Morris Minor Owners Club

When I was little there was a television programme called 'Land of the Giants' that some of you may remember.
When I look at the size of some of the 'cars' on the roads of the UK. it is a bit like Land of the Giants.
Are people scared of driving small cars these days?

I’ve observed the same. It’s often an ego thing.

10 years ago I was living in the USA.

My daily commute was this little 1980s Chevy S-10 pickup, a re-badge Isuzu model.
That truck served me well, 3 years of daily 100 mile round trip to commute into the desert and only ever broke down twice. If I could have brought it home I would have done. Imagine being alongside a ruddy great modern pick-up like this...that's a Jeep Grande Cherokee on the right...
I took that picture at the time to share at work, to illustrate the abandonment of the truck while just going into the Gas Station to use the shop!

I remember seeing terrible car adverts in newspapers where there was often a mini, or a fiesta or a fiat panda among the big saloons and estates, and the advert would say "One for the wife."
Now "the wife." drives a massive 4x4 just like "the husband."
I think people are scared of drive cars that are now relatively small.
I was in a Volvo main dealer a couple of years ago waiting for some spares. An elderly couple came in to test drive a car. The man was probably 90 years old ,and his wife in her late 80s. It was the car that they came to test drive that reminded me of Land of the Giants. The couple were both about 5' 2" tall and almost needed a step ladder to get into it. Even at their great ages they wanted to follow the fashion and drive a massive car.
Under what circumstances would this trend reverse, and people go back to sensible sized cars?

Get on yer bike, vote for Mike !

I am sure that in some cases it is an 'ego thing' but I also think there is an element of fear.
On my street there are many big cars, and the people who own them are not 'up themselves'.
Strangely though, if someone has something to take to the tip, they ask me if I can take it in my 1968 Pickup!
None of the big 4x4s are used to their full potential.

There is the stereotypical 'Chelsea Taxi' element, but I'm sure some people just like the better viewpoint.
I drive a Ford Kuga usually, and it's far easier to pull out at the main junction in our busy village in that (where I can see over the low wall on the corner), than it is in my wife's Corsa or in Basil.
We used to have a neighbour who always drove large saloons with low profile tyres, where his own cars or company cars. Think Audi, BMW, etc with about 2 fingers worth of side wall on the tyres.
Then one time his company gave him one of the modern dumpy Land Rover models, I've no idea which one, and he suddenly realised he could see a lot better and he didn't keep wrecking his wheels on the kerb to get out of where we live, as it's quite narrow, so the shorter vehicle and bigger tyres were a great help.
Subsequent cars were all LRs.

It’s a tricky one this. We would love to drive a smaller, more environmentally friendly car...but we need the slightly higher driving position of a crossover type car to comfortably access and egress.
I’m finding it increasingly difficult to use my classic cars comfortably these days

I find it annoying when an approaching bloated vehicle takes up and over the centre line as they obviously have no idea of its width and err on the side of safety - their safety not mine!

Alan

I got some dangerous road rage yesterday for having the audacity to be driving at 50mph in a 50mph zone. I was in my modern car; not my minor.
The perpetrator was in a Volvo saloon. not a 'bloated vehicle'. I generally find the bloated vehicle drivers are ok, (apart from Range Rover drivers of course. They are in a dangerous league of their own!)
It is often the saloon and hatch drivers that are the worst. Maybe an inferiority complex?
I don't suffer from that; I already know I am inferior; it's not complex!

stuffedpike20 wrote: ↑Sat Jul 11, 2020 5:36 am I am sure that in some cases it is an 'ego thing' but I also think there is an element of fear.
On my street there are many big cars, and the people who own them are not 'up themselves'.
Strangely though, if someone has something to take to the tip, they ask me if I can take it in my 1968 Pickup!
None of the big 4x4s are used to their full potential.

I’m 100% sure it is an ego thing in the UK, unless of course your local primary school is halfway up a mountain! I live on the east coast of Canada where 4x4 trucks are the de facto mode of transport once you get out of the cities. We have longer journeys over far worse roads. To get to work I have to drive on unpaved gravel tracks and on highways with frost heave and potholes the size of small countries... then when winter comes and it’s -25deg C, 18” of snow fell overnight and you have snow chains and winter tires you want the extra ground clearance and 4x4. Here a pic of my bloated vehicle and the minor. Look at the cab height!