3 replies to this topic

[mab01uk]

 

[unburntfuelinthemorning]

Lovely write up by Rowan Atkinson, I always felt the same way about Minis. 

 

He highlights the contrast when getting in a small hatchback after driving the Mini and the hatchback feeling like a tank.  That was written in 1991.  So called small hatchbacks these days have ventured far further into the realm of tank design.  People these days see my Mini and remark at how small it is but the Mini hasn't changed in size, it's just their cars are ******* massive. 

 

How much has congestion increased because of relative loss of road width from massive cars?  So many roundabout entrances are only wide enough for one modern car when you could get two old cars (not just Minis) side by side with ease.  Many roads which have cars parked down them that were formerly two way roads have been turned into single track roads with passing places because of the fatness of modern transport.  

 

And yet still vehicles get wider every time a new model is launched.  At what point do people decide they are too wide?  When roads become completely gridlocked because there isn't physically room to pass anymore?  Or maybe when people find they can't actually exit the vehicle anymore once in a typical parking space?

[mab01uk]

I wonder how Alec Issigonis would have reacted to Ford stopping production of a successful small car like the Fiesta in favour of selling larger more profitable SUV's which obviously makes sense from a business point of view?

 

Monsters of the road: what should the UK do about SUVs?

"They have higher emissions, hog road space and are more dangerous for other road users. Yet SUVs are selling better than ever."

https://www.theguard...et-newtab-en-gb

Edited by mab01uk, 30 November 2023 - 12:35 PM.

[unburntfuelinthemorning]

We need something like the Japanese kei cars