Cars growing in size

[sdlife619]

It comes down to people wanting to be comfortable in cars again finally after the past 30 years of driving tiny cars in the downsizing era. Compacts are simply not comfortable to drive everyday on long commutes in this country with our potholes and crumbling infrastructure on epic scales . If you lived in say, Germany, in a small village with tiny roads, and everything is close to you within walking distance, then there is no reason to own a large vehicle.

But overall mid-size cars today have definitely grown a lot in length and girth compared to what they once were in the 90's. To some extent, the curb weights fluctuate depending on the years but they aren't drastic. Now cars are forced to become even lighter so you have a smallish 94 Toyota Camry weighing anywhere from 3100-3300lbs while a new Bigger 2016 Camry weighs maybe only a 100-300lbs more due to more use of more aluminum and plastics. .

What I find noticeable is the interior leg rooms have really improved greatly in cars with smallish wheelbases over the years. A new Ford Fusion or Altima seems huge inside even with moderate sized wheelbases, but the reality is, all that increase in the physical size of the car is going into the interior to make it bigger, but not to make the car more stylish or to necessarily look better. This is why we still have stubby cars with a short hood and trunk.

Modern cars are still nowhere in size of the behemoths of American cars in the 50's-70's. Back then, most families owned one car, and that car had to be big enough to fit the entire family, so comfort and size was very important to people in those days, and of course styling. Not all the cars back then that looked huge, had a big interior though. They might of been wide so you had nice shoulder and hip room, but legroom suffered in most cars. The only cars that were truly like living rooms on wheels, with room to stretch out were the old luxury cars.

Compare that to now days where most people own at least 2 or 3 vehicles. So the need to own a big car isn't necessary anymore.

At the same time CUV's and small SUV's have taken over the roll of the mini van, station wagon and large car of the typical American family. Weights, and size have actually increased significantly over time. Most weigh easily over 4,000lbs, and some closing in on 5,000lbs! In vehicles that weigh this much, a RWD platform should be the underpinnings of it, not FWD.

I really don't understand the reluctance of automakers (especially GM and Ford) refusing to build more RWD platforms as cars get bigger when it was the norm for everything to be RWD in years past as it's reliable, gives better performance, and is easier to work on.