Rise in ‘bigger’ cars

[Hannahblueberry]

Driven by women specifically. Prompted by a conversation between my friend and I today after witnessing a woman trying (and failing) to park a ridiculously large car in a shopping centre car park.

What do you think the rise is driven by? Cars being made bigger in general?

My friends theory was that due to Covid and hybrid/WFH policies, couples sold one of their cars and in the main, the man kept their car which tended to be the bigger one.

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

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.

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 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!

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

? A smaller and less powerful car would not have made it up the kerb and careered through the fence, to go on and hit then kill the children.

In any case huge cars kill people more than small cars.

I bought a small car last year (Audi A1) after years of big cars, mainly driven by the fact that my DD was learning to drive and I wanted something that we could share to keep costs down. Once the 3 year lease is up I will most definitely be going back to the world of SUVs. I hate how low down our current car is - I have back problems and really struggle getting in/out of it. Because of the height there is less visibility of the road ahead too. Boot space is next to none - we have a big dog and it is very cramped for her. Moved house recently and even relatively small pieces of furniture could barely fit. Rarely have passengers in the back but when we do it is a struggle for space, very uncomfortable.

Big cars all the way for me!!

I am desperate to replace our old car with a tiny tiny one that can be parked on a sixpence. Preferably full electric.

DH is 6ft 3 and DS is very tall and they refuse, they insist on a bigger car. To be fair they have to sort of fold themselves in, it doesn't look comfortable.

Im not convinced of your first sentence, but yes you're right taht larger sized cars are involved in more injuries

And me personally Im talking about the size of cars when I say large, not all large size cars have a particularly big engine size. Mines a small car but its a 1.6. Some larger size cars have smaller engines, although my car is quite old.