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?

How big is the car you were looking at? I drive a Ford Tourneo Custom Independence and it fits in most car parking spaces, head height is more of a problem as it doesn't always fit under barriers which isn't a problem when my little boy is with me as we can park on double yellows etc but when he's not I have to be more selective about which car parks I use.

Given that tractors and combines get down these country roads I do wonder how these SUV drivers can’t manage.

I would personally love to walk but I drive for work. I’m trying to imagine the reaction if I told my boss that I missed out half my jobs because I walked for 30-40 minutes between houses and then the long hike back!

Yes! Don't even need my own lights on, becauseI'm lit up from behind.

No we don't! We know how to bloody drive! I li e somewhere where we have lots of narrow lanes. Locals are fine we know where the pull ins are and we are well practiced at reversing.

It's non locals who are pretty much always the ones who have an issue passing in narrow lanes!

The only people who need these fucking great beasts of cars are tradesmen, farmers, maybe someone who lives at the top of a mountain and modified disability vehicles. Those that do not fall into this category look like pricks. As for LED headlights, the only people that need those are the armed forces doing reconnaissance.

6 of you and dogs? It's either going to be big, or the TARDIS.

TBH I don’t know why govt isn’t plugging the massive tax gap with a focus on wankpanzers. Would help tick the net zero box.

Lol. Mumsnet is batshit sometimes.

So I would get fined at least twice a day then for dropping off/picking up my kids at school because there's no safe walking route. More if I popped to the supermarket after drop off and then went home again. I'm supposed to do all of this on foot am I? Or do I wait til they're all off school and nursery and walk, 8 months pregnant, with 3 kids under 5 to the shop and back with the full weeks worth of food? 😂

My wank panzer can seat 5 adults in comfort, so my non driving very elderly parents can come out and have a nice time. It will also carry our large dog in comfort, (2 before we had one put down through illness). It will also tow a horse box, a caravan, and is very good in all the snow we get most years. It’s a very nice Summer car as well, as the roof comes off. Brilliant on the motorways, really good fun around places like Dartmoor, Exmoor, North York Moors, even (especially🤩) in mud. We wouldn’t take it into London though. Trains are better for this, but the dog has to stay home. It’s a choice we made, and enjoy every day. Both of us have been driving decades, mainly in LR’s and now Jeeps. Never caused an accident, never hurt anyone, never do anything stupid enough to hurt anyone.

Everybody 'needs' these for hiking and places they go. But you go to the Sahara, or Outer Mongolia, a thousand miles from a road, and everyone is in Teslas or Peugeots or Landcruisers at a push.

You don't need a tank for a day out in the UK. You're not Bear Grylls.

Ah yes. Everyone falling over themselves to justify their ridiculously large vehicles.

@MrsTerryPratchett Yes I think it might end up being the Tardis. DH now reckons we could get a Merc V class or the like and tow a smaller car behind it. DH would prefer an SUV but I just don't think there's one that will hold everyone and everything and if it's higher up it will mean lugging a ramp for the dogs.

I hadnt considered that.

I remember back in 1978, buying a pair of size 12 pale green jeans and a matching top and being called big by my friend's mum because back then, the average girl was a size 10 which was 32-24-34. I was 35-25-35 and at 5' 6" was considered 'strapping' and 'stiff.' People were tiny back then. My dad was 5' 7" and 9 stone.

I really don't understand this.

You're so concerned about over hanging a parking space, yet chose to have a larger than average family, and two larger than average dogs.

What exactly did you expect? 🤷‍♀️

Ah yes. Everyone falling over themselves to express how they’re superior to justify their ridiculously small vehicles. Do you drive one because you’re incapable of handling a bigger car?
You see - we can all be facetious.
I’d welcome your expert knowledge on which car other than a big one I can:

Fit 6 people
Fit 5 dogs
Tow
Go Off Road (including through a flooded ford some of the year)

I live probably 5 miles from the nearest public transport.

I await your response.

This is more like it. Our last car was an Avensis tourer/ estate and pretty long, always sticking out the back of parking spaces but provided us with the boot space, legroom, headroom that we needed without too much bulk. They don't make them any more. We've ended up with a big, chunky Bz4x to get that space and can't even get as much stuff in the boot. Thankfully, we were able to get a model with cameras all round to make parking the beast a bit easier.

Pretty much all lights on everything are LED, now.

@Saltedbutter - I don’t own a car and never have, preferring to cycle / walk / use public transport. As such I could recommend a bicycle to you. But look at you with so many reasons to need your car!

I suffer the vice that has no name and there was a discussion going on about how despite being huge there is now way you can get a model railway layout in a 4x4 in the way you can an estate

I don’t understand your comment. You’re now being sarcastic with your ‘but look at you with so many reasons to need your car’.
Again, I await your suggestion of a smaller vehicle that would work. You’re bringing nothing to this discussion other than catty remarks with no actual basis.
I’m not certain of the viability of towing with a bicycle.

My 6 foot 6 family member drives a tiny Peugeot. Fits in absolutely fine. Massive cars are unnecessary. They also always never know how big their cars are when coming down country lanes, refusing to move over or unable to reverse when they’ve literally just passed a passing space. Gives me the rage.

I think I can detect “city dwelleritus” in a few posts.

But unless you are a farmer how many people even in the country really NEED a 4x4?

Yes, but in the 90s there were no rules about restraining dogs. I am just backing up that you could accommodate a family of 5 and a dog in a Golf in the 90s. I am neither supporting nor accusing re dogs loose in cars. That's just how it was. In the 50s, 60s and 70s NOBODY wore seatbelts. The world changes.