Why are cars getting bigger and bigger ??
- Thread starter chaparral
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Caporegime
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All the pies.
Its not an entirely fair comparison any more. Take the Clio for example, each iteration has got slightly bigger, however they have now introduced the Twingo which is probably around the same size as a very early clio.
So yea, cars have got bigger but I think we expect more of our normal cars now, this is why there is a market for these ultra small city cars. Its filling the gap we lost by cars getting bigger.
So yea, cars have got bigger but I think we expect more of our normal cars now, this is why there is a market for these ultra small city cars. Its filling the gap we lost by cars getting bigger.
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
The smallest cars have gotten larger but only marginally so, as in there's nothing really old-Mini sized, but that's because the old Mini was incredibly small, dangerous and now sits in a segment less expensive than virtually everyone can afford. The biggest cars have also remained more or less the same size.
What's actually happened is that there are more models and people are choosing to buy larger cars.
What's actually happened is that there are more models and people are choosing to buy larger cars.
Soldato
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Hopefully they'll continute to get larger and larger so women have to learn how to park the ****s 
Man of Honour
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To extrapolate on that comment about the Mini slightly - is some of the increase in size/weight not due to increased safety features? Other than that I'd guess that people tend to expect a certain standard of features/luxuries in their cars now and these will normally add weight over more basic cars that might have been the norm 20+ years ago.
Compare the current Ford Focus to it's Mk3 Escort ancestor, or the Mk1 Golf to the MkV. Both are getting on for 50% heavier and 10-20% larger in most dimensions.
Hopefully they'll continute to get larger and larger so women have to learn how to park the ****s
They will just abandon them in ever more creative ways
If you are asking me to make the comparison I think you are missing the point. There is a Fiesta and a Ka to consider. The Ka is 3620mm long, which is shorter than a Ford Anglia let alone an Escort. Ford have a larger range of models now. The desire of the consumer to have larger cars with more safety features is what's driven the absolute increase of particular model lines, but cars themselves are pretty much as big as they always were (with the exception of some tiny models, as I mentioned). People are just choosing to buy bigger.
Yes that's exactly what I was getting at. The vast majority of people wouldn't tolerate a car of the old Mini's proportions anymore, and as such it doesn't exist in that segment. A car of it's size could be made today and still be safe. Look at the Smart Fortwo - it's shorter, just a smidgen wider and a fair bit taller (and missing some seats).
The reality is that nobody wants to drive around in cramped little boxes anymore, and there's little economic reason to.
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I would say that the larger cars have also got considerably bigger. A Mondeo is now larger than the Granada / Scorpio (and that was a large car at the time). The current 7 series is vast and considerably longer than the earlier versions.
Considerably, eh?
2011 BMW 740i: Length 5072mm
1994 BMW 740i: Length 4984mm
Wow. A whole 88mm. Or, to put it another way, in 17 years the BMW 740i has increased in length by 1.76%.
I don't know what dictionary you used to pull out that definition of 'considerably', but I'd be taking it back for a refund.
I wonder how short a 1986 - 25 years ago - 7 Series was?
4927mm.
Wow, these 7 Series really are CONSIDERABLY longer than they used to be!
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You are looking at it in the context of one manufacturer and therefore are assuming that the manufacturer has only continued to offer cars in the same segments and size brackets, and they haven't.
One of the smallest cars in the 70s would have been the Mini at 3.05 metres long. We established earlier that the Smart Fortwo is 2.5 metres long.
One of the largest cars in the 70s would have been the Rolls-Royce Phantom VI at 6.0 metres long. The Rolls-Royce Phantom EWB today is 6.09 metres long.
Broadly speaking, cars have not grown astronomically in size. What has changed is the consumer's preference, which is now for larger vehicles, mostly as a result of greater prosperity.
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To add to fox's correction re the 7-series, please note that you are also incorrect about the Fords too.
A Mk4 Ford Mondeo is 4778mm long, a Mk2 Scorpio from 17 years ago was 4825mm long. And although admittidly shorter a granada from 1977 a whopping 34 years ago was 4720mm, just 58mm shorter, or less than 6cm.
Soldato
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I'd say if anything cars have gotten smaller. Just check out cars in the 50's in the USA and now. 