SUV and Parking

"C. E. White" > wrote
> "fbloogyudsr" > wrote
>> Except, Ed, that the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry sold in EUROPE
>> is a different and smaller car than those sold in the US. You need to
>> compare an Acura TSX - sold as the Accord in Europe - which is 2"
>> narrower than the US's Accord - much the same as the Passat.
>
> OK, assuming the cars were properly centered as you suggested, do you
> think 1.8" will make much of a difference?
>
> Your story is a cute anti-SUV piece,

What "story" am I telling, Ed? I was pointing out that your
figures are WRONG and that you don't know as much as you
think you do, hence your conclusion is possibly incorrect.
If you think that I've written something anti-SUV (and my wife
owns a Highlander and we used to own a Trooper), you're
on something hallucinogenic.

Floyd

Rozo wrote:
>
> For those who wish to see evidences of SUV drivers' attitude problem:
>
> http://www.geocities.com/digitallfun/

Cool, I know exactly where the Suburban in the first picture is parked --
within a mile of my house! I was even mugged at the ATM of the bank in the
background!

--
Cheers. Bev
================================================== ========
It's not true that Lucas, in 1947, tried to get Parliament
to repeal Ohm'€\0öw. They withdrew their efforts when they
met too much resistance.

On Fri, 22 Jul 2005, C. E. White wrote:

> Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 00:25:03 GMT
> From: C. E. White >
> Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving
> Subject: SUV and Parking
>
>
> So would people had smirked at people driving a Honda Accord (71.5" wide),
> Toyota Camry (70.7" wide), or VW Passat (68.7" wide)? All of the vehicles
> are within 3.5" of the width of a Merceedes M-Class (72.4")? I can't imagine
> the difference in width between an Accord and an M-Class would have been the
> make or break difference in being able to get in the car. And at least with
> the M-Class you could go in through the rear hatch.
>
> Regards,
>
> Ed White
>

Hi,

Touche! I admit, yes, you are right, I just checked out the dimensions
of the cars you mentioned myself. I suppose cars have just generally got
bigger again over the last (10?) years and it's a question of perception.
And yes, at least those two could use the Merc boot door. It was possible
the M-class as in a small-car spot but I didn't stop to look. Over here,
the parking spaces are much smaller than in Canada and in Geneva the
public parking garages are designed for something like Fiat Puntos driven
by anorexic super-models.

Cheers, John.

"fbloogyudsr" > wrote in message
...

> What "story" am I telling, Ed? I was pointing out that your
> figures are WRONG and that you don't know as much as you
> think you do, hence your conclusion is possibly incorrect.
> If you think that I've written something anti-SUV (and my wife
> owns a Highlander and we used to own a Trooper), you're
> on something hallucinogenic.

Sorry I was confusing you with the original poster. But my question is still
correct. Do you think the difference in width between an M-Class and a
Passat (1.8" per side) would make much of a difference in the ability to get
into the M-Class assuming all the cars were parked properly?

I am over sensitive to anti-SUV stories. Every time I turn around somebody
posts a story that seems to make it seem as if the SUV was the reason
somebody did something bad. Even when the type of vehicle has absolutely
nothing to do with the bad outcome, if an SUV was the type of vehicle
involved, it is prominently mentioned in the rant. The post that started
this thread was somewhat typical. If you look at the picture, the SUV was
parked dead in the middle of two spaces. Any other vehicle would have had
consumed two spaces when parked as shown. The fact that it was an SUV was
tangential to the story. It was clearly the driver's bad behavior and not
the fact that he was driving an SUV. Even the site that included the picture
was another anti-SUV site. A large percentage of the SUVs sold in the US
(Explorers, Small Blazers, Vues, etc) have a foot print (length x width)
that is comparable to cars. Therefore they don't consume any more of the
precious parking lot space than Camrys and Accords. Even the larger SUVs
(Expeditions, Tahoes, Durangos) are not as long as and comparable in width
to full size station wagons from the 70's and 80's. And they aren't any
larger than many of the full size mini vans (is full size mini van an
oxymoron?). So why all the hate filled posts directed towards SUVs? Why was
the original post titled SUV and Parking and not Bad Parking? The SUV didn't
park itself squarely in the middle of two spaces, the bad driver did. And
ironically, it looks to me as if the SUV could have actually fit in one of
the "Compact Car" spaces if the driver had tried. I'd say this was just
another self important person worried about door dings. I believe if he (or
she) were driving an Avalon, chances are he (or she) would have done the
same thing.

And yes I do own an SUV - actually two- an Expedition and a Vue. The
Expedition is for long trips and towing things. The Vue is actually smaller
than many mid-sized cars and is easy to park in almost any lot. Even the
Expedition is easy to park at the local malls, although I almost never drive
it to the mall.

Ed

On Fri, 22 Jul 2005 13:55:54 GMT, "C. E. White"
> wrote:

>I am over sensitive to anti-SUV stories. Every time I turn around somebody
>posts a story that seems to make it seem as if the SUV was the reason
>somebody did something bad.

Case in point: just this morning, an SUV driver in Santa Ana ran over
a guy sitting at a bus stop and then drove away. Check for the full
story later today on the KTLA web site.

