Small cars for big people

In My Humble Opinion
21

A woman I work with owns one and suggested I give it a sit. I took one look inside and decided not to bother.

That Suzuki sounds interesting. Nice array of standard features, like air and CD. I was reminded how much fun squirtability is when I spent part of the weekend wrassling the Taurus around suburban Indianapolis with its blind hills followed by blind turns and lanes a good two feet narrower than they are in Illinois. I was thinking that there a Mini would be fun while a Taurus is just work; at least that was what I was thinking when I wasn’t saying, “I thought Indiana was flat!”

How about the Ford Focus? You can get a good price on one and the reviews of recent models are pretty good. And, unlike the Suzi or the Mini, I can find Ford dealers anywhere.

22

One of our neighbors owns a four-door Focus and I (6’2" - 330) fit in there with no problem. It’s a bit underpowered though. You’d probably want to look at getting a 6 instead of a 4 in the sedan.

23

Have a look at the Scion xB. It’s much bigger inside than it appears on the outside. Low sticker-price (non-negotiable, like Saturn), good mileage, good storage space, excellent Toyota reliability. It is, however, a four-door.

24

Don’t think you can get a six in the Focus here in the States.

25

One thing to keep in mind about coupes is that they tend to have longer doors. This means that, in cramped parking spots, they open at a shallower angle than cars with short doors, leaving you less room to get out.

I have a BMW coupe, and while I’m fairly normal-sized, it is a real PITA to get out of if you have to park next to other cars.

26

I checked before posting to see if there were any. Turns out I was probably fooled by a typo.

27

Tried a Beetle at lunch, a 2001 turbo. There was lots of room for me and other people, too. Sucker was FAST, at least compared with what I’m used to.

28

I’ve seen quite a few ultra-compacts (such as the SmartCar and Mercedes A-Class) that cannot be purchased here. Is this:

  • because they’re basically pop cans that couldn’t pass our crash tests?
  • a holding action on the part of US carmarkers/dealers to keep us buying bigger cars?
  • a case of “if we can’t move 50,000 units a year, no one gets any”?
29

a) and b).

The auto makers would certainly love to sell us bigger cars–they’re more profitable–but it’s mostly emissions (not so much now as ten years ago), crashworthiness, and the economies of scale thing.

30

:smack: Make that a) and c).

31

I try to avoid cars smaller than me.

32

Which is why you never park next to coupes in a parking lot, if you can avoid it. They’ll smack the side of your car with their doors.

33

I figured as much. And a good bit of a) is probably due to b): surely there is active carmaker lobbying (and maybe shadow lobbying on behalf of Big Oil) designed to limit low-cost transportation alternatives.

34

I’ll only admit to 350 pounds, the scale stops reading at that point.

At nearly 6’ 4" with a linebacker-gone-to-fat build, I’ve had a lot of trouble fitting in cars, I shop for cars calling it “trying on cars”.

Anyway, we just bought a Kia Spectra 5 - a four-door model. I have to use at least two the the seven basic moves of ballet to get in but once in, I’m surprisingly comfortable. The two-door would’ve been better but we’re a family of 5.

I liked the Toyota Matrix, also sold as the Pontiac Vibe, a lot, too.

$.02

-B

35

Humorist Paul Rosa once claimed to be a 6’9", 625 lb traveling salesman who drove an AMC Pacer with no air conditioning and kept cool mostly by means of 7-Eleven Double Double Gulps.