My, how you've grown...

[Ratdat]

Modern cars really are quite massive compared to oldies. My R16 was a decent sized family car in it's day and now it looks diddy between this Clio and Focus. I bet it still has more room inside though...

 

[purplebargeken]

At least it fits in the parking space without issue and is squillions of miles more desirable than the rest.

[Ratdat]

Here's my Bluebird. Looks tiny!

 

[Micrashed]

I passed a Mk1 Fiesta Febreeze parked behind a new 62 plate Ka(ck) the other morning on my way to the doctors. The Ka was as big as the Fester, but IIRC comes with only seating for 2 in the rear owing to its bloated body panels.

I must swing by and try and get a pic.

 

EDIT
Even the Nu KA is bigger than the old Ka

[pshome]

The other day i parked behind a "Mini", what a horrible monster...

 

 

and yes, the 504 has ample room  while the monster appears to be designed for a family of dwarfs with inferiority complex.

[oman5]

Here's a modern Golf dwarfing my volvo. even by modern standards the 240 is still a long car though

 

 

 

[gary_davidson]

Try parking a modern car in an older car park, my 2009 kia Rio is fairly small by new car standards but even it can be a squeeze, particularly somewhere like Preston bus station

[Guest Tony Hayers]

No picture but I recently saw a Mk 2 Ford Orion parked next to a 2008 Mondeo Saloon. Holy Fuck it looked like a child's toy parked next to the Mondeo!

[Micrashed]

Try parking a modern car in an older car park, my 2009 kia Rio is fairly small by new car standards but even it can be a squeeze, particularly somewhere like Preston bus station

Tell me about it  - you try taking something like the wifes C8 there, or the Market car park and as for St Georges - forget it. I really could do with getting something slightly larger than the Micra for trips up town or otherwise and leave the bloody C8 for when we have to haul the caravan and the mother in law.

[HMC]

Try parking a modern car in an older car park, my 2009 kia Rio is fairly small by new car standards but even it can be a squeeze, particularly somewhere like Preston bus station

 

Ever been to Bridgewater services on the M5? Presumably built to fit mr average's car circa 1970.

 

Old multi level car parks are the worst with battle scarred concrete supports where you dont expect them and height restrictions from an era when 4x4s were not expected to be in city centres! Holiday inn plymouth im looking at you

[minolman]

I find this parking issue with the Megane, yes the Estelle is often much smaller than the parking bay lines!

[wackywacerwill]

Having run the transit as my main 4 wheeled transport for the last few years I'm having trouble spotting the Mk1 Clio in car parks. The swb Transit's about the same size as the bini above just with the benefit of being a tad taller.

[Ratdat]

Just found this pic via google

 

[FredTransit]

forget cars. The Mk1 transit is ickle next to the Mk73 or whatever its up to now.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I saw a new Doblo today, I reckon it was as big as a mk1 transit.

[Micrashed]

Mini to BINI

[Spiny Norman]

I never got a photo, but when I had my Amazon (which was quite a large 2 litre family saloon by 60s standards) I looked down from an upstairs window and couldn't quite figure out what it was that had parked beside it, making it look tiny.
It was obviously a Renault from the grille but I was it wasn't an Espace, and it didn't look like any of the 56 plate Scenics I had seen before, so wtf was it?

 

Apparently Renault had sneaked in a 'Touring' version of the Clio while nobody was watching.....

I regarded my old Saab 900 as a small car when I was driving it around, and as oman5 says, a 240 estate is long, but it feels compact and manoeuvrable compared to a Fiesta.

 

In other news, modern cars are getting big and fat, just like me.

[Jim Bell]

 

Massive Jag next to small modern runabouts.

[ShiteRider]

when i had my '87 735i, it was smaller than the current 5-series, and not much bigger than a 3, yet to look at it on it's own it looked like an ocean liner.

My (many) mk5 cortinas are really small compared to new stuff, the one outside the house now is narrower and lower than my '02 fiesta parked next to it.

[londonm]

I passed a Mk1 Fiesta Febreeze parked behind a new 62 plate Ka(ck) the other morning on my way to the doctors. The Ka was as big as the Fester, but IIRC comes with only seating for 2 in the rear owing to its bloated body panels.

I must swing by and try and get a pic.

 

EDIT

Even the Nu KA is bigger than the old Ka

That's an optical illusion, perspective. Like the cows in Father Ted.

[garycox]

1990 Fiat 126 BIS & 2009 Fiat 500 by GaryCox, on Flickr

[seth]

[phil_lihp]

Ever been to Bridgewater services on the M5? Presumably built to fit mr average's car circa 1970.

 

Old multi level car parks are the worst with battle scarred concrete supports where you dont expect them and height restrictions from an era when 4x4s were not expected to be in city centres! Holiday inn plymouth im looking at you

Thank you. I've never had a car that fitted easily into the spaces there and my CR-V barely fitted at all, no idea how anything bigger squeezes in. Ditto Mary Arches multistorey in Exeter.

[dugong]

[dieselnutjob]

 

not so much difference. the 607 is wider though

[Alexg]

 

My Allegro and a 5 Series BMW

[eddyramrod]

I first really noticed this in Cyprus, when I parked my 1971 Capri next to a mk2 Focus on the street.  The Focus was huge in comparison, and I always thought of the Capri as a "bigger" car, until then!  Sadly no photo, sorry; I IZ PHAYULL.

These days, my "vast" Volvo estate is often dwarfed by what I would expect to be smaller cars.  A neighbour has a Vauxhall Insignia estate, which should be a size down, possibly two sizes, but looks to occupy roughly the same size patch of road (I haven't measured it).  And is pudgy where the Volvo is lean.

[Volksy]

I have endless problems with the current size of new cars. I run an apartment building with designated parking underneath, the spaces haven't increased in size since i believe the early 70's when I believe a Fiat 127 was used to set the standard for a parking space. My guests complain constantly that their car cannot fit in the spaces, iI try and explain that whilst spaces haven't increased in size, cars certainly have. Which they deny - I assume like the 'just one more cream bun' types who then try and pour themselves into skinny jeans.

It's not until I point out my 205 - dwarfed by my neighbours M-class Merc that they actually realise!

[Ratdat]

Check this pic out...

 

[mouseflakes]

Modern cars really are quite massive compared to oldies. My R16 was a decent sized family car in it's day and now it looks diddy between this Clio and Focus. I bet it still has more room inside though...

 

 

LOLZ! I remember dithering over buying my first R16 because it was so much bigger than anything I'd driven before then.

 

Great thread - a real eye-opener.