Just sauntering home, and a new Clio came pottering up  alongside me..... (nice looking thing too I must say)...and I only then noticed just how much it's grown over the years.

 

Must be as big as the original Megane now! :no:

Yeah, and have you seen the new range of Maxis? And to say they used to be Minis, ha!

Its the whole 'new one must be better/have more features/more head/leg/arse room', well all that stuff needs to be packaged somehow!

 

Don't worry, they just keep introducing smaller ones at the bottom.

 

90s Polo owner now buys a Fox

90s Mondeo owner gets lost trying to find the exit from his new Focus

 

Etc.

All car manufacturers do it, inflate the model till it reaches the model above, then introduce a little model and start the trend all-over-again..

Vauxhall made a little model called the 'Corsa' it grew until it was as big as an 'Astra', then brought a baby car car-out called the 'Agila' and the trend continues..LOL

Old people. Aside from fleet buyers, it's old and disabled (via motorbility) people and who buy significant numbers of new cars. They want to buy what they've always bought, but need more room and because they don't bend as easily and a massive amount of space for a small dog. 

 

The other thing is modern cars are full of crumple zones and airbags. A bloke on club polo posted a picture of his 1990's Polo next to a new Fiat 500, the Polo looked tiny. However, my Polo has way more space in than a new Fiat 500. 

Funny a New fiat 500 and a real old mini parked nose to nose at Bourneville a few weeks back. Didn't have my phone to snap it... 

 

I think crumples and inside airbags etc have all added to it. Look at a new drivers seat compared to one 10 years back A lot more bolstering etc. We need it for the pot holes

 

Or maybe it's just our eyes , we need to get closer to see things, what's that objects in the mirror may appear closer line again. 

and once they inflate to big they drop the model at the top.

 

Ka the size of the previous Fiesta, Fiesta the size of the previous Focus, Focus the size the pevious Mondeo, Mondeo the size of the previous Granada, Granada RIP

To that line of thinking the superb wud be vulnerable to being dropped.... gd sellers will be kept on regardless and i dont think the larger models grow quite so much as theres more leway to repackage extra kit in. Completely agree tho that it would be nice in manufacturers produced new models in a smarter way not just always larger. Im sure i read the new mazda 2 had to be a certain amount lighter than the previous in every component which i think is a gd attitude to have

I actually think the Superb is vulnerable, next Octavia will be bigger again and closer to the Superbs size.  Many were surprised when the Granada was dropped but they didnt sell that many in the grand scheme of things. I thing the same is true for the Superb.

 

the one thing the big Skoda does have in its favour is that there is little competition in that market sector

Put a Mk5 Polo alongside a Mk2 Golf... 

 

 Having just bought another 86C Polo i'm always amused by how much roomier the older and smaller motors are. The price we pay for every conceivable (and superfluous) creature comfort.  I'm not convinced cars get bigger because of safety, we'd have never seen cars like the Ka/ Adam or Smart. Just gets stuffed with more and more... stuff. 

My first car a MK1 Golf CNC443Y 1278cl I think. I am sure if you parked that next to a new Polo today the Polo would dwarf it.

I guarantee that the Golf would appear Lilliputian! I couldn't believe how much bigger the Polo was than my Golf. 

People drive more these days. It's no longer acceptable to simply get there..... eventually. It's supposed to be reliable, comfortable and safe.

 

One problem is once you've named a car, you eventually have to replace/upgrade it. The new one should be better than the old one. Generally that means more cabin space/comfort and bootspace.

 

J.

Old people. Aside from fleet buyers, it's old and disabled (via motorbility) people and who buy significant numbers of new cars. They want to buy what they've always bought, but need more room and because they don't bend as easily and a massive amount of space for a small dog

Nah - it's young people.

Have you looked at the size of youngsters today?

Half of the kids, particularly females, I see walking around town wouldn't even get their **ses into, say, a proper Mini or Fiat 500

"Focus (not the Ford model) groups" made of "average car buyers". They will always say "like the last one but with more rear leg room/better passive safety/more kit..." What they will never ask for, and I suspect most people on here would appreciate?, is better steering feel, stronger brakes and the like.

 

They won't even make it clear that they want more rear legroom but in the same length shell, and they'd give up some boot space to get it.

...and yet mars bars get smaller........

They make them taller too which never ever looks good.

A bigger car doesn't make it more reliable or user friendly. For from it really. Have you noticed how parking spaces seem to be getting smaller? Bigger cars also take more effort to push through the air. I noticed that most recently in a 500L.

There are countless pictures I've seen on old cars next to new cars and the size of new cars is mental. Admittedly they so have to pack in crumble zones and airbags and what have you but I think it is mostly driven by people supposedly wanting more and more. However, I liked the size of my Octavia II. I'm a bit daunted by the size of my shortly arriving Octavia III... I certainly didn't need the extra space really.

Similarly, I never felt short changed when I have a Punto Mk2 but that has grown over the years too. I reckon you could market a Ford Ka'esque car today (I'm talking mk1) and it would sell.

Having said all that, I've noticed that more often than not manufacturers are waking up to the fact that lighter weight means better handling, better economy and faster acceleration so several new models are lighter (and in some cases smaller) than previous generation models.

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That's the thing. Once upon a time a sunroof would be standard kit. Then it became an option. Along with myriad tech that didn't and doesn't matter . Unless of course you are a complete palm pilot.

Cars get bigger because of corpulence and nothing more

I had  Mk1 Clio back in 1993 and the new is a hell of a lot bigger.

I had  Mk1 Clio back in 1993 and the new is a hell of a lot bigger.

Certainly a nice looking thing it is too, which makes a refreshing change, as most new models of existing cars are munters.

I'd often wondered this too, but since getting my E30, I can honestly say the extra space in the newer 3 series is much nicer. Makes it a more 'comforting' place to be, if that makes sense?

 

Plus there's also the knowledge of knowing how the E30 would fare in a crash which adds to that feeling I guess.

Certainly a nice looking thing it is too, which makes a refreshing change, as most new models of existing cars are munters.

Have you guys seen another new Clio to the one I've seen? It's absolutely minging!!!

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Have you guys seen another new Clio to the one I've seen? It's absolutely minging!!!

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In YOUR opinion . :think:

The Octavia has gotten so fat now they have had to bring back the Rapid   Saying that it has gotten fat but keeps loosing weight!  

Corsa, Clio, Fiesta, Polo, all these 'small' cars have been going for decades now, and no sign of any of them being finished up anytime soon, so, just how big do they have to become before they say, big enough is enough I wonder?  :think: