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Chrysler is going to kill the Caravan name soon (see other thread).
I don't think SUVs are much bigger than they used to be. They're just "fatter". I guess that means bigger though. The Suburban, for example, just looks fattened up a bit. It's true size is not much bigger than older Suburbans.
That's probably a better way of putting it. SUVs are definitely getting fatter and fatter. On an already large body style, a fat body style doesn't look so cute.
The 1st generation Accord was introduced in 1976 and was only 162 inches long. It weighed 2000 lbs. Today's Accord is 2 1/2 feet longer, wider, and weighs perhaps 1500 lbs more. It is far more powerful and its fuel economy is actually better than the original.
So new Accords are getting better than 31 city and 44 highway?
I don't think they're getting bigger, just more diverse in size.
What's happened is a lot of the SUV's that carried an entire car company have now become the large SUV option while countless crossovers have been developed.
Case in point: Nissan.
I had a 1999 Pathfinder and it was a mid-size SUV by today's standards. About the same size as the 2004 Highlander my parents have.
Now, the Pathfinder is a GIANT and the Murano is the mid-size. Then there's 2 crossovers: the Juke and Rogue. So, 4 SUV's for a company that used to have 1. Of course the size of the Pathfinder wound up changing.
Crossovers are very popular now and sell better than bigger SUV's. A lot of car companies have increased the size of their flagship SUV's to make room for newer crossover vehicles. Again, Ford made the Explorer bigger - but they also added the smaller Escape, Edge and Flex.
Models typically get bigger throughout their lifetime. It goes across the industry. Just compare a new Honda Accord to a first gen, which is smaller than a Civic.
Some of the SUVs you mentioned, however, haven't gotten much bigger. The Explorer certainly has, but the Suburban and Sequoia have only increased in size slightly if at all. The Sequoia may have gotten bigger because it's based on the Tundra, which Toyota tried to make competitive with American pickups which were quite a bit larger than the previous Tundras. The Suburban hasn't changed much at all. Perhaps it looks larger because the styling has become bulkier.
So new Accords are getting better than 31 city and 44 highway?
Same here. After all of these years of technological leaps and bounds, why are the newer cars not all that much better than some older cars? Fuel efficiency should be much better than it is now.
Same here. After all of these years of technological leaps and bounds, why are the newer cars not all that much better than some older cars? Fuel efficiency should be much better than it is now.
Fuel efficiency (work per gallon) has improved significantly all across the board from decades ago. Compared to the 1980's (comparing the Honda Accord is a great example) today's cars are bigger, heavier, more powerful, and lower emissions. A lot of the reason why cars have become heavier is to compensate for increased safety standards. Fuel economy (miles per gallon), on the other hand, isn't much better.
Same here. After all of these years of technological leaps and bounds, why are the newer cars not all that much better than some older cars? Fuel efficiency should be much better than it is now.
The Accord in that picture was designated as a compact car, weighed 2,000 pounds and was powered by a 75 horsepower engine.
The current Accord is rated as a full size car, weighs 3,200 pounds and is powered by a 177 horsepower engine. Weight increases to ~3,600 if you take the 271 horsepower V6.
The old car was rated 31 city and 44 highway on the old cycle, which would equate to 25 city and 36 highway under the current ratings system.
The current car gets 23 city and 34 highway in the I4. It gets 20 city and 30 highway with the V6.
So apples to apples, the modern car is much heavier, larger, faster and safer than its predecessor and still manages to return only slightly less MPG while producing vastly less pollution.
One thing I noticed driving a rental Dodge Ram is that the truck based SUV's and pickups are getting taller. You pull up next to a 5 year old GM, Ford, or Dodge pickup and you're sitting higher. And a 10 year old Suburban, forget about it, you might as well be driving a Corolla. I guess it's kind of like "mine is bigger than yours" competition
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(see other thread).
