Classics dwarfed by moderns

[hunt123]

Honestly, I really don't like how cars have got so much bigger over the years. It's not just the aesthetics I don't like, they are problem when parking, a problem when driving on narrow roads like country lanes, more materials used/wasted, etc. It seems cars, like the general population, have an obesity problem lol! I purposefully have avoided buying larger cars, I own a 10 year old hatchback Golf and it's plenty big enough for passengers and to carry loads.

[skwdenyer]

hunt123 said:

Honestly, I really don't like how cars have got so much bigger over the years. It's not just the aesthetics I don't like, they are problem when parking, a problem when driving on narrow roads like country lanes, more materials used/wasted, etc. It seems cars, like the general population, have an obesity problem lol! I purposefully have avoided buying larger cars, I own a 10 year old hatchback Golf and it's plenty big enough for passengers and to carry loads.

The issue is "society" expects vehicle occupants to survive huge crashes that would undoubtedly have been fatal just a few years ago. I don't know how many full-on side impact accidents there really are, but designing for that eventuality has led to a lot of the width increase (not just the thickness of metalwork and crushable voids, but the similarly-large volume of door "card" and so on.

Of course I'd like to survive an impact. But the incidence seems markedly higher in some places (e.g. USA) than others - perhaps a function of choices of road layout?

The US really is a dangerous place to drive! Even with the very substantial strides in crashworthiness, the US still kills 12.9 deaths per 100,000 people and 1.37 deaths per 100 million miles traveled for a total of around 43k deaths (of which 8k were side impacts).

In the UK? 0.52 per 100 million miles travelled for just 1.5k deaths = 2.3 per 100k people.

On that evidence alone, it would seem that we've already reached and probably passed "peak safety" in terms of vehicle structure, and that the resultant excessive width of cars may now be increasing the risk of accidents. But in a global market, we're going to get the cars designed to protect those in far more dangerous places.

[thegreenhell]

There's also the psychological effect that people perceive bigger to mean safer, so if they see other people driving bigger cars around them then they want an even bigger car themselves to not feel unsafe.

[Woody.GT]

Not sticking to the rules of the thread but an amusing difference nonetheless. These 2 turned up at our local car meet in Wimbledon on Sunday

[Kawasicki]

thegreenhell said:

There's also the psychological effect that people perceive bigger to mean safer, so if they see other people driving bigger cars around them then they want an even bigger car themselves to not feel unsafe.

There is a further factor to consider. People generally prefer bigger cars.

[MuscleSedan]

[RSTurboPaul]

Kawasicki said:

thegreenhell said:

There's also the psychological effect that people perceive bigger to mean safer, so if they see other people driving bigger cars around them then they want an even bigger car themselves to not feel unsafe.

There is a further factor to consider. People generally prefer bigger cars.

Citation needed?

[ajprice]

RSTurboPaul said:

Kawasicki said:

thegreenhell said:

There's also the psychological effect that people perceive bigger to mean safer, so if they see other people driving bigger cars around them then they want an even bigger car themselves to not feel unsafe.

There is a further factor to consider. People generally prefer bigger cars.

Citation needed?

I'm not sure how it helps

[Kawasicki]

RSTurboPaul said:

Kawasicki said:

thegreenhell said:

There's also the psychological effect that people perceive bigger to mean safer, so if they see other people driving bigger cars around them then they want an even bigger car themselves to not feel unsafe.

There is a further factor to consider. People generally prefer bigger cars.

Citation needed?

Really, you haven’t noticed that cars are generally growing from generation to generation?

[RSTurboPaul]

Kawasicki said:

RSTurboPaul said:

Kawasicki said:

thegreenhell said:

There's also the psychological effect that people perceive bigger to mean safer, so if they see other people driving bigger cars around them then they want an even bigger car themselves to not feel unsafe.

There is a further factor to consider. People generally prefer bigger cars.

Citation needed?

Really, you haven’t noticed that cars are generally growing from generation to generation?

I don't disagree. That does not mean that people generally prefer them getting bigger, though - they might, but we cannot determine that from the evidence provided here

[/Sheldon]

[A993LAD]

Parked our 356 in an empty car park yesterday. Came back to find it looking like a toy car between 2 modern motors.

[GTRene]

so sweet and how huge/big/monstrous most modern cars are, also so steriel?

[Bilkob]

Remember taking this back in France a few years ago as I walked back to my CX, which isn’t a small car!

[THP150]

[StescoG66]

THP150 said:

Size aside, it shows how faithful to the original the new one is

[GTRene]

Bilkob said:

Remember taking this back in France a few years ago as I walked back to my CX, which isn’t a small car!

wow, those were indeed big back in the days, nice one.

also lovely those Renault Alpine a110, I d like the front views of both, the old a bit better.

[sidewinder500]

MX5 almost looks like a toy car

[Dapster]

Lovely looking E38 dwarfed by the new black 5 series and a recent 3 er

[Flumpo]

sidewinder500 said:

MX5 almost looks like a toy car

We’ve had this image before, it’s distorted. Look at the first cars front wheel compared to its back wheel.

[nismocat]

A993LAD said:

Parked our 356 in an empty car park yesterday. Came back to find it looking like a toy car between 2 modern motors.

I bet the BMW driver's nose was put out of joint, they have even parked away from you.

Numberplate envy!