could it be some parking bays are getting smaller? In a new multi-storey near me, I'm sure the bays are right on the line of what is acceptable-and how old is the 'acceptable' rule?
Is there a statutory size for parking bays, or is it each to themselves?
No way will my 1980's garage take my new Avensis easily-I need to do all sorts to drive in then get out of the car!
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Could it be some parking bays are getting smaller? Is there a statutory size for parking bays, or is it each to themselves?
I think there must be a general rule as to what is classed as a 'normal' sized bay. If I think of all the car parks around my area, ALL of the bays are the same size.
The problem is, which I don't think anyone?s mentioned yet, is the cars have grown, but the bays haven?t which is where the problem lies. The generic bay size was drawn up decades ago when the average car was the size of a Mk1 Cortina.
My old Polo, which isn't much different in size to the original 1975 Mk1, slots into any bay with ease. In fact, the bays at our local Costco are so big, my car looks lost in them! Its the only place i know where i can almost open my door fully.
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My sister lives in a prewar house with a garage.
There is no way you can get a modern car in that garage - and get otu of it!
That speaks volumes IMO
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Is there a statutory size for parking bays, or is it each to themselves?
Don't know if it is statutory, but normal practice is 2.4m wide by 4.8m long, yes that's 8' by 16'. Disabled spaces are 3.6m wide.
If it is statutory and governed by Building Regs, maybe ODPM need to know so they can increase the size of the bays.
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Once provided report to the courts in the size of a garage in a detached executive home. The house was a good size and had a doubel garge which had two single doors with a brick pier between.
A BMW 3-series (J-reg) got scraped driving in and it was discovered that the doors were so narrow that most cars other than superminis could not easily get in. The builder had to remove the doors and the brick pier and replace with a single double door..
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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Mk1 Golf is smaller all round than current Polo, IMHO. Pity, as MK1 Golf in Campaign GTi form is still one of the best looking small cars around, I believe...
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I thought it was just me. All French car parks are marked with bays that will just about take a Clio. Having the nose of your car (an Accord - I can remember when they seemed to be smaller than the present Civic) sticking out from a long line is quite useful when it comes to spotting it - but not when every other driver is manoeuvring in a tight space!
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