Is bigger also better? (Cars, that is!)

[john.wigley]

Originally Posted by green van man

I have had both small and big cars.
Small was a 1967 imp, 875cc. Lots of fun, high maintenance and therefore costly. 2 kids the wife and dog loaded into the car, trailer on the hook with camping gear and getting there was an adventure.

Big, xc70 discovery 1 landrover. Comfort, big 2.4 and 2.5 lazy power diesel engines and they match the fuel economy of all the smaller engined petrol cars I have owned, the xc70 will even match those cars fuel economy while towing the caravan.

Would I go small again? No. Not willingly.

As for car parks, it can be civilised. I visited a sainsburys supermarket in Cardiff last time I was there, their parking bays are defined by a lozenge loop rather than a single line. Parking, exiting and entering the xc70 was no problem even with cars parked within their bays either side of me.

Paul.

Broadly agree, Paul. But to an extent, isn't it also about horses for courses? I too had an Imp, and a Fiat 500, as well as several Minis, but at that time I was living at home with my mother, who was my only regular passenger. All served me well, but - as you rightly say - they would have been highly impractical for anything more than occasional family use.

Regards, John.

[reggit]

Used to drive a triumph spitfire until the first of the kids came along, had to sadly sell it around 7 years ago - that was great and yes I'd go back to something like that instantly if I didn't have 2 rugrats. The only downside was that it sat so low that you where unable to look through larger car windows at 2 lane junctions etc.
Yes very little crash protection, but lots more anticipation of other idiots on the road, probably gained from my favoured mode of transport that has even less crash protection.....
These days I'm largely stuck with an aging V70 to get the kids clobber in and for camping holidays - something we used to manage perfectly well in a 70's 2-seater or motorbike for the extended holidays.

[biggbn]

I prefer small cars from a design point of view as they must, by definition, be better packaged. It takes much more intelligence to design a truly great small car than a larger one when you have space to waste as it were. For me the original mini and the original smart are the standout small car designs with original fiat 500 and panda as close seconds

[MG68]

Bigger is best I think saved our family's life many years ago.

We were less than 1/2 mile from home 4 up, in an old Wolesley 18/85. As we were passing a downhill T -junction a fire chief on call in his red Ford Cortina (blue flashing light on the roof, a la Starsky & Hutch) slammed the anchors on and skidded across the junction into the side of said land crab. I was sat in the front passengers seat and can still see his front wheels locked and skidding into the near side of the car.

If we had been in the other family car at the time - a 1968 Mini 850 - I don't believe I'd be writing this.

[Zebster]

Originally Posted by MG68

Bigger is best I think saved our family's life many years ago.

We were less than 1/2 mile from home 4 up, in an old Wolesley 18/85. As we were passing a downhill T -junction a fire chief on call in his red Ford Cortina (blue flashing light on the roof, a la Starsky & Hutch) slammed the anchors on and skidded across the junction into the side of said land crab. I was sat in the front passengers seat and can still see his front wheels locked and skidding into the near side of the car.

If we had been in the other family car at the time - a 1968 Mini 850 - I don't believe I'd be writing this.

But if he'd been in a much bigger vehicle than you then you'd probably now be dead.

[Dippydog]

each succeeding generation of model gets physically larger than the previous one.Partly I think due to safety issues and partly to house all the "must haves" that customers are conned into thinking they really,really need.The growth in size doesn't usually translate into more interior space as much is lost-particularly it seems in the case of estate cars-to the form over function design ethos.I have had small cars-Renault 5,Hillman Imp[I'd have another if prices weren't so stupidly high]but much prefer larger cars with big lazy unstressed engines for their comfort and easy cruising abilities.There was a standard[although I don't know whether it's a law]laid down many moons ago['40s/'50s?] dictating the size of parking spaces which has not kept pace with the growth in vehicle size which makes parking an ever tighter process.On local supermarket carparks even my 960 seems to overhang the parking spaces for length!

[biggbn]

My favourite owned cars have been my smarts, cinquecento sportings, streetka, classic beetles, mk1 Renault 5, 2cv and Renault 4. And I have owned Porsches, jags, mercs.. Favourite of which were my a classes!! Guess I like a small car.

[Dippydog]

I too have had a 2CV,not the fastest thing out there but a real hoot to drive with its crazy lean angles and taught a lot about outright speed not being the be all and end all but how to maintain momentum.Used to drive a R4 van for work purposes really quite a spacious thing.The R5 I had was a pretty early one with the gearstick sprouting from the centre of the dash a la 2CV and R4.Still prefer large cars but biggbn more power to you for liking small cars,long may the differences continue

[john.wigley]

Originally Posted by Dippydog

I too have had a 2CV,not the fastest thing out there but a real hoot to drive with its crazy lean angles and taught a lot about outright speed not being the be all and end all but how to maintain momentum.Used to drive a R4 van for work purposes really quite a spacious thing.The R5 I had was a pretty early one with the gearstick sprouting from the centre of the dash a la 2CV and R4.Still prefer large cars but biggbn more power to you for liking small cars,long may the differences continue

Had an early R4, too, 'DD'; my friends christened it the Jellymobile on account of the handling characteristics to which you allude! It didn't stop them from borrowing it when they had a load to shift, though.

Another factor in the large car / small car question is, I think, one of 'stereotyping. As mentioned, when Linda and I got together I had a Mini, because it suited my purposes. Linda drove a Maxi, because she liked, and felt safer in, larger cars. Yet almost everyone assumed that the Mini was hers and the Maxi mine!

Regards, John.

[canis]

Well I don't care a fig about safety, I ensure safety by not crashing into things. Yes, I suppose there is the argument about the other driver, but defensive driving is certainly possible. So far I've managed to stay crash-free for the last 200,000 miles with only one exception, a crash-for-cash which happened at less than ten miles an hour. B4stards, broke my 20 year streak of no accidents.

Yes, bigger is better. I'm not going to all the expense of paying for a car to be on the road and find it incapable of performing it's domestic and vocational duties. I need (as in NEED) to be able to haul anything at a moments notice, whether it be passengers of cargo, often both, these small hatchbacks with nothing more than a narrow gap behind the back seat between the wheels just simply will not do! I honestly don't know why people buy them! They're useless!

As for environmentalism - I can offset that by driving fewer miles, and ruling out needless miles altogether.