Will Americans fit into small cars?
The Wall Street Journal just wrote an article asking if coupes are making a come back. Coupes are small, two seat cars (sometimes 2+2). Over the summer, the Journal told us that the last 12 months made up the "year of the crossover." Crossover vehicles are an SUV's body styling on a car frame. Today, I read in the USA Today, car makers are putting cars on a diet, using lighter materials for example. In a recent interview, GM exec Gary White reminisces on the good ol' days of SUVs. Gary said "it was a wild ride there for a while. It was pretty amazing."
What's going on here? Is the SUV dead? Can Americans even fit into small cars?
[Source: Kicking Tires]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Kardax 11:15AM (10/10/2007)
At 5'4, 120 pounds, I love small cars :) But I realize I'm anything but average as far as Americans go.
I actually met a guy who lost 40 pounds to fit into his new convertible. Where there's a will there's a way, and I think as cars become generally smaller over the next few decades, more people will be inclined to do something about their obesity.
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Kardax 11:16AM (10/10/2007)
I love that Simpsons image :)
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small-wee-wee 11:17AM (10/10/2007)
This just further reflects the major health problems we have in the USA. people work too many hours, have no time for family cooked meals. Can leads to deterioration of society too. Don't ya think?
Mom..."kids you want greasy pizza or greasy fried chicken tonight?"
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Brian Dreggors 11:36AM (10/10/2007)
To me, its a value issue. I don't see how a small Corolla is worth $22,000 for 35mpg when I could buy a one year-old LaCrosse for $18,000, still get 29mpg and have room for my stuff, my friends, and feel comfortable on the highway.
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wmorin 12:01PM (10/10/2007)
The article that is linked, suggests that everyone should know the max weight their car / Trucks. Next you will see an "on-board" computer module, that politely says "Your FAT, and I can't let you drive me" .. But it raises the question, if the weight limits are in the frame, and tires, you'd think that we'd come up with the option to balance the load. Either that have a person step on the scale at a dealership, and say " Sorry Ma'am, you will have to buy our obese edition, it has all the same features of the regular model, but it's equipped with Military suspension, and it's only $11,000 more"
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CJ 12:02PM (10/10/2007)
@ Brian -
Are you driving highway all the time? A 2007 Lacrosse only gets 27 on the highway, yeah, but it's only getting 17 in city. Meanwhile, the Corolla gets 26 in the city and is getting the 35 on the highway. I understand the question of comfort, I suppose. But, in the city I live in, I rarely see 4 adults sitting in one car. In fact, I've rarely seen 4 adults sitting in any vehicle. I also rarely see people with any kind of stuff in the backseat too.
Small cars are great for in city. I understand highway driving is what you want the vehicle for. But most americans so not need a big SUV or large car just to drive to work in the morning. I think our country would do just find with small vehicles. And a base Corolla starts at 16K or so.
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steven 12:33PM (10/10/2007)
This is a farmer joke, so if you're not a farmer, go on to the next comment...
Q: How many doors on a chicken coop?
A: TWO, becasue if it had FOUR, it would be a chicken sedan!
I have more, but they don't apply to this post
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antarctic74 1:09PM (10/10/2007)
Checked some average male heights:
- Netherlands 6 ft 0 in / 183.0 cm
- Denmark 5 ft 11.2 in / 180.9 cm
- Germany 5 ft 10 in / 178.1 cm
...
- USA 5 ft 9.2 in / 175.8 cm
The differences are not huge. Less than an inch compared to the Germans. So if Americans have difficulties fitting into small cars, the problem is definitely in the "width" dimension.
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Brooke 1:24PM (10/10/2007)
I think many people in the US have just been spoiled by the larger vehicles. The new crossovers look great because they are the size of what an SUV, such as an S10 Blazer, used to be. The giant SUVs are gaudy and people have been lost in the race for bigger that they forgot any sort of taste. As for coupes and smaller cars, I'm about the same size I was 15 years ago (6'3" 220 lbs) and I used to comfortably drive 9 hours in a 1985 Honda Civic. I came across one the other day parked next to a mini. It looked even smaller in some respects! And back then it got the same or better mileage than most of todays sedans. One thing that did strike me was the volume of the material, such as seats, consoles and dash inside the newer cars. I don't think the actual volume available to passengers has changed much. But industrial designers have gotten their way over common sense. Things are much easier to get from concept sketch to production now-a-days. When it was harder one had to put more thought into it and it was done better. Thus, I blame progress for progress.
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rj 1:51PM (10/10/2007)
Not too long ago I had the pleasure of driving a rental car. The 1st car was a brand new hyundai. The airbag warning light refused to turn off so I refused to drive it out of the parking lot. The replacement car they gave me was a Corolla. It did get good gas mileage. No matter how I adjusted the seat and the steering wheel, my knees always were hitting the steering wheel, hardly a safe situation. I had the same problem with other toyotas including a 94 ish pickup.
I do not want a wide vehicle, or one with a long wheelbase, I do want a vehicle that fits. I want a vehicle with good visibility and a tight turning radius.
It is a shame that so many "small" cars are so poorly designed on the inside. I drove a fiends subaru, a nice car not too big, awd etc. I hated driving it for one reason, the layout of the gas brake clutch was awful, they were so close together and my foot is large enough that trying to hit just 1 pedal was a challenge. Another problem I run into is head room, I'll see a sporty looking car I like and sit in it only to find my head hits the roof.
