It's size, pure and simple. The current trend amongst manufacturers (with a few exceptions, such as Honda) build the next car in a model line bigger than the last one. Witness the growth of the Focus, the Astra, the Mondeo, etc.
I did read somewhere that Mondeo is now bigger than the original Granada.
Cars seem to be unneccessarily wide too - there's actually little difference in width between the various classes of car, yet parking spaces get narrower.
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To go back to one of the opening questions - what will luxury cars of the future be - surely we already have a good idea given the growth of luxury 4x4.
The X5, Q7, Cayenne, XC90, Lexus RX, Range Rover and RR Sport plus all the others are big luxury cars. They are everywhere here in Herts. Of course the consumption can be heavy and the 4wd is not really needed, but I suspect this will change, already the Lexus comes with a big battery if you like, and I'm sure some of these type of cars will start to become 2wd (not in the same league but I think the x-trail can be had as a 2wd)
So thats what i think will displace the big limo barges
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Lots of the SUVs that are marketed in UK with 4wd are marketed in the USA with 2wd as the 'norm' with 4wd to special order.
The Hyundai SUVs sell more than any other manufacturer in the area of the USA I frequent, and I have yet to see one with 4wd.
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Optimus Prime and Bill Payer both your posts seem to carry the air of pessimisim and the belife that car manufactuers tell us what to buy.
On one hand this is true. My dad owned an MK1 renault 5 in the early 1980's and I now drive a P reg. clio. However nonsensical it is, I am drawn towards the new clio, since it has to the be the car with the same DNA, right? And so when models get bigger people will buy bigger cars.
On another hand the pesimism is unfounded. The small car market has endured a consumer lead revolution in the last 10 years. The very factor that has hurt small cars the most, safety, and the resulting bulk has been lead by consumers (or the press), not the manufactures.
We now have premuim small cars like the MINI and the Smart For Two. The small car market has more choice than ever before we get budget city cars like the suzki alto, and Peruda range for people who do want cheap, small but not very safe cars. We then move up the scale with the Fiat Panda rising at last to the fouth coming Renault Twigo and the Fiat/Ford Collaboration replacing the Ford Ka.
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Torque means nothing without RPM
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MPV's, SUV's, double-cab pickups? These are today's big cars. Add the fact that Mondeos, Vectras and Passats are bigger than their forbears, the traditional mass-market big saloon/estate has had its seriously market encroached upon.
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I'll keep buying comfy long wheelbase cars until the Gubmint & Local Unauthorities begin to maintain the cart tracks
they have the cheek to call 'roads', properly . I've driven many small cars , (and read/heard reviews of countless others)
& have yet to find one, (bar a 1980's Renault 6) that had anything like a tolerable ride except over the shortest route
& billiard-table smooth surface. Also been driven in one of those tiny vans - truly terrifiyng, uncomfortable & noisy - I would hate
to be involved in anything but the smallest parking scrape if wheeled-up thus.
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MPV's, SUV's, double-cab pickups? These are today's big cars. Add the fact that Mondeos, Vectras and Passats are bigger than their forbears, the traditional mass-market big saloon/estate has had its seriously market encroached upon.
A colleague of mine has an American double cab pickup which is frankly an office block on wheels. When he parks in our company car park (which is generous for space by most standards) it takes him 3 or 4 attempts just to manouvre in or out of his space, which can easily be negotiated by say a BMW 5 series etc. So this should be a consideration surely when choosing the size of car.
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For the first time ever I had the pleasure of following a 300C through my home town (they are still a rare sight here) and for the first time I can see how other motorists percieve the 300C as being a huge, lumbering, cumbersome beast ----- because from the back it gives the impression of taking up the entire lane of the road.
I also had the pleasure of watching what people thought of the car as it drove past - and then doing an instant double take :)
MTC
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Seems like the problem is that the cars people choose to buy will be determined by the size of the spaces in which they park. If you spend a lot of time parking in multi-stories and other car parks, you are going to want a car with a small foot-print.
If all car park spaces in the UK were 6 inches longer and 6 inches wider, a lot of people would be willing to get longer and wider cars.
The answer is to build upwards rather than outwards. The Merc A class was the obvious example, but, to be honest, I find the Citroen Berlingo makes good sense - a real feeling of roominess, plenty of luggage space, but a foot-print smaller than a Ford Focus
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surely this thread is coming from the wrong angle...
all cars have got bigger over the years.............you've only got to try to get an average sized car into a house garage to realise most won't fit........yet my 1968 Triumph 2000 mk1 goes in and out of my garage with no problems at all and that was a biggish car in its' time.............both our modern cars won't fit without an awful lot of shenanigans
It is the same with parking spaces. They haven't been widened over the years to cater for increasingly larger cars. Why not?
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It is the same with parking spaces. They haven't been widened over the years to cater for increasingly larger cars. Why not?
It's a plot to get us all to drive smaller, more economical cars :-)
Actually, speaking of garages, my Berlingo is too high to go into my garage! But then the garage is full of other stuff anyway . . .
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I believe that external pressures have already, and will continue, to reward manufacturers which produce luxury in a small package. The issue of 'ride-quality' is surely miniscule. That is, it is not the 27' length of a Jag which makes it nice to drive any great distance, but stuff like wheels, tyres, suspension, soundproofing, glass thickness, engine quality and so on.
I would expect 12' cars or less to become the norm, with attachable extra boot space perhaps for the few occasions the internal space really is inadequate. Like buses, car space is very inefficiently used.
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one the car parking side of things, its not necessarily the size of the car, but more the turning circle. I had a 156 sportwagon which had an abysmal turning circle, which made carparks a bit tricky. I remember first time i went in one i knew well just after i got it and got stuck turning in, because i ran out of lock and couldnt get the swing.
The accord tourer (a much bigger beastie) is a doddle to park.
and it goes to london on a regular basis and we find spaces to fit.
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Once the funky self parking toy on the new Lexus LS gets into other cheaper cars, the problem of on street parking may be eased for drivers. The car itself knows whether a space is big enough, and if so, plonks itself in it.
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It is the same with parking spaces. They haven't been widened over the years to cater for increasingly larger cars. Why not?
The people who are responsible for approving parking schemes are usually the same people who would prefer us to use public transport or go to work by bicycle. (tic.) ;o)
In badly designed multi-storey car parks with columns and walls all over the place, you lose a lot of manouvering space due to obstructions.
The car park under the Victoria Centre in Nottingham is very open plan and its a doddle to drive round and park. There's another underground car park down the road which is rubbish, and you see people struggling to get round it in Golf-sized cars.
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