In article <y1XDe.193642$nG6.102416@attbi_s22>, says...
>
>
>
> wrote in message
>news:Pine.LNX.4.58.0507212304450.11530@lxplus021. cern.ch...
>>
>> Hi All,
>>
>> When I'm trying to find a parking spot and one of these cars (not
>> always an SUV) are parked like this, I take GREAT pleasure in squeezing my
>> rusty, dented 1981 Honda Civic next door - passenger side otherwise I
>> can't get out. I give a 'few' inches space. It's even better if I can get
>> my passenger door next to the other driver door! I live in France, so am
>> not particularly worried about getting shot by some gun nut. On one
>> occasion I explained (ahem, in French) to the irate Suisse Madame (who
>> parked one of those Cayenne idiot-mobiles across two spots) that it was
>> not my bad parking causing the problem and that I won't be back to my car
>> for at least half an hour... On a similar theme, while walking past a
>> supermarket car park in West London (England) I observed a very angry
>> couple gaining entry to their Mercedes M-class via the rear boot. The Merc
>> wasn't badly parked, the cars on either side were parked just fine, but it
>> was FAR too big for the parking spot. I shoulda taken a pic, but they
>> really weren't happy about all the people smirking at them.
>
>So would people had smirked at people driving a Honda Accord (71.5" wide),
>Toyota Camry (70.7" wide), or VW Passat (68.7" wide)? All of the vehicles
>are within 3.5" of the width of a Merceedes M-Class (72.4")? I can't imagine
>the difference in width between an Accord and an M-Class would have been the
>make or break difference in being able to get in the car. And at least with
>the M-Class you could go in through the rear hatch.

I'm sure your measurement is for a modern Honda Accord, not a 1981 Accord. The
older Honda's are much smaller than current models.
-----------------
Alex

Hey, I looked at the KTLA site and didn't see any storys about an SUV
running over a guy (and I am too far away to run over you...)

There was one story titled "Teenage Passenger Killed in Corona Crash "
(http://ktla.trb.com/news/local/la-me...la-newslocal-1).
Now if an SUV was involved, what do you suppose the title would have
been?

Also, I did a search on "SUV" on the KTLA web site. I immeadiately got
four stories were a crimial was associated with an SUV even though the
SUV was not directly related to the crime (lines similar to "the man
driving an SUV refused to stop for the police", or "the crimials
ditched their SUV in a parking lot", etc). It seems like a subtle form
of anti-SUV propoganda.

I have no problem with people pointing out that SUVs are fuel
inefficient, or that they waste resources. I do have a problem with the
phony sorts of things people associate with SUVs.

Here is one that is on point to this discussion:

"SANTA ANA - A man was killed Sunday after a tow truck that was
removing his SUV from a residential alley ran him over.

Leoncio Flores, 38, parked his teal Chevrolet Suburban near his
ground-floor apartment on 1106 S. Mantle Ave. to unload groceries
Sunday morning, a neighbor, Josefina Ocampo, said.

When Flores saw his SUV was being towed, he ran out to grab the
attention of tow truck driver Paul Michael Sassenberer, 29. "

I suppose the SUV driver got what he deserved.....

Ed

C. E. White wrote:
> "fbloogyudsr" > wrote in message
> ...
> > "C. E. White" > wrote
> >> > wrote ... On a similar theme, while walking past a
> >>> supermarket car park in West London (England) I observed a very angry
> >>> couple gaining entry to their Mercedes M-class via the rear boot. The
> >>> Merc
> >>> wasn't badly parked, the cars on either side were parked just fine, but
> >>> it
> >>> was FAR too big for the parking spot. I shoulda taken a pic, but they
> >>> really weren't happy about all the people smirking at them.
> >>
> >> So would people had smirked at people driving a Honda Accord (71.5"
> >> wide), Toyota Camry (70.7" wide), or VW Passat (68.7" wide)? All of the
> >> vehicles are within 3.5" of the width of a Merceedes M-Class (72.4")? I
> >> can't imagine the difference in width between an Accord and an M-Class
> >> would have been the make or break difference in being able to get in the
> >> car. And at least with the M-Class you could go in through the rear
> >> hatch.
> >
> > Except, Ed, that the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry sold in EUROPE
> > is a different and smaller car than those sold in the US. You need to
> > compare an Acura TSX - sold as the Accord in Europe - which is 2"
> > narrower than the US's Accord - much the same as the Passat.
>
> OK, assuming the cars were properly centered as you suggested, do you think
> 1.8" will make much of a difference?
>
> Your story is a cute anti-SUV piece, but like a lot of the anti-SUV tales,
> it is mostly hyperbole. The most common US SUV, the Ford Explorer has about
> the same footprint as a US Toyota Camry, yet based on the horror stories
> people like to concoct, you would think it was the size of an ocean liner.

The current Explorer 4-dr is 193.5 long and 73.5 inches wide. The
current Camry is 189.2 inches long and 70.7 inches wide. Neither
would fit the city of Palo Alto's definition of "compact" car (180" x
72"), but I find the width is more important when navigating a parking
space.

And old Explorers were samller than newer Explorers. I wonder why cars
keep getting bigger. My Sister had a 1980 Accord and she has a 1997
Civic. The Civic is for all practical purposes just as big as her old
Accord. Apparently the "bigger is better" idea is still alive in the
US..

Ed

Ed White wrote:
> And old Explorers were samller than newer Explorers. I wonder why cars
> keep getting bigger. My Sister had a 1980 Accord and she has a 1997
> Civic. The Civic is for all practical purposes just as big as her old
> Accord. Apparently the "bigger is better" idea is still alive in the
> US..

Look at the new Toyota Corollas. They are bigger than the 1980's Camry
and 1970's Corona which were the full-size cars at those times.

Supersize me!!