None of these problems are due to my weight, no diet is going to make my legs shorter, my feet narrower or my torso shorter, well unless I get osteoporosis.
I shouldn't have to buy grandpa mobile (ford crown vic) to find a vehicle that fits me. Do the same people that say we should all be driving small cars say that door ways should only be 5' tall?
I'm sick of being discriminated against due to my height, and being told I'm "fat"
height of average male
Japan 5 ft 5.2 in
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pkuhl 1:49PM (10/10/2007)
In my '07 Civic Hybrid I fit 4 men at once, all well over 200 lbs and 5' 11" to 6'4". NO PROBLEM.
Answer: even tall heavy Americans fit just fine in high efficiency vehicles. Almost nobody needs SUVs and I'd be happy to see them go away.
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steven 6:16PM (10/10/2007)
Does anyone else notice that a coupe is NOT just a small 2 seat car? And all but 1 of the cars (the tC) in the WSJ link are pretty big cars? For example the Altima copue only has 1.4 inches less rear leg room the sedan!!! Pretty small, eh?
SAE standard J1100 defines a coupe as a fixed-roof automobile with less than 33 cu.ft (0.93 cu.m, 934 L) of rear interior volume. I can't find where is metions how big the front interior area or trunk can be. Also, very, very few cars these day have frames. Yes these may all be "technicalities", but how can we be convinced of a hypothesis when its defense is so full of inaccuracies?
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Lascelles Linton 7:20PM (10/10/2007)
Steven, 2+2 is in parenthesis and frame is fine for describing a crossover. I really don't think I am making a hypothesis. It's just a funny observation. We are getting bigger, our cars getting smaller... something has to give :D
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Paul Peterson 11:49PM (10/10/2007)
I'm 6'2" and my wife and I have a Mini. There is so much leg and headroom in such a small car. I'm sure it could comfortably seat someone 6'8" as can barely reach the pedals with the seat all the way back. Still room for 6 bags of groceries in the boot and room in the back seat, can park it anywhere and gets decent mileage. My '05 Subaru Outback didn't come close to the amount of driver and passenger legroom of the Mini.
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MikeW 12:13AM (10/11/2007)
In Police Academy the movie, Hightower ripped out the front seat, and sat in the rear, but that car was smaller than a Mini.
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Der Alte 2:06AM (10/11/2007)
I'm 5 ft 11 and fit just fine into my 03 Corolla, rj never gave his height. I suppose at some point, probably about 6 ft 2 where it could get uncomfortable. The Japanese don't build their North American cars to the height of your average Japanese person....that is a myth. They do market research just as all other auto makers do to try and ensure their vehicles are comfortable for their target market. In Canada the Corolla is one of the most, if not the most, popular selling car right along with the Civic. These cars would not be selling in droves if most people found them uncomfortable.
Of course, if you are a bit taller that 6 ft 2, you can still find smaller cars that fit. The VW Jetta and Rabbit both have excellent interior room, superior to the Corolla and the Civic. The problem with the Jetta and Rabbit is that right now all you can get is either the base 2.5 5 cylinder with its so-so fuel economy or the over priced 2.0 Turbo 4 banger that must have Premium. The TDIs are coming back which will address fuel economy, but they won't be cheap. They will offer plenty of room for most anyone though. You should also sit behind the wheel of a Smart car too...one would be amazed at the leg room on one of those.
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Phil L. 7:49AM (10/11/2007)
Regarding car size: For me, it isn't the driver.
I'm 6'2", and I find that I fit fine into most any car (even a little Fiat X1/9 I had years ago).
My frustration with car size: Fitting child safety seats. I have three kids who are still in safety seats. There are lots of cars that have two LATCH safety seat positions; not too many with 3. This would seem to be an obvious issue, but I'm surprised how many carmakers ignore it.
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Keith 8:43AM (10/11/2007)
Regarding three car seats across, car makers tend to market to the middle 90 percent of average Americans. So, with declining family size, it doesn't make sense to build cars with room for three safety seats because it's bound to be such a small part of the overall population. Also, I imagine their answer would be to buy a minivan or even a Mazda5.
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BoBy FuCheY 9:09AM (10/11/2007)
Personaly I love larger Vehicles such as SUV's. Even though the coupe's are small, they are very enjoyable. With the extra power and manual trany, coupes can be very entertaining cars. The only issue with these small cars are people who can't fit into them. Maybe the coupes should come with an excersise program free of charge, right?! But on the otherside coupes tend to get better gas mileage and better performance than larger vehicles and if you can fit in one than its a great investment.
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bison 10:53AM (10/11/2007)
> I'm 6'2" and my wife and I have a Mini. There is so much leg and headroom in such a small car. I'm sure it could comfortably seat someone 6'8" as can barely reach the pedals with the seat all the way back.
Yeah, I'm 6'4" and I fit in a Mini with room to spare.
Sunroofs are the headroom killer in any car. That's why I stopped buying Hondas -- I can't fit into any of them anymore, except the base models without sunroofs. So if I buy a Civic, I'm looking at plastic wheel covers, non-variable intermittent wipers, and a 4-speaker sound system. I suppose Honda knows they're losing a few sales to tall people who don't want to drive a base model car, but it must not be that many or they wouldn't do it.
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