Why are modern cars so big? The Volkswagen Hippie Van was shorter in length than a Toyota Rav4! The Volkswagen Type 2 Hippie Van was 4,280 mm to 4,505 mm (second generation) in length while having the capacity to sit up to 9 people. The modern Toyota Rav4, in comparison, is 4,645 mm and can only sit up to 5 people.Hippie Vans were easy to park while being fairly spacious. The safety regulations causing cars to become larger in the modern day just make cars more cumbersome.
>>29130072Because cars have become an extension of the ego
>>29130072you sure about that one?
The largest ever non limousine production car is the 1973 Imperial LeBaron
>>29130120You'd be surprised that these things actually don't have much interior space relative to the total size of the car. It looks bit but it's mostly the front end and trunk.
>>29130072>using an oddball vehicle that already stood out as being so much more space efficient and smaller than other cars of the era (just look at how they advertised it, that was the entire shtick)I should add that it also stood out not just because of the shape and design but because your average American car was still sized like >>29130120"Modern cars" aren't actually so big, you can still get space efficient, cabover design passenger vans. It's just that they're not for Americans, and Americans for the large part never bought them aside from the VWs (see the Toyota "Van" sold in the US during the '80s as an alternate example, it didn't catch on). Regardless of how much you overengineer it, a lot of people don't want to sit on top of the front wheels.Also of particular note - those VW vans, despite their differences, still had the same exact wheelbase as your standard, compact Beetle which also lends to it's small footprint.
>>29130649The new Hiace is almost as large as a Transit/Sprinter/Promaster (Ducato).
>>29130717The new Hiace is egregiously large. Hence why it isn't even sold in Japan, while the old one still is.
>>29130120>>29130213Oh boy, two pointless luxury cars that didn't sell and NOBODY has ever given a shit about, unlike the two cars OP is talking about. That'll serve as a counterpoint.
>>29130072Crashes are generally survivable.
>>29130072it's made of tinfoil and you're made to share legroom with the engine. or somebody else's
>>29130733>the Lincoln continental town car is an obscure and poorly received car
>>29130733There were tons of land barges in the 60s-80s
>>29130755the lincoln continental was the top tier limousine car of its day in the US.
Safety regulations, more tech and greater demand for large interiors that can seat five giants and their homes.
kombi van is also a giant piece of shit, one of the worst things ive ever driven.
Crash safety regulations You can survive a head on with nucars I had a frsn died from a head on in a 90s sedan
>>29132381was he wearing his seat belt? i rolled my 90s camry and it only had seat belts (the steering wheel airbag didn't even go off) at 60 mph, the car rested on its side up against a tree, but got away with a bruise and a scrape
>>29130755Yes, the Continental was not some runaway sales success as compared to cars that actually sold at the time, and its size was a factor in that. People couldn't actually buy cars that big, and that was actually a point in that car's construction. They wanted to make a car most people couldn't buy.>>29130756https://carorigins.com/top-12-cars-of-1974/
>>29132396Well yeah, by the late '70s CAFE was already impending and I can recall them using it's "continued" full size as a selling point in at least a few of their ads or brochures, especially since that gen had debuted pre-oil crisis. If we go back before that, throughout the '60s the full size Impala was the number one selling passenger car and was basically within a foot (or two if we're counting larger, later '70s bumpers) of the Continental Town Car, so Americans had been buying large up until that point.Even if we're looking at 1974, the Impala is still right there despite the oil crisis, technically right past the top 3 (now compact) passenger cars, and that gen Impala was even a tad larger than the previous gen (and still within about a foot of the Continental). I doubt a luxury car buyer would've cared as much, but I would still agree that size might've played a factor for some especially considering the late-'70s success of the "smaller" Seville from Cadillac. I think it's more that people couldn't "fuel" cars that big, with the slowly-rising ubiquity of smaller cars making the once-common full sizers start to look like dinosaurs by comparison.
>>29132250>>29132396the continental was only expected to fit a certain niche, but in it, it certainly was not a poor player
>>29133726This thread isn't about niches. OP is trying to compare old cars that aren't much of a niche to modern cars that aren't much of a niche.
>>29133729well being the biggest fish in a small pond doesn't make it unsuccessful. but from what i understand the VW bus's success in the US is mostly because of cheap imports
>>29130072the world population has literally well over doubled since the days of the combi, the us population alone has nearly doubled, not only are all those extra people forced into cars which are much more powerful than they were back then but many of them are also distracted on their phone.
