Is it a lot harder to drive a "bigger" i.e longer car?

[Borelis]

I've only ever had one car (which is the size of a mini cooper) and really like the model types such as toyota prius (won't be able to afford this) or a honda civic (quite a bit cheaper so affordable).

As far as I can tell, the only difference will be in parking, right? In driving the length of the car wouldn't make much different I'd imagine.

So, I'm not great at parking at all and worried when getting out of tight spaces (in bay parking), I'd bump into cars in the bays behind me when exiting a bay by reversing out. (it always feels like a tight squeeze coming out even with my tiny car and the steering on full lock).

Also, are cars like honda civic a little wider too? So I'll need to get used to positioning my car differently on the road when driving to avoid scraping car side mirrors on cars beside me?

No, there's no difference in my opinion, it's just what you are used to driving.
I changed a Renault Clio hatchback to a Peugeot 406. At first, the 406 seemed really long and difficult to park, it just seemed massive. Width and going through gaps wasn't difficult, it was more the extra boot space. At first, I felt like I was driving a lorry. You quickly get used to it though.

I find a sedan (saloon) type car tricky if it doesn’t have a reversing camera as the car doesn’t end where the back windscreen does! Whatever you decide to get you’ll quickly get used to it though.

Modern minis are huge! But if you’re driving any car you need basic skills. I’d be worried if you were unsure about a normal road car. Horse box is the sort of thing that should be challenging

I went from a Mazda 2 to a Honda Civic tourer (the estate version) and it is so LONG! The back window looked so far away at first it was strange.
However, now it’s just normal. You get used to it. I don’t have any parking sensors or anything either - just practice practice practice

No. If you’re a competent driver then you’re a competent driver. Most modern cars have so many toys to assist that it becomes increasingly easy.

I find my bigger car much, much easier than dh’s tiny hatchback, because it handles better and has much better mirrors and no blind spots. He finds it hilarious that I won’t drive his car unless I really have to because I can’t park it even though it is half the length!

I can’t park for toffee

I have a large saloon car.

It not only comes with parking sensors and cameras but at the press of a button and a flick of a switch it parks itself.

I drive a lot in London and got into some really tight spots

OP, I used to have that shape Civic and it was my favourite car ever!! I drove a VW polo before it and didn't really notice much difference in the amount of space needed.

You just kind of get used to it. I'd only ever driven corsa/polo/Fiesta sized cars then after having kids moved to the Civic/Golf/Focus sized cars and that's what I'm used to now. I definitely find it easier to reverse into spaces now though.

Ok I'm used to driving small cars, I've had corsa, Fiat 500, seat ibiza, pegeout 208 etc. We got a family car recently that I now drive and funnily enough it's a Honda Civic.

It has a rather long front and I'm small so I struggle a bit with knowing how long the car is at the front but I'm rather confident at driving and parking. My husband is always gasping that I'm so close 😂 but it has parking sensors and a reversing camera. If ur not great at parking I wouldn't get a bigger car. It's not the back of the car that's the issue but the long front.

It's fine though, for normal driving doesn't make too much of a difference. It's not as quick to pull away at roundabouts etc so need to get used to that but it goes hell of a lot faster than my little cars did lol. I do prefer a smaller car but with a pram and kids I need a bigger one just now.

I've spent a while driving big estates (Octavia, Mondeo). Apart from roadside parking where the car is actually longer than gaps and the odd parking bay where the car is about 3 inches smaller than the actual bay, they're really nice to drive.

Feel big in the odd multi-storey with tight ramps and might need a 5 point turn where a 3 would be fine in a smaller car. But not hard to drive otherwise.

Major difference is placing- estates are generally easier to place than big saloons because you can see the back of the car in your mirror/our your back window. Check you can see front corners from your driving position too.

Reverse parking will be your biggest problems, but you'll soon get used to it.

Ive just gone the other way from an estate to a normal sized car. Getting used to not having acres of boot space has been tough.

I wouldn't describe a modern mini as a small car. The hardest car to park was a Ford Ka, almost impossible to work out where the back wheels were for some reason. The easiest was a mk4 Golf, it could parallel park in spaces with a few spare inches.

No, just need a bigger parking space

My partner could reverse park our last car - XC90 like a pro. No reversing cameras or anything. The tightest space and he would literally get in first time. Me, however, not so much! But then my cars always have reversing cameras (and I’ve only been driving a few years) whereas he’s been driving 25 years.
I did drive his car often, and parking was the only thing that the size made a difference in.

I had an old Saab for a while... it was like parking a train carriage - although truth be told I never had any "incidents" with it.

My first car was an old style mini - the perfect learner's car!

I went from driving a Ford Fiesta to a Mondeo (which seems huge in comparison) and although it took abit of getting used to I would never go back to a small car now, it just feels so much better to drive and like I’ve got a lot of car in front of me so feels much safer. Only issue I have is I could literally park the Fiesta anywhere and swing it into the smallest parallel spaces whereas with the mondeo I seem to need a space big enough to get a bus in which can be rather embarrassing!