To wonder why we allow the sale of so many cars that don't fit a standard space?

[Bussesrus]

We are looking for a new car that will fit all 6 of us plus our dogs. Having looked at many options just about everything with a third row and boot space will hang over into another space by anything from .2 to nearly a meter. Where exactly are you meant to park these SUVs and vans?

Eh? So if your local supermarket is under 2 miles away you should walk the return trip with 6 bags of shopping?

Don't be ridiculous

I agree OP is talking nonsense. I have a big car. I can always find a space in a carpark (though I avoid one in the city where I live because the turns on the up and down ramps are too tight for most cars, not just mine!). I wouldn't pay for two spaces (though several cars ago I had one that needed two spaces - it was not a SUV - I never took it to a multi-storey and most car parks would accommodate with care and I would choose an end spot with good turning room behind).

This is why:

If they didn't allow them to be sold, what car would you buy to fit your larger than average family in? 😂

Yeah like having a bigger car. People living rurally don’t have an issue with big cars. I’d much rather live rurally than in a city. The positives far outweigh the negatives.

There was a lot more about our car choice than how wide it is, mainly because it suits a lot of our lifestyle, and can do things some other vehicles cannot. I think this is a very personal issue, and like the OP, is why people make different choices. If our lifestyle was different, it’s quite likely we will go for something that suits that better. It’s much more than a means of getting from A to B for us at the moment.

A car with a 3rd row of seats plus boot space is always going to be longer than one with 2 rows of seats plus boot space. It's very basic sums!

Even carrying family shopping for a week? Or someone finishing a late shift in the early hours of the morning? Or a doctor doing home visits in a small town?

I suggest that there are some sensible questions to be asked about the sort of vehicles we allow in our roads in particular in terms of size, bonnet height & top speed.

Following on from that I might then say OK of you want a vehicle over a certain size it might be subject to parking restrictions

If you were in a crash, that dog in the well could have been a projectile. It's not a risk some people with dogs want to take, these days.

I live rurally. I have an issue with big cars and the drivers of big cars who don't know where they are on the road. Narrow country roads are not made for big cars and stupid drivers who swipe off wing mirrors because they can't stay on their own side.

Narrow country roads weren't made for cars full stop.

I was just talking to DH about this! There was an article in the Times about the fact that cars don't have CD players in them anymore, and someone said in the comments that if people wanted them, they'd put them in.

I don't think it works like that. I think the manufacturers decided "everyone" has a smartphone and streams music.

And equally, I don't think people requested oversized cars, they wanted safe cars, but you don't have to have a big car to be safe - my car has 5* NCAP rating and is small. But manufacturers have decided that's what we're having, presumably because they can charge a lot more for them, and are doing away with smaller ones.

Governments need to step in and say we don't have the requisite infrastructure and need smaller cars again.

No, but it's much easier to manoeuvre your way down one in a Toyota Yaris or a Honda Jazz than it is in a mahoosive SUV!

People living rurally don’t have an issue with big cars

they do when they have to try to get past one on a narrow lane!

You need a space for a minibus.

Look at the kia carens - if the dogs can fit into half a boot space that would work.

My husband is 6ft 4 and couldn't drive my C3. He couldn't get his legs round the steering column with car seat behind He could just about fit in the passenger seat but it looked like the car had been built around him.

We have a big family car for trips so we can fit in dog, kids, all our stuff etc and not be cramped as we quite often go from north of Scotland to Devon or drive to France.

We live rurally and plenty of big cars around here. Never noticed anyone complaining though.

Usually they park next to me so I can't open the door enough to get my kid in the carseat aha

Yes, manufacturers have decided to produce SUV's irrespective of what buyers want.

The situation in the US is dire.

The minimum parking bay width has not changed since the 1970s, yet even "small" cars these days are huge. My parents drive an old estate car from the 80s and it's the same size as our neighbour's new hatchback!

All well and good saying people should buy smaller cars but that relies on car manufacturers actually making them, which they don't any more. Plus if you have more than two children you often have no choice as car seats are so much wider (and safer) than the tiny little boosters we had growing up, so you can't physically fit three seats across the back in most 5 seater cars.

I don't want them bigger.

If a carpark charges £5 per day for a space and has 100 spaces, they make £500.

If they only have 50 spaces then they will charge £10 to make the same money. The carparks won't just accept a lower profit.

Are we banning dogs based on weight now?
What if they you have one slim great dane and one overweight pug?!

Plus their LED overly bright lights blind you from bother front and back.

I hate it when 2 massive SUVs have parked either side of me in a car park. Struggle to open either door, then can't see a thing when reversing out.

Yes and why are room sizes getting smaller!