When did cars get so tall??

[whitelion58]

is it just me, but whenever I see my 800 in a car park all the other cars seem to tower above it?



.. all new cars just seem to be so high. 800's even appear quite small in comparison to ordinary cars like Mondeo's these days.

[BennyVitesse]

Rovers do seem to sit lower than average, the drawback is trying to help your 86 yr old Grandmother into one. Because of this she prefers my aunts Focus, its about the only positive feature we can find on it.

[guru]

Tis true, cars are getting taller and fatter......just like us humans!

[dollysprint]

They got taller,wider,longer and bigger around the time that every manufacturer discovered that without a Euro Ncap rating of at least 4 if not 5 then they would never sell them, so they made them bigger to fit all the air bags in, must be upto at least 8 airbags by now if not 10
The down side is every one drives like an idiot under the false impression they are now indestructible, and a once upon a time, "B" class Astra makes an executive 800 look small.
Was it in a James Bond film that one of his cars instantly filled with foam on impact?, Then instantly broke away as he opened the door, coombed his hair ,wiped his arse and told him to have a nice day now!!
Soon all new cars will come equipped with trailers to carry around all the crap they put in cars that they think we want, and external airbags, cars that brake for themselves, and park for us, and wake us up when we cross a white line and......................................................oh hang on, we already have all that dont we.
I think the worlds gone mad, then again why am I thinking at all, pretty sure there is a machine that could do that for me.
One question though, the old car mags and old Top Gear used to sprout on about drag co-efficience, with these new wider,taller, generally bigger and butt ugly new cars does anybody know what kind of drag they have?

Dave

[guru]

I remember that film, it was Demolition Man!

[Very Tall Brad]

I saw a photo in Autocar a few years ago of a Honda Jazz parked next to a 1970's Cavalier. The 'small' Jazz was a giant next to the Cav.

I agree with dolly...legislation requires more kit and therefore more space is taken up. Remember cars like the basic 1970's Ford Consul/Granada? Manual windows, no air con, no sunroof, no alloy wheels, no air bags or heated steering wheels or sat nav or auto climate control or ESP or ABS or self levelling wotsits or cats or eye/fingerprint recognition or key codes. Just short pile carpet (which was a doddle to vacuum) and a 3 litre V6. Simple engineering, great fun. Fix it with sellotape and a hammer.

[Captain Slow]

is it just me, but whenever I see my 800 in a car park all the other cars seem to tower above it?



.. all new cars just seem to be so high. 800's even appear quite small in comparison to ordinary cars like Mondeo's these days.

I have exactly the same thoughts about my Montego, which is taller than an 800!

[rickt500]

We've had a similar discussion on the P6 forum



A year or two back, Pete had a pug 205, parked it next to a new micra and it was dwarfed.

My mum has a new Laguna, which also makes the 800 look small. Lengthwise I think they're pretty similar, there's just a lot more bulk to the new cars, no more room inside though.

[threelitre]

When we had the new MG Maestro back in 1986 it was always easy to spot, as the roof was a little higher than most other cars. What looked slightly bulbous back than has morphed into nice proportions now...

Regards,

Alexander

[RoastBeef]

Gd topic. I find it funny that colleagues of mine say 'How do you park such a big car' or ''why do you need such a large car'.
Some of my cars were large in the 1980's when new, but now, next to a new average saloon, they are the same size! It's all about perception.. people who are not car enthusiasts, think an 80's S-Class is a massive car, when a new Mundano is higher, wider and almost as long!

Because it's been a gradual change, folk have not noticed how the boring mainstream cars have increased in size. A new Fiesta is about size of the first gen Focus.

sadly, car parking spaces, have not increased in size, the way that cars have..

[The Professor]

Perhaps we should be looking for cars like the Austin A35 to park next to?
The cars next to yours may look bigger but not as stylish in my view and at least it stands out from the crowd.

[schuwolf]

My 820 is dwarfed in height by every 'modern' car. I look for the nose sticking out in a car park

[Nuts4my827]

Look at the size increase in a BMW 3 series, or a Mondeo over the years. Current 3 is the same or bigger than a much older 5!!

[metelmickey]

the new " mini " is taller than my coupe.

[CHR15E]

The one I've always wanted to see was a comparison pic of all generations of Fiesta side by side.