Were they too small 10 years ago? I went to a car show and compared our current “mid sized” SUV to its replacement. It grew 7 inches longer and several inches wider and taller. It’s bigger and smaller cousins did the same. So “mid sized” is now “full”, and “full” is now “extra large”.
Manufactures are also dropping their smallest cars, so effectively all cars are getting continually bigger and as a consumer it’s gradual you don’t realize it until the car doesn’t fit into the garage any more.
> Manufactures are also dropping their smallest cars, so effectively all cars are getting continually bigger and as a consumer it’s gradual you don’t realize it until the car doesn’t fit into the garage any more.
Surely this can't be correct?
There are more city car models (compact cars) available right now than 10 years ago. You might argue that their sales are lacklustre, but if a consumer wanted one, they are spoilt for choice.
I think the thing is, people who need a car need something slightly larger than a subcompact (2x baby seats + 1x pram don't normally fit in these tiny cars), while people who don't have kids don't need a car anyway - cheaper and easier to use the public transport.
You're aware that people had families before oversized SUVs were a thing...?
We used to go on long trips with a family of 5 in normal sized cars regularly. Of course I would never do that today. Like many families we don't have a car and rent as needed. Long trips with kids are just infinitely much better by train.
Not sure where you live, but here car seats or boosters are mandatory for children under 8. This is a relatively recent change. Car seats have grown more in size than the cars.
Used to be that putting unbelted kids in the back of a vehicle was fine. I grew up using such vehicles. The regulatory environment and equipment have changed significantly over the years. Can't really compare today with the past as trying to live that way will get you seriously fined if not arrested.
> We used to go on long trips with a family of 5 in normal sized cars regularly. Of course I would never do that today.
Of course you won't - the baby seats that are safe enough to pass regulations are too large to fit 2 of them into the back seat of that old normal sized car.
Long family trips in smaller cars were done without baby seats or booster seats.
Family of 4 here with a Honda Jazz (aka Honda Fit in the US). Doing fine. Grew up in the states as a family of four and for most of my youth we had a Honda Accord - the early 90's ones that were smaller than a Civic is now IIRC.
But for the record, when biking to work today I biked for some time behind a father on a cargo bike with two kids seated in the trunk. We zoomed past the traffic on the main road, that of course was at a stand still. :)
You can only just fit 2 child seats into a smaller car. For anyone with 3 children, anything without 2 rows of back seats is basically an unusable car for the whole family.
And the reason everyone is going on about "car size inflation" and how it was fine in smaller cars 20 years ago is the same reason - you didn't have to use child seats. Now because of safety you literally can't have a family larger than 2 children with a smaller car.
In a city. How about anyone living in the countyside? Do those people not exist? Where my parents live, there is are 3 buses per day. None around school time. How does a child get to school? Or should these families just move to the city?
Do families get to go anywhere for more than a few hours? How do you bring all their stuff along like clothes, toothbrush, etc. Every child needs a minimum of 1l of water all the time, and some snacks in case they get hungry. And toys. And change of clothes in case they spill the 1l of water on themselves in the winter.
What happens when both parents have 20kg+ bags and one of your children decides to run away, say into traffic?
Judging by the replies to my original comment, not many people on HN have children or have any idea what it involves.
>The rest of the world can fit 4 people, a dog and their stuff in a normal sedan or station wagon.
The demographics who are doing most of the complaining about the proliferation of big vehicles generally wouldn't be caught dead doing this (let alone doing it regularly) because it's not acceptable for people of their means if you catch my drift.
They also tend to complain and complain and complain about people buying trucks and SUVs they "don't need" and then the nanosecond they see someone doing "truck stuff" with a station wagon or crossover they're hand wringing about safety and margin for error.
Basically this is a social norms problem and the groups complaining about it are the ones who created the mess.
Game_Ender|3 years ago
Manufactures are also dropping their smallest cars, so effectively all cars are getting continually bigger and as a consumer it’s gradual you don’t realize it until the car doesn’t fit into the garage any more.
lelanthran|3 years ago
Surely this can't be correct?
There are more city car models (compact cars) available right now than 10 years ago. You might argue that their sales are lacklustre, but if a consumer wanted one, they are spoilt for choice.
I think the thing is, people who need a car need something slightly larger than a subcompact (2x baby seats + 1x pram don't normally fit in these tiny cars), while people who don't have kids don't need a car anyway - cheaper and easier to use the public transport.
Certhas|3 years ago
We used to go on long trips with a family of 5 in normal sized cars regularly. Of course I would never do that today. Like many families we don't have a car and rent as needed. Long trips with kids are just infinitely much better by train.
locustous|3 years ago
Used to be that putting unbelted kids in the back of a vehicle was fine. I grew up using such vehicles. The regulatory environment and equipment have changed significantly over the years. Can't really compare today with the past as trying to live that way will get you seriously fined if not arrested.
lelanthran|3 years ago
Of course you won't - the baby seats that are safe enough to pass regulations are too large to fit 2 of them into the back seat of that old normal sized car.
Long family trips in smaller cars were done without baby seats or booster seats.
CalRobert|3 years ago
cloutchaser|3 years ago
Do you go on multi-day trips, where you need clothes are gear for everyone?
Do you have smaller children's car seats will take up 80% of the back seats?
matsemann|3 years ago
But for the record, when biking to work today I biked for some time behind a father on a cargo bike with two kids seated in the trunk. We zoomed past the traffic on the main road, that of course was at a stand still. :)
dabeeeenster|3 years ago
cloutchaser|3 years ago
And the reason everyone is going on about "car size inflation" and how it was fine in smaller cars 20 years ago is the same reason - you didn't have to use child seats. Now because of safety you literally can't have a family larger than 2 children with a smaller car.
mathieuh|3 years ago
cloutchaser|3 years ago
Do families get to go anywhere for more than a few hours? How do you bring all their stuff along like clothes, toothbrush, etc. Every child needs a minimum of 1l of water all the time, and some snacks in case they get hungry. And toys. And change of clothes in case they spill the 1l of water on themselves in the winter.
What happens when both parents have 20kg+ bags and one of your children decides to run away, say into traffic?
Judging by the replies to my original comment, not many people on HN have children or have any idea what it involves.
theshrike79|3 years ago
The rest of the world can fit 4 people, a dog and their stuff in a normal sedan or station wagon.
Americans need a TRUCK to get groceries.
dsfyu404ed|3 years ago
The demographics who are doing most of the complaining about the proliferation of big vehicles generally wouldn't be caught dead doing this (let alone doing it regularly) because it's not acceptable for people of their means if you catch my drift.
They also tend to complain and complain and complain about people buying trucks and SUVs they "don't need" and then the nanosecond they see someone doing "truck stuff" with a station wagon or crossover they're hand wringing about safety and margin for error.
Basically this is a social norms problem and the groups complaining about it are the ones who created the mess.
timeon|3 years ago
> You have no idea how small cars are for even a short trip with a family of 4.
You think that they grew up in family of 2?
nobodyandproud|3 years ago