To park next to tank-like cars

@Getmoveon14 I know that my husband's vehicle just fits and no more into the width at tesco car park. the length though is another matter. add on a tow bar and it is way over the line!!

Yes, we had a similar problem.

And when we had a third child, it was hard finding a car to fit them that wasn't an SUV. I know SUVs are necessary in very rural areas, but we're in semi-rural home counties, and i can definitely manage without!

Our car isn't made any more, and I hate the idea that when it gives up the ghost we might have to get an SUV to fit us all in.

🍿

I take it your on the wind-up!

I found myself in a very full station carpark the other day, and was circling for ages trying to find a space - it was infuriating because there were quite a few spaces where a super-large car was taking up so much space that no car however tiny could fit in next to it. I've got a Fiesta and finally managed to squeeze in next to a massive Merc thingy. I have no idea how the driver managed to get back into it, but it had gone before i got back to it...

The biggest issue with weight will be batteries in electric cars.

Peugeot 208 fairly average car.
Petrol version 1090kg, just over a tonne
Electric version 1910kg just under 2 tonnes

Cars have got bigger. They also need space for the batteries which I'm sure is part of the reason Ford have ditched the Mondeo, Focus and Fiesta, in favour of the Edge, Kugu and Puma.

Multistorey car parks aren't designed to take that extra weight. So one way of dealing with it is reduce the capacity of the carparks and make the spaces wider.

In some areas they will end knocking the carparks down and starting again.

I never feel guilty being parked closely to an SUV if I am reasonably within my lines, if their car is huge and they've parked far over that's on them (though I wouldn't get so close they couldn't use the door, I appreciate it only takes one person to park badly for the whole row to then need to follow suit). I really, really hate these massive cars with a passion though. We just don't have the infrastructure for them, it's very different when you go to the US.

We need to be more solution based. One of our local supermarkets has painted hatched areas about a foot wide between spaces. So much less stressful for everyone. Cars aren’t going to shrink and so there’s little point in bemoaning the fact they won’t fit properly into the civic centre car park spaces that were last relined circa 1995. Work with what we have become, not with what we were.

Secondly, those with super sized cars should learn how to drive them! It’s astonishing how appallingly so many (not all) 4x4 drivers maneuver. Don’t have such a big car unless you can actually handle it!

I have a BMW X7 and it's far too wide for most spaces so have taken to using the P&C spaces at supermarkets, much more room and unlikely get a ding in the door from inconsiderate drivers. I try to keep away at busy times as often there isn't a free space. I might change the car as it is a bit big and generally it's just me in it, nice car though

You don’t need a 4x4 all year round for winter conditions; you need winter tyres as is standard and mandatory for a lot of the rest of Europe. It must be cheaper to have a set of those than to run a 4x4 all year.

They’re not safer overall given the amount of pollution they produce, most of which is inside the car.
OP I would have bashed their car right back!

I think it is difficult saying "can't be bothered" to have a small car. In some cases, perhaps that's true but there are people who, for reasons like child seats or the comfort of elderly or less mobile passengers, look around for suitable cars and only find SUVs that can work. That's the car manufacturer limiting choices as much as it is about the market driving them. Not all of these SUVe are the absolutely giant ones, of course.

So the car spaces have to bigger so there will be less around or take up more room because people can't be bothered to have a small car?

You don't need big cars to deal with snow or flooding. The little 4x4 Toyotas in the 80s did just fine; better than today's monstrosities.

I did say mid sized! not small like yours.

I ve family estate car, its dwarfed by its EV equivalent, those batteries have to go somewhere, plus there is the weight.

EVs are just regular sizes. We have small one that’s exactly the same size as its ICE counterpart. The cars I see at the chargers don’t look bigger to me either. It’s SUVs that look big to me.

Probably because she's useless at parking and needs another car to be able to park her tank. Ive seen this on mn before. Posters would rather park next to the one car in a car park as they can't line up or use mirrors properly to see painted lines.

I once parked my normal sized car in a parking space and did an excellent job of being perfectly and evenly within the lines I noticed. One car to my left and a space to the right. Plenty of other spaces. Just as I was getting out (car door opening) a massive SUV driver came and parked on my right. So I paused and waited. She parked so close I really struggled to get out without hitting her car. As I was struggling to get out, she saw this and I smiled and said these parking spaces aren’t wide enough are they?! She agreed and asked me to move my car. I nearly got back in to move it, until I caught myself and said ‘no, I want to park here’. Bloody cheek.

It's annoying when people park next to you but the fact that your friend could not open the door at all, suggests her car may be the real problem here.

What would she do in a full car park? If the owner wasn't in the car? She's either have reverse or be stuck. Can't say I've ever experienced that myself I my normal sized car.

Mini are owned by BMW, so I suppose that makes sense

@LlynTegid sorry but what a stupid sweeping judgement to make! So every BMW driver (of which there are probably thousands) is an inconsiderate person? What happens when they change cars and drive a Mini for instance? Do they suddenly change personality? Honestly don't have enough eye rolls for comments like that

Dog had operation a couple of weeks ago and friend took me to vet to collect him. 6.30pm so large, empty car park, couple of staff cars over the other side. Friend parked tank-like car and went in to collect dog as I can't carry him. Another car arrives and parks alongside us, - WHY THERE? - so closely that we now can't open door wide enough to get dog in. I asked madam if she'd be kind enough to move her car forward a few feet. Cue tirade of 'don't tell me what to do'. Pointed out it was her car that would be damaged if I had to open that door. More shouty entitlement then stropped off with her 'very sick dog'. Fortunately she and the very sick dog bounced out 5 minutes later and she left with a final performance of entitlement. Why, in an otherwise empty car park, do people do this? Enough space for 20 double decker buses; why park right next to me so closely I can't open their door? Must be some subconscious herd instinct. Drives me to the brink.

I hate the ugly bus like cars out there at the moment. I park away from them

There should be design regs on car size and weight, our roads and parking spaces are not designed for these cars, even mid sized EV's are the size of Range Rover from just a few years ago.

Wider parking bays means less parking and who pays for this widening?

fwiw i always look to park away from other vehicles if possible and or shop at quieter times.

We need a wider space for our clio than our land rover as the clip is s 3 door, so the doors are really long and need to open wide to get the children out the back.

It looks like a toy car in car parks sometimes!