Have you ever looked at a modern MINI and thought that it looks anything but? You’re not wrong. Cars are getting fatter as the years roll by, but they’re not eating piston and gravy pies. There are some pretty good reasons, as we’ve listed here...
01 Safety needs space
In the old days, cars were quite literally metal boxes with wheels. Now though, they’re full of things to make them safer than, well, thin metal boxes.
Cars are bigger because safety cells, airbags, crumple zones and more all need plenty of space in order to fit them. It’s a fallacy to think only big cars are safe. Even the small ones can handle a good thump.
02 We expect more of our cars
Back in the day, you’d buy a small car for small trips, and then usually you’d have the big family car for longer adventures. Now though, we expect even the smallest of motor to undertake the biggest of journeys.
As such, the small cars of today make cars like the original Mini, the Fiat Cinquecento and the original Vauxhall Corsa look positively microscopic. Modern day small cars have to do big car things.
03 The SUV revolution
You can blame Nissan for this, as it started the revolution with the Qashqai. Before that, we were happy with a hatchback or an estate, or even a saloon. Now though, we want the 4x4 height and size, but not necessarily the associated abilities.
We’re never actually going to go off road! As such, other manufacturers have followed suit, and even non SUV models have picked up some of the design traits in a bid to win sales.
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04 Finance
Once upon a time, you paid a deposit, paid a bit every month and then at the end of three years, you rinsed and repeated. The amount you paid reflected the amount of metal you ended up with.
Now though, the finance market is so competitive that you can get a lot of car for not much money per month. As such, we’ve been buying bigger cars and, because of that, manufacturers make more of them.
05 Bigger is better
It’s shallow, we know, but bigger is better. There’s a reason Rolls Royce doesn’t make a hatchback. We associate size with success, so the bigger the car, the better off you are.
It sounds silly, but come on, would you rather have a Metro or a Mustang? Exactly, size is good. To cater for that, manufacturers have been slowly upping the size of their cars so that we get hoodwinked into thinking we’re getting more for our money. Sneaky.