Small & Big Cars

[Deleted User]

This may sound a bit daft but it's something I've been wondering for a while... Is there any difference between driving a small car e.g. an old shape Corsa or old shape Micra and driving a larger car like a Vectra or Carisma? Are smaller cars easier to squeeze by parked cars and narrow roads in built up areas or is there no difference? I've only ever driven small cars so I don't have the experience of larger cars.

hewhoisnotintheknow

my other half has difficulty judging the length of the front when parking against a wall in a big car, other than that it should be much the same, as a small car isnt that much narrower than your average larger car

angeltreats

I'm more used to small cars than big cars. The only difference I really find is parking - currently I drive a Micra and can squeeze it into the tiniest of spaces, but other than that it's really much the same.

I do often wonder what it would be like to drive a 4x4 though, I imagine it'd take a bit of getting used to.

jaydeeuk1

Larger cars feel safer at license busting speeds, and you get more seriously in the outside lane of a motorway driving a vectra than a 1.0l corsa.

Saying that, my IQ feels far bigger than it does on the motorway, even at speed.

economiser

We have two cars in the family, a Jaguar XF and a Vauxhall Corsa. The Jag is wonderfully relaxing on long journeys, of which I do a lot, but it can be hell on earth in town, especially trying to park, even with the aid all the parking bleepers and rear view camera.

real1314

jaydeeuk1 wrote: »

Larger cars feel safer at license busting speeds, and you get more seriously in the outside lane of a motorway driving a vectra than a 1.0l corsa.

Saying that, my IQ feels far bigger than it does on the motorway, even at speed.

Is it that easy to tell what car is behind you? So many ranges have simlar grille layouts it's not that easy.
And there's plenty of "hot" corsas that can rip a lot of vectras to pieces.

gdard

Deleted_User wrote: »

This may sound a bit daft but it's something I've been wondering for a while... Is there any difference between driving a small car e.g. an old shape Corsa or old shape Micra and driving a larger car like a Vectra or Carisma? Are smaller cars easier to squeeze by parked cars and narrow roads in built up areas or is there no difference? I've only ever driven small cars so I don't have the experience of larger cars.

Well, try to drive a larger car and you will feel the difference. Large carse are so much more stable and quieter.

vikingaero

My favourite car was a 13 year old 1.4 Corsa that my mum handed down to me. She gave it to me with 100k on the clock and within a year I'd racked up 45k of private mileage. It was easier to park than any large car with good visibility and no stupid raised tailgate styling like on the latest Honda Civics and Astra Coupes. We'd park it anywhere and not worry about it being dented. The paintwork was red and had turned pink. I could go caving in it and not worry about the mud.

We used to go out as a family in it all the time as it really suited our trips (150 miles maximum). With our other cars and my company car you have to worry about not scraping the wheels, avoiding dings so the lease company doesn't bill, protecting the leather etc etc.

When the head gasket went on the Corsa it wasn't worth repairing. If anything what I really liked about the car was that it was honest, no image, and got us from A to B economically, and there's some satisfaction to be derived from that.

LandyAndy

I have a largeish car (Mazda6 estate) and a small car (Mazda2). They don't feel particularly different to drive either in town or on the motorway other than that the 2 has less oomph.

Neither are particularly easy to park compared with the Peugeot 405 I had before and that is because the styling makes the extremities harder to judge.

I drove Jaguar XJs in the past and found them easy to judge and place.

hethmar

Its all down to practice - you would have worried about parking a small car when you only had a bike Having said that Ive just got a Golf Plus which is probably the biggest car I have driven and I am so pleased it has parking bleepers to help me

23rdian

You get used to whatever you drive. Although it's sometimes easier to find a small parking space at the side of the road. I'd generalise that small cars are generally more fun (i.e. chuckable) but larger cars are quieter and more refined.