New car sizes.

[Charlie Farley]

So had to make a trip to the local Sainsbury this morning , parked up at the other end of car park to avoid some plank parking next to me, and using my car as a crash buffer for their trolley.
All good I though until upon return, sure enough, a car stuck right up next to mine, so close I had to climb in sideways, a few choice words came to mind ...
Anyway, it was a 2017 A3 saloon and it looked enormous, I stood back a bit as I thought it was a new A4 or A6, but no it was an A3.
Id seen a few articles touching on the subject of how car sizes are growing but never really paid much attention until today, it made my B7 A4 Avant look almost small, certainly compact.

Anyone else noticed this increase in sizes.

 

[Charlie Farley]

That said, all the new Minis are more maxi now, certainly not worthy of the original namesake.

 

[V6_Man]

You are absolutely right, Rob. I picked up A3 8Y saloon for Mrs over the weekend. Her 8V was a hatchback and the last saloon she owned and drove was a B7.

We actually went to test drive an A4 B9.5 and her views were exactly the same. She said that 8Y was bigger and felt almost the same size as her B7 and that B9.5 felt a lot bigger.

I google and she was right. The A3 8Y is almost the same size as B7, actually slightly bigger - dimensions below:

B7

A3

 

[Scotty]

If you want to compare car sizes then try carsized.com. I found it really useful.

 

[JKP]

One thing is that I'm starting to be really interested in EV's, but the fact is that all the decent quality ones are way too big, and mostly even SUVs. I don't like SUV and don't need a big spacious car anyway. A smallish sporty car with good ride quality and nice looks and interior is what I'm after, but yet nobody seems to even consider trying to develop that kind of EV's. Cupra Born doesn't tick the boxes and Volkswagen ID.3 is a joke, but they show it wouldn't be an impossible task to design an EV in that size. It just shouldn't be a crappy one, and maybe then also others than me would want to buy one.

I had an 8P A3 in the past, it was a great car back then. But when I see some of those nowadays, they seem quite small. I've got very much used to the size of an 8Y.

 

[AlS3BE]

Car sizes are just getting bigger maybe cause we all getting a fatter
Thing is cars are getting bigger but we are still building houses with garages and car parks spaces based on 1970s dimensions. I remember when I got my current house, new build, I tried to park my a6 c7 in and it got in but there’s no way to open the door to get myself out or close the garage door.
It’s not just bigger they are heavier too not just ev’s, with 20 airbags and safety equipment weighing a good few hundred kg. Read a report somewhere that old multi storey car parks won’t handle the weight if every space is parked with evs.

 

[Charlie Farley]

It is supposed to be called progress, I find that very hard to agree with, bigger and heavier and more expensive to to add more insult, going backwards if anything.

 

[Rob Avant]

Mate of mine has a 2016 A3 sportback, when he parked it next to my old B7 wagon I thought it looked bigger. Got a lift in the back once and it definitely felt like it had more leg room.

Agreed I think new cars are generally getting bigger and heavier, guess this comes with all the added equipment they cram into them.
My house is only 30 years old and I can’t even fit the wagon in the garage, let alone a more modern estate or SUV.

Must admit I don’t yearn to own anything new these days, would rather have a nice Mk1 Golf than a R/ Mk8… Would probably have more chance of it fitting in the garage too.

 

[Charlie Farley]

The only real downside with the B7 platform is the rear leg room,or more like the lack of it..lol, its allmost as if Audi thought , lets give the front seat loads of possible space as that the most important part..

the only rear passeneger in my old bus is a 46kg GSD..and he's not worried about the legroom..lol

 

[jdp1962]

I’ve just moved into a brand new house, and it has a garage: my first garage in thirty years. The last car I garaged was a Mk 3 Cavalier and it fitted just fine. Now I have the SQ5, I was genuinely concerned it might not fit into the garage but I was pleasantly surprised to find there is ample room to spare, on both length and width, at least once inside. Strangely however, the door width is quite restrictive and I have to retract the door mirrors to get the car through the aperture. Even then, there’s only about a inch or two leeway on either side.

 

[jdp1962]

 

[Charlie Farley]

I’ve just moved into a brand new house, and it has a garage: my first garage in thirty years. The last car I garaged was a Mk 3 Cavalier and it fitted just fine. Now I have the SQ5, I was genuinely concerned it might not fit into the garage but I was pleasantly surprised to find there is ample room to spare, on both length and width, at least once inside. Strangely however, the door width is quite restrictive and I have to retract the door mirrors to get the car through the aperture. Even then, there’s only about a inch or two leeway on either side.

I see what you mean, that garage opening does look a bit snug..,