Should there be a maximum vehicle size for car parks?
Discussion
Cars over the years are getting bigger and parking spaces have not followed suit. Some multi storey car parks cannot be improved due to the pillar location.
My MX-5 is not an issue, other than the longer doors, but so often I return to my car to find someone in one of those double cab utes or a transit has parked next to me, usually on the white line as they don't fit. Especially annoying when I have parked furthest away to avoid anyone parking next to me.
Is it time for a maximum vehicle size to be implemented in car parks?
My MX-5 is not an issue, other than the longer doors, but so often I return to my car to find someone in one of those double cab utes or a transit has parked next to me, usually on the white line as they don't fit. Especially annoying when I have parked furthest away to avoid anyone parking next to me.
Is it time for a maximum vehicle size to be implemented in car parks?
I spend most of my time either driving a 986 Boxster or a Toyota Hilux (which incidentally is narrower than an Insignia) and I actually find it's the Boxster that needs a wider space because you need to open the doors so wide to clamber up and out! I can easily slip out of a barely opened door from the upright Hilux but no chance of doing that in the Porsche.
May be time to just make the spaces a bit bigger ?
Cars have got bigger over the years but the parking space seems to be based on 70s sized cars, also people have got bigger and thus need more room to get out in some cases. Not just in girth, had a sit in a 1930s pickup truck my uncle has and I dont really fit, I am 6ft so not that tall by modern standards, average height then was 5 ft 5, now its 5 ft 9.
Its part of the reason why I am reticent about getting anything bigger, its pure stress with something large in town and city centres trying to park, used to have a Mercedes CLS and that isnt that big in the scheme of things these days.
Cars have got bigger over the years but the parking space seems to be based on 70s sized cars, also people have got bigger and thus need more room to get out in some cases. Not just in girth, had a sit in a 1930s pickup truck my uncle has and I dont really fit, I am 6ft so not that tall by modern standards, average height then was 5 ft 5, now its 5 ft 9.
Its part of the reason why I am reticent about getting anything bigger, its pure stress with something large in town and city centres trying to park, used to have a Mercedes CLS and that isnt that big in the scheme of things these days.
My wife daily drives a LWB VW Transporter and finds it easier in car parks and the like compared to the Volvo XC70 that proceeded it. The Transporter is 43mm wider and 454mm longer though will fit inside most bays, within reason but the huge advantage is that it has sliding doors thus create a space so vast you could load a pallet in... so no concerns about accidentally dinging the adjacent car. Granted, adjacent cars seem to ding the side of it with increased regularity but that's more likely due to either door design / layout or owners who simply don't give a damn. Both of us will generally actively seek out a non busy space even if it means walking several meters further to reach the destination.
Oddly, I've had a succession of Volvo 850 / early V70 estates over the years which were always deemed big cars however park one of those in your average car park these days and it lost utterly tiny, even when sat alongside something like a Mini... so as per the "Moderns compared to classics" postings, I think banning cars of a certain size isn't necessarily the answer but moving with the times to accommodate bigger vehicles is and quite a few car parks have moved towards much bigger spaces. But then again a couple of decades ago we were also smaller people and didn't need to boot the door of our Ford Focus fully open in order to extract our 30st mass...
Oddly, I've had a succession of Volvo 850 / early V70 estates over the years which were always deemed big cars however park one of those in your average car park these days and it lost utterly tiny, even when sat alongside something like a Mini... so as per the "Moderns compared to classics" postings, I think banning cars of a certain size isn't necessarily the answer but moving with the times to accommodate bigger vehicles is and quite a few car parks have moved towards much bigger spaces. But then again a couple of decades ago we were also smaller people and didn't need to boot the door of our Ford Focus fully open in order to extract our 30st mass...
Edited by Davie on Monday 28th October 11:19
If you park a bunch of large SUVs (X5, XC90, Q7. Disco 5 etc) all beside each other in a row of standard sized bays, all perfectly centered in their respective bays, the occupants are not getting out easily.
I saw a Disco in a bay the other day, kudos to the driver for parking it as centrally as possible, but even so, a plumb line hanging off the edge of each door mirror would have been either on or over the white line. These sorts of vehicle in car parks often rely on either empty bays either side or smaller vehicles around them to facilitate their own ingress and egress. Or of course, they just park over the line and take two bays...
I don't think it's a case of restricting car parks, because these things are already here, but I would like to see buying habits move away from the "bigger is better" status symbol and into more practically sized vehicles. 30 years ago very few people "needed" SUVs, yet now they're everywhere.
I saw a Disco in a bay the other day, kudos to the driver for parking it as centrally as possible, but even so, a plumb line hanging off the edge of each door mirror would have been either on or over the white line. These sorts of vehicle in car parks often rely on either empty bays either side or smaller vehicles around them to facilitate their own ingress and egress. Or of course, they just park over the line and take two bays...
