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Originally Posted by Kirk
On the road to work today I saw a brand new Subaru Outback and I was thinking to myself what ever happened to that small wagon? The brand new one I saw today is more along the size of a SUV or minivan! My company also recently bought a new Taurus that I have to drive sometimes. That thing is just HUGE compared to the old ones. Personally I think it's a shame that everything is getting so big.
I just watched the documentary "Supersize Me" last week. I personally think that explains the main reason for this trend.  It's McDonald's fault!
Kirk |
Part of it, and truly only a part, is the improvement in handling that such a setup provides. Wider stance, wheelbase pushed out to the limits, decent size tires, all of which helps to keep the car tracking straighter and overall have good road manners, a bit higher resistance to rolling over, as well as the ability to make quick maneuvers when needed without the car as likely to whip you back around looking the way you came. Average Joe Highway Commuter is not Mario Andretti, and sadly, rather than improve the driver or take away his/her phone and makeup, it's a bit easier to just try and have the car make up for it. Of course, there's only so much you can do to the car to help with that, and in the end, it's still up to the driver to be diligent. Anyways, my point being, some of that is done essentially because a lot (not all or most, just a lot) of people are poor drivers, and very easily distracted drivers, so now we need to make the cars make up for that a bit and stuff them with airbags in places the car doesn't even know it has places. Also, as I believe I mentioned in a different thread about 986 looks vs. 987, some design changes have been implemented of late because of federal regulations regarding crash standards, particularly in the designs of front ends and hoods to decrease the likelihood of killing the foolish person who decides to cross the street in front of a bus where passing drivers aren't as likely to see them. Getting back to the main issue of width and just overall girth, it is indeed sad to see something like the Outback wagon become an actual SUV rather than just a car-(wagon-)based SUV design that just sits a little higher and is slightly more rugged. We used to have one of those early 2000s Outbacks, loved it. Wouldn't get one now, though. I have to say, Porsche seems to have been able to avoid falling into that trap as much as some others, or they're at least being pretty subtle about it. Their cars that aren't the more dedicated street-going track day models still have a wide appearance without actually being too terribly wide in reality, the Cayenne being a possible exception, but even then.