Cars are smaller than they were years ago, line spacing seems to be measured to those more modern dimensions. I have a Ram 3500 single axle long bed. Parking garages can be problematic, and I avoid them if possible. Another thing is that I avoid parking around other vehicles, and never pull in, but back in. With a long wheel base truck it can be near impossible to back out of a spot, and much easier to pull out. I am very glad I didn't get a dually.
Full size Pick-Ups and Parking Spots
- Thread starter bunnspecial
- Start date
that's one more thing for my nephew to get used to..
nearly all his driving has been in his mom's hand me down '05 Impala
he just bought for his first car, a 99 f150, Single cab long bed.
nearly all his driving has been in his mom's hand me down '05 Impala
he just bought for his first car, a 99 f150, Single cab long bed.
Heh, I do this in my car, mainly for 2 reasons: 1) It has horrible rear visibility and 2) every single time, either SUVs, trucks, mini-vans/vans, etc will park on both sides of me !
Nick1994
$100 site donor 2024
Cars are getting bigger. My old Camry is basically a Corolla these days.
Trucks are bigger but many parking spaces are smaller too.
I really like the sams club in north canton with the double lined parking spots.
the one in fairlawn is terrible my cherokee has about 6" or less TOTAL between the lines(both sides combined)
I really like the sams club in north canton with the double lined parking spots.
the one in fairlawn is terrible my cherokee has about 6" or less TOTAL between the lines(both sides combined)
Are they really, though?
I realize that we're far removed from the land yachts of the 70s and even into the 90s, but looking at some other popular cars by width
2000 Toyota Camry 70.3"
2021 Toyota Camry 72.4"
2000 Toyota Corolla 66.73"
2021 Toyota Corolla 70.1"
2000 Toyota Avalon 71.7"
2021 Toyota Avalon 72.8"
2000 Honda Accord 66.7"
2021 Honda Accord 73.3"
2000 Ford Taurus 73.0"
2019 Ford Taurus 76.2"(last year made)
2000 BMW E39 5-series 70.9"
2021 BMW G30 5-series 73.1"
2000 Chevy Impala 73"
2020 Chevy Impala 73"
To be fair, these are still smaller than RWD body on frame cars like the Crown Vic(77.3" 2012) or Caprice(77.5" 1996) but even in the 90s this wasn't a huge fraction of cars on the road.
By the above, most "typical" FWD mid to full size cars have reliably grown ~3" wider in the last 20 years. I know I could cherry pick other examples to either support or refute it, but I think the Camry is especially telling considering that it's consistently been one of the most popular cars in America. The Camry gets even more dramatic when you compare it to '87 my grandfather put 250K or so on from new up to the late 2000s, which was 66.5" wide. Hack, the modern Corolla was bigger than his Camry.
I do think we saw a mass shedding of car dimensions in the 80s when FWD unibodies became the "default" choice for a lot of people over the older big RWD body on frame cars, but since then from what I see cars seem to be growing. The Crown Vic(and Panther as a whole) is one of my favorite car platforms of all time for how simple, reliable, and comforable it is, but in 2012 it was definitely more a relic than an example of a normal car.
LOL Yeah I come from the era when cars were huge! My first car was a 1963 Pontiac Catalina. Length is really where the difference is.
It was big enough for all the other vehicles - cars, SUVs, etc. My Honda and BMW are not small vehicles and there was enough room for them.
It shows how much the Tacoma has grown. I owned a 1996 Tacoma. Today a Tacoma is as big as a regular pickup used to be.
Parking spots are definitely getting narrower and shorter as well.
Backup cameras ftw. When I lived in high density areas I learned that one could stop traffic to back into a spot, but traffic would not stop to let me back out. So I kept the habit as it just kept blood pressures down all around. Driving a truck, that camera gets me over the line, or half an inch off the fence, wall, or bollard. I’ll do this in both the car and the truck.
@The Critic - mentioned that the gen1 tundra was a 7/8 truck. It absolutely was, and it was a great size for daily use. Small enough that it really wasn’t a bother to handle in tighter confines, but still a very nice open cab and usable bed. It seemed to have more greenhouse than the new Tacomas, which are approaching it in size. It was also built like a brick s-house, a solid truck.
@The Critic - mentioned that the gen1 tundra was a 7/8 truck. It absolutely was, and it was a great size for daily use. Small enough that it really wasn’t a bother to handle in tighter confines, but still a very nice open cab and usable bed. It seemed to have more greenhouse than the new Tacomas, which are approaching it in size. It was also built like a brick s-house, a solid truck.
The current Canyon / Colorado is closest to the size of 1970-80's 1/2 tons. A 1970's dad was a slimmer guy too.
Now lets talk about the marshmallow, cookie, chocolate treat of our youth that has SHRUNK ! Wagonwheels we're looking at you!
Now lets talk about the marshmallow, cookie, chocolate treat of our youth that has SHRUNK ! Wagonwheels we're looking at you!
The last pickup I had was a 91 Ranger.
