Anyone with a small garage?

MikeHiow

MikeHiow

MikeHiow

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..and a Focus or similar/bigger sized car.

I'm currently looking at a property with a 6'11" Garage door, and curious whether I'll get my car in - the garage is currently full, so simply testing it is out of the question. Parkers figures suggest it'll fit, but I'm dubious, I'm not sure if parkers measurements include wing mirrors.
 
Aren't width restrictions supposed to be 6' 6"? If so then your car will go through, what's also important is how wide the garage actually is internally, no point in being able to park the car if you can't get out :)

There was a vid posted a few days ago where a guy had an answer for a narrow garage :D
 
I remember that video, lol.

Most garages will have a brick or two either side of the opening, this place has about 6" either side.
 
A focus is about 6'6" wide so it'll fit through the door. You may not be able to get out once inside though.
 
You should be OK but it'll be a pain to get out of the car so you may have to park it at an angle which will help get the drivers door open an inch or 2 more.

At my old place I used to have a garage whereby if I used it I'd have to do a Dukes of Hazzard out of the window. Only ever used it when I went on holiday and 1 holiday made the mistake of parking forwards into it and coming back to a flat battery :)
 
Gribs said:
A focus is about 6'6" wide so it'll fit through the door. You may not be able to get out once inside though.
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Blimey, just checked and width restrictions are 7' so the car will go in but you'll only have 10" into which to open the door.
 
Well Parkers suggests my car is 1991mm wide, which is about 6'6", but like I say, I'm not sure if they include mirrors, or how accurate it will be at all.

Its also worth noting that the door will have at least a 60mm frame, so thats another 2" each side at least.
 
I've got quite a small car at the moment so there's no issue with it fitting in my garage - however I would recommend hanging a section of old carpet on the side wall of your garage where the drivers door opens. Got this in mine and its saved my door quite a few times ;)
 
Meh, garages are for keeping 2 wheeled vehicles. Cars deserve to sit out in the cold ;)

My garage currently has a motorbike, 2 road bikes, a mountain bike and 3 kids bikes, with my Focus watching enviously from the drive! Seriously though, keeping a car in small garage is ok if you have other storage areas in the new house, but realistcically its a bit of a pain squeezing in and out of it all the time, unless you live in a bad area or something, its much more practical to keep it on the drive.
 
I have such an awesome garage but it's really weird given the fact that I live in a flat. I don't have measurements but it is huge, detached, at the back of the property, double length and pretty wide with an electric remote door. I can fit my E39 5 series in and open doors both sides to the second 'setting' without touching the walls. Plus I can then fit a small fiesta size car in behind it as well as it's extra long.
 
I used to own a MKI focus and could park it, and get out of the car. It's a rather small garage, Ill go measure for you.

7'6" Opening, ~9' from wall to wall.

Bigger than I expected but still close to the limits. Getting the car in was easy, but the door opening area was not exactly stellar!
 
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Sagalout said:
Meh, garages are for keeping 2 wheeled vehicles. Cars deserve to sit out in the cold ;)

My garage currently has a motorbike, 2 road bikes, a mountain bike and 3 kids bikes, with my Focus watching enviously from the drive! Seriously though, keeping a car in small garage is ok if you have other storage areas in the new house, but realistcically its a bit of a pain squeezing in and out of it all the time, unless you live in a bad area or something, its much more practical to keep it on the drive.
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In the winter its much more practical to just drive your unfrozen car straight out of the garage, also you get a lot less crap on the car. My Z4 had moss growing in the roof wells due to being outside too much! Then you have other annoyances like bird poo (which damages modern paint so easily), dust in the air, tree sap etc. If you're really lazy you can fit an electric door opener for peanuts these days too. :)

I guess it depends how much you take car of your car. My (double) garage is full of rubbish from DIY jobs and a half built kit car so I don't use it properly either. :D
 
I take very good care of my car, its cleaned regularly with decent products etc.

Moving into and out of the garage won't be a problem, I'm a perfectly able driver, besides, the car isn't used every day anyway.

Garage doors is a family business, one I worked at for four years - I have can an electric operator for nothing ;)
 
My garage is 8ft wide and I can *only* just squeeze out her Scenic if I have to put it in there. My personal opinion is the Focus is wider, the doors are thicker and you're not going to be able to get out.
 
MikeHiow said:
I take very good care of my car, its cleaned regularly with decent products etc.

Moving into and out of the garage won't be a problem, I'm a perfectly able driver, besides, the car isn't used every day anyway.
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Fair enough - I'm the first to admit I dont really take much care of my Focus - gets washed 3 or 4 times a year and a yearly service! The bikes another matter - thats always spotless :D

When I said about squeezing in and out of it, I meant you into the car rather than the car into the garage, especially a 3 door which always seems tighter as the door opens at a shallower angle in the same space, and the Focus seemed deceptively wide - it was harder to get in the garage than the Mercedes C class I had before.

Electric door would definitely make it easier though :)
 
I wish my garage was bigger so I could fit my car in there in the winter months - but literally I can only get it through the door with the wing mirrors folded in and then short of climbing out through the T-bar hole there's no other way out.
 
Yes it will, put some carpet on the wall :D

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