150 cars too big for modern parking spaces

If we've reached the point that blokes are actually calling up satellite images of car parks before going shopping then I think we've probably reached the point where we need to start the cull.

Just buy the right tool for the job or pay someone else to do the job.

It's like the chap on another thread who always buys 3 Series BMWs but has found that the latest one doesn't fit so well through London width restrictions or side lanes that are 6'6" so wants these objects moved rather than realising that he's made the mistake of buying a car that is too large for his requirements. Seeing as the 1 Series is now the size of the older 3 then very obviously if you have a need to fit through 6'6" gaps at a certain speed then you need to buy a 1 series not a 3 series which is now the width of an old 5 series which you were never going to buy because it was too wide for your needs.

It's the same with the folk who buy a 2m wide car but blame their parking problem on the 2m wide car they're trying to park next to on the grounds that that 2m wide car is taller which is what is taking up the space or more commonly statistically being driven by someone they don't approve of like a foreign type or one of those women who have the audacity to drive a nice car without their permission as the man.

Vans are ok. They're tall which is usually the real problem when it comes to taking up space in a parking bay as we all know but because the driver is a lessor man due to the nature of his manual labour job then this makes vans narrower so not the same issue as SUVs at all.

But the key is to just try and use the correct tool for the job as much as possible.

There is a bit of a romantic notion that cars used to be the perfect size and it's a bad thing they've got bigger, but that's obviously nonsense. I visited the the Haynes Museum last week and even without the safety argument, a lot of the older cars were just too small to make them a nice place to be.

I need a decent sized car because I sometimes have to carry 4 adults, 1 teenager, 1 dog, and all associated luggage, but because I live in the UK, I don't want something so long or wide that it'll be annoying to use.

It's annoying because it can rule out loads of interesting cars.

I quite fancied an Infiniti QX70 a few years back and the main thing that put me off was that it felt too big for UK roads. After that I found myself getting car dimensions from Parkers and putting them into a spreadsheet.

My car's around 4.8m long and 1.9m wide and that feels around the threshold where it starts to become an issue. I dunno how people with 2m+ wide cars can get kids out in a busy car park - do you just unload everyone before you park?

I think that one of the other issues is also that when you go looking for an everyday car that's generally a bit smaller the interiors are quite a bit cheaper than the next model up. BMW weren't too bad for this but Merc used to be horrendous, there was a real quality cliff edge at one point between their hatchback segment and the family car one.

There is a bit of a romantic notion that cars used to be the perfect size and it's a bad thing they've got bigger, but that's obviously nonsense. I visited the the Haynes Museum last week and even without the safety argument, a lot of the older cars were just too small to make them a nice place to be.

I need a decent sized car because I sometimes have to carry 4 adults, 1 teenager, 1 dog, and all associated luggage, but because I live in the UK, I don't want something so long or wide that it'll be annoying to use.

It's annoying because it can rule out loads of interesting cars.

I quite fancied an Infiniti QX70 a few years back and the main thing that put me off was that it felt too big for UK roads. After that I found myself getting car dimensions from Parkers and putting them into a spreadsheet.

My car's around 4.8m long and 1.9m wide and that feels around the threshold where it starts to become an issue. I dunno how people with 2m+ wide cars can get kids out in a busy car park - do you just unload everyone before you park?

Yeah that's what I found. My target for my current car was something that'd be good for long road trips so I wanted a bit of luxury, and that pretty much locks you into having a MASSIVE car. I get the size is part of the luxury equation but surely there's a way to compromise.

The one that surprised me most was the Porsche Macan. It's theoretically a mid-sized SUV but even that is over 2 metres wide.

Surely part of the problem these days is the car maufacturers themselves pushing SUVs as the right choice for every situation because they can make the most profit from them? Not to mention people buying into that aspirational BS?

Don't get me wrong, SUVs can be the right choice for the right environment, but probably not for most people living in the middle of a big town or city, or conversely living in a very old one with narrow streets and limited parking.

I find it odd that people in this country in the main seem to be snobby about MPVs (especially compact ones) and avoid them like the plague, when they would fulfil many of the reasons people state for buying a massive SUV they intend to pootle around town in.

If I were designing a city car park, the lower levels would have wider spaces with a higher tariff, then width restrictors leading to the upper levels, say 2.1 m wide, that only smaller vehicles can access where they pay the lower parking tariff.