Mine was pretty darn basic with a standard cab/full bed and not a lot of "luxury" beyond A/C and an automatic. To me it was pretty much a perfect truck-it was big enough for a lot of my truck needs(haul furniture, loose dirt, or maybe even an engine or transmission) small was small, nimble, and frankly fun to drive. I've heard more than one person comment on these Rangers being more like a Go-Kart.
Growing up, my dad had a GMC G-15?(the GMC S-10) for a while that was bare bones-no air or automatic. Later on, he had a 96 Tacoma, and in a lot of ways it reminded me of a Ranger. I don't know how close they are in size, but I'd guess pretty darn close. It's a shame so many of those were crushed due to frame rot. A friend of mine sold maybe an '04 not too long ago-manual, 4WD, and I think a V6. He'd managed to get a frame replacement and not a buy-buy/crush on it. I was surprised at what he was able to get for that truck.
With all the old compacts, the real fun was in the extra cab. When I was in middle school, a friends parents had just bought a new Ranger with the fold out jump seats. I rode back there many, many times and it was...snug...to say the least. I think I was in high school the last time I was back there, and over 6 ft tall-it was barely tolerable in middle school, and down right uncomfortable as I was older. At least the side-facing Ranger seats gave a bit more leg room than the front-facing Tacoma seats.
I never really drove a compact truck much, but for 1-2 people the extra cab is just right for a daily driver or even taking short trips. When I drove that standard cab Ranger to work, my work bag would end up riding shotgun, and it would have been handy to toss it back there since I didn't want it rattling around in the bed. I could have easily fit an overnight or couple of night duffle bag back there also.
I miss those little trucks, and I was disappointed that the new Ranger was so big.
Mine was pretty darn basic with a standard cab/full bed and not a lot of "luxury" beyond A/C and an automatic. To me it was pretty much a perfect truck-it was big enough for a lot of my truck needs(haul furniture, loose dirt, or maybe even an engine or transmission) small was small, nimble, and frankly fun to drive. I've heard more than one person comment on these Rangers being more like a Go-Kart.
Growing up, my dad had a GMC G-15?(the GMC S-10) for a while that was bare bones-no air or automatic. Later on, he had a 96 Tacoma, and in a lot of ways it reminded me of a Ranger. I don't know how close they are in size, but I'd guess pretty darn close. It's a shame so many of those were crushed due to frame rot. A friend of mine sold maybe an '04 not too long ago-manual, 4WD, and I think a V6. He'd managed to get a frame replacement and not a buy-buy/crush on it. I was surprised at what he was able to get for that truck.
With all the old compacts, the real fun was in the extra cab. When I was in middle school, a friends parents had just bought a new Ranger with the fold out jump seats. I rode back there many, many times and it was...snug...to say the least. I think I was in high school the last time I was back there, and over 6 ft tall-it was barely tolerable in middle school, and down right uncomfortable as I was older. At least the side-facing Ranger seats gave a bit more leg room than the front-facing Tacoma seats.
I never really drove a compact truck much, but for 1-2 people the extra cab is just right for a daily driver or even taking short trips. When I drove that standard cab Ranger to work, my work bag would end up riding shotgun, and it would have been handy to toss it back there since I didn't want it rattling around in the bed. I could have easily fit an overnight or couple of night duffle bag back there also.
I miss those little trucks, and I was disappointed that the new Ranger was so big.
i can park a dually practically anywhere and drive it with a car hauler thru NYC
is it fun? no
is it doable? yes
and then of course there’s real truck drivers, ask them how they get around
is it fun? no
is it doable? yes
and then of course there’s real truck drivers, ask them how they get around
My ‘85 Ranger had the 2.8 V6 with a manual and it never ran right. I traded it in on a ‘96 Tacoma with the 2.7 4 banger. That engine was gutsy even with the automatic.
They were very close in size. The bed of the Tacoma might have been slightly smaller but when it came to hauling loads the Tacoma beat the Ranger.
I never had any signs of frame rust. My only complaint on the Tacoma was that the interior was chintzy. The headliner was simple vinyl sheet and the dashboard was really thin plastic resin. Not a luxurious truck but it did whatever I asked of it.
I’ve found that the newer the development/lot the tighter the spots are.
Parking spots HAVE shrunk. I've seen several instances of newly painted parking lot lines being about a foot closer together than the older lines.
I went and looked up some statistics for Dodge/Ram:
1991, Extra Cab, Long Bed, 237.9" long and 79.5" wide
2021 Quad Cab, 6'4" Bed, 228.9" long and 82.1" wide.
So the '21 is 9" shorter and a little under 3" wider than the '91.
Spaces have shrunk. Trucks are not much bigger than they were 30 years ago.
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- Dec 30, 2006
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The problem is, they're trying to cram way too many parking spots into the parking lots.
Hermann
Site Donor 2023
I was at WalMart this morning and parked and went in. When I came out there was a Expedtion and a Ram 1500 on either side of me. You talk about tight, barely got in without dinging their doors.