I don't think it's a case of restricting car parks, because these things are already here, but I would like to see buying habits move away from the "bigger is better" status symbol and into more practically sized vehicles. 30 years ago very few people "needed" SUVs, yet now they're everywhere.
J4CKO said:
May be time to just make the spaces a bit bigger ?
Cars have got bigger over the years but the parking space seems to be based on 70s sized cars, also people have got bigger and thus need more room to get out in some cases. Not just in girth, had a sit in a 1930s pickup truck my uncle has and I dont really fit, I am 6ft so not that tall by modern standards, average height then was 5 ft 5, now its 5 ft 9.
Its part of the reason why I am reticent about getting anything bigger, its pure stress with something large in town and city centres trying to park, used to have a Mercedes CLS and that isnt that big in the scheme of things these days.
I think iirc the average height of a soldier in WW1 was 5'5 and by WW2 was 5'7 Cars have got bigger over the years but the parking space seems to be based on 70s sized cars, also people have got bigger and thus need more room to get out in some cases. Not just in girth, had a sit in a 1930s pickup truck my uncle has and I dont really fit, I am 6ft so not that tall by modern standards, average height then was 5 ft 5, now its 5 ft 9.
Its part of the reason why I am reticent about getting anything bigger, its pure stress with something large in town and city centres trying to park, used to have a Mercedes CLS and that isnt that big in the scheme of things these days.
I have a 15 year old who is 6ft and that's about average for his peer group!
People and the cars to fit them in keep getting bigger .. and the roads and car parks don't
I do think some car park operators try and fit as many spaces in as possible as it's more money and they don't care if you can't get out of your car once your in the space
Muddle238 said:
If you park a bunch of large SUVs (X5, XC90, Q7. Disco 5 etc) all beside each other in a row of standard sized bays, all perfectly centered in their respective bays, the occupants are not getting out easily.
I saw a Disco in a bay the other day, kudos to the driver for parking it as centrally as possible, but even so, a plumb line hanging off the edge of each door mirror would have been either on or over the white line. These sorts of vehicle in car parks often rely on either empty bays either side or smaller vehicles around them to facilitate their own ingress and egress. Or of course, they just park over the line and take two bays...
I don't think it's a case of restricting car parks, because these things are already here, but I would like to see buying habits move away from the "bigger is better" status symbol and into more practically sized vehicles. 30 years ago very few people "needed" SUVs, yet now they're everywhere.
30 years ago we also didn't need a spare bedroom or two or an double XL cheeseburger meal for a mid afternoon snack... or baby seats the size of a decent 2 seater sofa but such is life, a lot of things have increased in size and it's not necessarily a status symbol thing either. If you're a big man, with a big wife and big kids and by that I mean just big, healthy people and have a big healthy dog then it's likely you do need the extra space a bigger vehicle affords. I saw a Disco in a bay the other day, kudos to the driver for parking it as centrally as possible, but even so, a plumb line hanging off the edge of each door mirror would have been either on or over the white line. These sorts of vehicle in car parks often rely on either empty bays either side or smaller vehicles around them to facilitate their own ingress and egress. Or of course, they just park over the line and take two bays...
I don't think it's a case of restricting car parks, because these things are already here, but I would like to see buying habits move away from the "bigger is better" status symbol and into more practically sized vehicles. 30 years ago very few people "needed" SUVs, yet now they're everywhere.
Plus we've moved on from the days when your sub 1000kgs Mk3 Escort would suffice... the one that imploded on impact with anything above a stiff breeze. Now we need to fit a myriad of safety systems and tech in to cars as ye know, people being dead a lot in fairly minor RTC's was a bit concerning. I used to slide around the sharp edged baroness of the back of a Land Rover 100 sat on a bean bag when I was little... baby sister was in some sketchy looking Kwik Fit car seat balanced precariously behind the gearstick and 4x4 lever, being held by my mother.
That was then, this is now...
Davie said:
I used to slide around the sharp edged baroness of the back of a Land Rover 100 sat on a bean bag when I was little..
So I wasn't the only one! My sister used to get the middle seat and I'd get a beanbag in the back of our canvas backed Series III pickup. At least the 110 that replaced it had a hard top! 
It is an issue but the best way to save yourself the headache OP is to 'get in there first' - when looking for parking space, find a big car that's straddling the white line already & put you passenger side right up close to it in order to shut down any chance of them even attempting to open door/get in on that side, whilst giving you maximum room on your drivers side.
It's very unlikely you will get sandwiched between two huge cars with this approach.
