Rise in ‘bigger’ cars

OP - just for information:
breast v bottle feeding
SAHM v working out of the home
Shoes on or off in the house

are all equally controversial topics to drop in and run.

Women with kids, probably. My little Fiesta is dying but I think I'll be replacing it with something bigger. It's a struggle getting kids extended rear facing car seats in - I can either get them in and have enough leg room in the front, or have enough leg room but no kids in the back. I also can't fit anything else in the boot alongside the buggy. We currently just about get by but it means swapping car seats to my husband's car every time we want to go out as a family or if I need to take any significant bags in the boot then I have to swap with him for the day - I don't really like driving and parking big cars but I think I need mid size at least just to make life a little easier.

When we bought our latest car we were restricted by needing to fit in 3 car seats. People carriers are no longer really a thing (possibly they still are in some countries but not by us) so a bigger car it was.

We've recently been looking for a small second car as a run around, and the size of even the small cars are getting much bigger. A Mini is pretty much a medium size car now. The latest one is 50cm longer than my old 2005 Mini!

Whether they are driven by women is irrelevant, but cars are getting bigger and therefore more dangerous. SUVs are especially dangerous to all other road users including pedestrians, due to their weight and high fronts. They are also more polluting than comparable cars, and take up more space than our roads and car parks are designed for. It really isn't true that people need SUVs due to needing space for carseats, other options exist.

I find the argument that SUVs are safer terrifying, they are not safer for other road users.

What are you classing as a bigger car? My mum has just bought a Vauxhall Grandland. I think it’s actually only about the size of an Astra but looks much bigger as it’s higher up. It’s only a 1.5 engine though so not big compared to many.

Any vehicle approaching small children at speed, without stopping will kill them, I think in that case it wasnt about the type of vehicle, it was what happened.

There isn’t really any hot hatchbacks now like there used to be when I was 16 and drinking Smirnoff ice in the back of them
yes there’s a corsa, polo etc etc but I want some oomph on a motorway and not a 1l engine
can’t have electric as unable to have a charger

I like it. I chose it. It’s mine. It looks good, it drives well, it’s big enough for kids dog stuff, I feel safer, I like being at a height and I can park it well

Well count me in as one of those people. The smallest car I could have a wheelchair lift fitted to was a Vauxhall Mokka - the newest version. I didn’t particularly want a car that big but it’s still smaller than some. For some of us, needs must I’m afraid.

Its one of the reasons why they're so dangerous when they hit children, the heigh is all wrong. Its well known.

And perplexing that there are so many of them on school runs increasing the risk to children.

Small cars are not produced by manufacturers, they are pushing bigger cars. Many, although physically big actually have fairly small engines.
I use a smaller car, although physically larger, its a 1.0 for day to day and have a deisel tow car to take the caravan away.
It's weird in the early days of cars some were very big, then went small, now big again. All for different reasons.

People are getting bigger, so I guess they need more space inside the car. However, our roads are not getting wider and I find it so frustrating when you can't pass one of those grotesque monster trucks coming the other way when you could have easily passed if both cars were a sensible size. People here keep saying they are safer, but they are not for the pedestrian; children hit by an SUV are more severely injured due to the height of the vehicle hitting them. They are death traps. As for their rise in popularity, I think it comes down to easy leasing which makes them more accessible, egos, and perhaps people unable to buy a home, purchasing a big car instead.

These huge tanks should be banned in built up locations. Unsafe.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm27dg7e7ddo

Good idea. Not sure it’ll put anyone off buying one though.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2025/sep/16/uk-could-raise-nearly-2bn-by-taxing-suvs-in-line-with-european-countries-study-shows

That’s still much higher than is ideal though, but you already know that.

Oh that's fine then. Mine is just under 85 (I checked). 😁

I have a big car. I need a big car for various reasons:
We live rurally in Scotland. The weather throws up flooding/ice/snow and I need a car that can do the school run in all weather's down single track roads through a valley that is often ungritted.

I have children and they have hobbies that require loads of crap that I need to transport

I often am also carting about a pram

I am not from this area. We often pack up our crap and travel to my home. Pram, bikes, scooters, pools pram etc. I need a lot of space

We camp. So then we have tent/tables/chairs/sleeping bags/airbeds/fridge plus the bikes, scooters, pram, surf boards etc.

A wee stereotypical mummy runabout just wouldn't cut it!

I was driving a VW POLO and suffering from really severe back pain. There was even talks about surgery with my GP as I was only 25 at the time (2 years ago now.)

My GP suggested I try my husbands car which was a Honda CRV, higher more supportive seat ect and my back pain vanished overnight. I was commuting for at least 2 hours daily so changing the car made a massive difference.

I would never go back to a lower car now and as we have children now bigger is obviously significantly more practical with prams and food shops ect!

Some spaces are so tight too. I don’t know how to describe the one I tried to get in at the hospital!

the bit you drive up is not as wide as the length of my car (polo so not a big car) and you’ve got parking spaces either side
but because big cars hang over into the bit you drive up, you’ve no room to manoeuvre at all
i can parallel park all day but that hospital carpark reduces me to tears

I know it’s not my driving as my dad is brilliant at parking, reverse cameras and sensors, and he couldn’t get in a space there and said it’s just too tight

I wouldn't mind so much if the tank drivers actually moved over on the road and didn't take up all the space! Same for car parks, it makes it harder to get into my car as theirs is so big it's up to the white lines on each side.

I have to go on a back road sometimes and the amount of tank drivers who expect me to go in the hedge in my Golf cos they can't possibly be expected to move out of the middle of the road is insane. The most selfish bunch of drivers.

www.transportenvironment.org/articles/ever-higher-the-rise-of-bonnet-height-and-the-case-to-cap-it

I'm very interested to hear that SUVs wouldn't propel people over the bonnet. That's interesting. Where did you find that fact?

I drive a big car.

I have 3 dc (now all teens/adult, and TALL).

2 of them play cello. 2 play guitar (inc electric so amps etc). 1 plays drums. I also need to be able to fit some disability stuff sometimes (large SN buggy, they don’t fold small!), as well as all the usual sports kit, shopping etc.

I don’t have a choice really (and while I don’t mind my car, and can drive/park/manoeuvre it well, I do miss zipping around in a smaller car like I used to when I only had 2 dc and they were small)

I hate the epidemic of massive cars, and I honestly don’t know how so many people afford them. It drives me mad when they can’t fit into parking spaces, so they end up on the line, and expect people to just leave a space around them, thereby wiping out other spaces. I take great pleasure in parking evenly between the lines, and if that means the Chelsea tractor owner can’t get in their car, then so be it. I don’t care about a few little dents in my old banger, but they sure as hell won’t want to tap their precious door when opening it!

All cars are bigger nowadays. Compare a classic mini, circa 1978 with today’s 3 door version. Compare a Golf GTI mark 1 with today’s Golf.
or BMW 3 series from 1996 with today’s version.

The current versions are all bulkier with crumple zones, safety features, minimum bumper height, international standards , etc. Plus many more people are bigger and need the space. But in the main , they are more fuel efficient and cleaner than their nearest 30 year old counterpart.

My personal mantra is ‘ if I can’t park it, I don’t drive it. But modern technology allows many cars to park themselves.

i think the issue we really have is that while vehicles have kept up with newer safety features , many roads and car parks have not.