Let’s consider Europe’s top-selling car, the Volkswagen Golf. The original from the mid-1970s measured 3,815mm long and 1,630mm wide. The latest, eighth-generation model is 4,285mm in length and 1,789mm in width.
Similarly, the German giant’s next smallest model, the Polo, is 4,074mm long and 1,751mm wide. That doesn’t just make today’s Polo distinctly bigger than the original Golf; it’s also wider than VW’s original Passat family saloon of the 1970s.
It’s a similar story with the Porsche 911. On its launch in 1964, it measured 4,290mm long and 1,700mm wide. Now it’s 4,535mm long and 1,852mm wide. That’s an increase in its footprint of 15 per cent. But that pales into insignificance compared with the 30 per cent that the Polo has grown over the past 47 years.
Are roads and parking spaces increasing in size to match?
The next obvious question is that if our cars are getting bigger and bigger, are our roads keeping pace? Of course, the answer is no. National Highways, which oversees the UK’s major roads, recommends all roads, including single motorway lanes, are 3.65m wide. A single dual carriageway lane should be 3.7m wide.
The British Parking Association says that parking spaces should be 2.4m wide by 4.8m long. But it notes: “In Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions (TSRGD) 2016 the dimensions for bay markings have been relaxed, apart from those for disabled badge holders. While a minimum width of 1.8m is specified, there is no longer a maximum width, nor a minimum or maximum length.”
That minimum specified 1.8m width is too narrow to accommodate the latest Porsche 911 – and all but the smallest SUVs. Even the Polo driver will only have a meagre 49mm to open their door, assuming they park tight to the bay’s nearside edge.