It's very unlikely you will get sandwiched between two huge cars with this approach.
I would also mandate that pretty much all/most car parks change to have diagonal parking. Would save a load of those scrapes as people try their multi-point turns to get straight in, would save time waiting for someone to park up too.
The diagonal “bit” at end of each end just right for a motorbikes to park in, or to put payment machines, signs, etc. there.
I would also make all wider (put those thick/gapped lines in between), lets be realistic, cars ARE bigger and won’t get smaller any time soon so just accommodate this.
Yes, some reduced capacity, but most are never completely full all the time anyway. Even if they were, that just encourages people to use bike/train/bus for edge cases anyway.
The diagonal “bit” at end of each end just right for a motorbikes to park in, or to put payment machines, signs, etc. there.
I would also make all wider (put those thick/gapped lines in between), lets be realistic, cars ARE bigger and won’t get smaller any time soon so just accommodate this.
Yes, some reduced capacity, but most are never completely full all the time anyway. Even if they were, that just encourages people to use bike/train/bus for edge cases anyway.
Edited by Dracoro on Monday 28th October 12:58
One of these vehicles is easy to get in & out of in a standard car park space with cars either side.
One is a complete pain in the bottom.
It’s the Peugeot that’s the pain in the bottom.
The Range Rover despite being the widest thing you could reasonably refer to as a ‘car’ also has side steps and a big door aperture.
So even in a tight space you only need the door open about 12” and you can step up & slide in without issue.
The Peugeot has ridiculously long doors for it’s size, these also curve in a lot at the top and you can’t even press & hold the unlock button to drop the window to help.
So although I agree with the OP’s suggestion in principle I also think it’s not that simple as it sounds.
Anyway, any real petrol head parks as far away from the shop as possible to prevent people parking near them & scratching their car.
This picture illustrates the problem well though.
Edited by Stick Legs on Monday 28th October 13:21
Davie said:
If you're a big man, with a big wife and big kids and by that I mean just big, healthy people and have a big healthy dog then it's likely you do need the extra space a bigger vehicle affords.
Plus we've moved on from the days when your sub 1000kgs Mk3 Escort would suffice... the one that imploded on impact with anything above a stiff breeze. Now we need to fit a myriad of safety systems and tech in to cars as ye know, people being dead a lot in fairly minor RTC's was a bit concerning. I used to slide around the sharp edged baroness of the back of a Land Rover 100 sat on a bean bag when I was little... baby sister was in some sketchy looking Kwik Fit car seat balanced precariously behind the gearstick and 4x4 lever, being held by my mother.
That was then, this is now...
I don't see this though - most people I notice getting out of things like Audi Q7s and BMW X5/6s turn out to be very little indeed. (Fatness notwithstanding).Plus we've moved on from the days when your sub 1000kgs Mk3 Escort would suffice... the one that imploded on impact with anything above a stiff breeze. Now we need to fit a myriad of safety systems and tech in to cars as ye know, people being dead a lot in fairly minor RTC's was a bit concerning. I used to slide around the sharp edged baroness of the back of a Land Rover 100 sat on a bean bag when I was little... baby sister was in some sketchy looking Kwik Fit car seat balanced precariously behind the gearstick and 4x4 lever, being held by my mother.
That was then, this is now...
Neither do I buy the safety / size argument when certain manufacturers are still producing family cars not far off 1 ton in weight which pass all the current safety requirements.
Dracoro said:
I would also mandate that pretty much all/most car parks change to have diagonal parking.
I would also make all wider (put those thick/gapped lines in between)
Perhaps deliberately, but you're pretty much describing Costco's car park design. The only car park where I'm not too fussed about where I park, rather than hunting for an end space.I would also make all wider (put those thick/gapped lines in between)
https://maps.app.goo.gl/R1rmgnu8Ds9YzazR7
Although, it's amazing the number of people who don't grasp the concept and will drive through (to avoid having to reverse out when they return) meaning they're now facing the wrong way down a one-way row.
Its not just the spaces that are bad, its the overall layout of some car parks being designed presumably on the assumption everyone drives a VW Up.
Riverwalk in Durham (which rightfully so is one of the worst reviewed) you can't actually drive between levels without having to reverse and straighten up for the ramp. Its super tight and then they have put a huge kerb in the middle so you can't go on the wrong side, but it also means any normal size car just can't make the angle to go up it. Its a fairly new car park too. Found this out the hard way.
Riverwalk in Durham (which rightfully so is one of the worst reviewed) you can't actually drive between levels without having to reverse and straighten up for the ramp. Its super tight and then they have put a huge kerb in the middle so you can't go on the wrong side, but it also means any normal size car just can't make the angle to go up it. Its a fairly new car park too. Found this out the hard way.
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