Please explain this behavior to me.

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I almost always park on the passenger side of another vehicle provided the spaces are adequate size to get in/out. I know I won't ding their car. I hope they are a single occupant vehicle and even more hope they will not return before I do. That protects one side of my vehicle from inconsiderate people hopefully.
 
I almost always park on the passenger side of another vehicle provided the spaces are adequate size to get in/out. I know I won't ding their car. I hope they are a single occupant vehicle and even more hope they will not return before I do. That protects one side of my vehicle from inconsiderate people hopefully.

Agree. Also park against curbs in the lot if you can.
 
Maybe thats why they are labeled for compact car. Yugos,geo metros, and maybe ford festiva?
Those are sub-compacts.

"Automobile classes are defined by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Fuel Economy Regulations for 1977 and Later Model Year, dated July 1996. Compact cars have a combined passenger and cargo interior volume between 100 and 109 cubic feet. According to the EPA, a compact car should be able to comfortably seat up to four passengers."
https://www.caranddriver.com/research/a32798948/what-is-a-compact-car/

EPA classifies it as a subcompact, but it's closer to an actual compact IMO.
https://www.caranddriver.com/ford/mustang-2023/specs

Mustang is a coupe 2+2 seater, 85 cubic feet passenger space, cargo 13 c/f, (~98 c/f total) and 188 inches long. It's certainly within or darn close to a compact sized car.

I take no issue with where OP chose to park to mitigate damage and increase ease of access and egress. I take 100% issue with the inconsiderate Lexus driver here.
 
You're lucky you live that people can park between the lines. Around my parts, there's usually one yahoo that parks cattywampus and the whole lot is screwed skewed.

No sense in losing sleep trying to figure out peoples behavior. Most will think you're the crazy one.
 
A picture really doesn't portray the distance accurately. I should have taken another one directly down the passenger side of my car. Unless this person is 95 lb soaking wet, there was a struggle getting out of that Lexus. A struggle that may well have culminated in a dent or ding in my car, which I won't discover until I get home tonight.
Its how we handle these times of distress that describes who we are as a person. Mental and emotional resiliency to annoyances in life make for a happier human.
 
Its how we handle these times of distress that describes who we are as a person. Mental and emotional resiliency to annoyances in life make for a happier human.
So in other words just forget any expectation of common courtesy so I won't be disappointed?
I believe a note left on the Lexus windshield would have been appropriate. "I parked here for XXX reasons, and it was inconsiderate of you to park next to me. Please be more courteous to others."
 
Mustang is a coupe 2+2 seater, 85 cubic feet passenger space, cargo 13 c/f, (~98 c/f total) and 188 inches long. It's certainly within or darn close to a compact sized car.
It's also wider than a Chevy Malibu. But if the OP was really so concerned about door dings, shouldn't he seek out the largest parking spots, instead of the smallest?
 
Those are sub-compacts.

"Automobile classes are defined by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Fuel Economy Regulations for 1977 and Later Model Year, dated July 1996. Compact cars have a combined passenger and cargo interior volume between 100 and 109 cubic feet. According to the EPA, a compact car should be able to comfortably seat up to four passengers."
https://www.caranddriver.com/research/a32798948/what-is-a-compact-car/

EPA classifies it as a subcompact, but it's closer to an actual compact IMO.
https://www.caranddriver.com/ford/mustang-2023/specs

Mustang is a coupe 2+2 seater, 85 cubic feet passenger space, and 188 inches long. It's certainly within or darn close to a compact sized car.

The Mustang is subcompact in interior space not actual dimensions which are important to this thread.

it exceeds the length for compact.

An average compact in the mid 80's the cavalier was 175x66
mustang in 2018 188″L x 75"W WITHOUT MIRRORS.
 
It's also wider than a Chevy Malibu. But if the OP was really so concerned about door dings, shouldn't he seek out the largest parking spots, instead of the smallest?
If there's a spot larger than these in this parking lot, I'm not aware of it. They're all the same size, but they mark these for compact cars so nobody will park an F-150 long bed crew cab in them and block the isle.
 
I believe a note left on the Lexus windshield would have been appropriate. "I parked here for XXX reasons, and it was inconsiderate of you to park next to me. Please be more courteous to others."
Lexus driver would respond that they were courteous by parking within the lines and not allowing their door to ding the precious Mustang.
 
It's also wider than a Chevy Malibu. But if the OP was really so concerned about door dings, shouldn't he seek out the largest parking spots, instead of the smallest?
I've never seen a parking lot with wider spots, they all are uniform in my 3+ decades of driving experience. The only variance is longer spots, generally found at highway rest stops or cargo areas for semi trucks. I don't recall ever in my life seeing non-uniformly wider spots. If so, I would agree and I would seek those out as well. I doubt it applies here.

I guess taking it further, OP could have parked far away or left his car at home and rode a bike or took a bus. Is that reasonable? Or is it just more reasonable to expect some space when clearly indicating so by parking as OP did?

I will note that part of this issue, as mentioned by others, is the absurdity of squeezing more spots in to a garage or lot space. Spaces have shrunk over the decades, it seems. Yet, OPs car appears to fit in the lines. Again I cannot fault him at all here. An expectation of some space is reasonable given how he parked.
 
The Mustang is subcompact in interior space not actual dimensions which are important to this thread.

it exceeds the length for compact.

An average compact in the mid 80's the cavalier was 175x66
mustang in 2018 188″L x 75"W WITHOUT MIRRORS.
Eh, maybe. It's debateable. The EPA disagrees, but it's moot. Is length the issue here? NO.

A mustang is close enough to be considered a compact, regardless of a few inches length. EPA says it's a subcompact. Regardless, empty lot. Lexus is visually the same size as well, AND decides to snug up. That's a problem.
 
If there's a spot larger than these in this parking lot, I'm not aware of it. They're all the same size, but they mark these for compact cars so nobody will park an F-150 long bed crew cab in them and block the isle.
BINGO. I interpret the "compact" request to be telling drivers of clearly full sized vehicles, including obnoxious monster SUVs and Trucks, or clearly full size sedans, station wagons, etc. to park elsewhere.

By common parlance a mustang is a compact car, a 2+2 coupe. It has the same basic dimensions, give or take, as a Civic. Civic is 5 inches shorter but has 15 c/f more volume. I'd consider the Civic a compact and not think twice if one parked there.

OP has parked within all dimensions of the lines, including length. I don't see an issue with his car parked there whatsoever.
 
It's rare that you find spots wide enough that even a small four door car like mine can open the doors fully and not hit the car beside them... So I am not really sure why the width of the space is being discussed here. Just because it is a Mustang doesn't really change a whole lot. I still wouldn't park directly beside another car if there were lots of empty spots available, even if the spaces were plenty wide. For the same reason I don't use the urinal beside another dude when there are eight empty ones to the right.
 
Not mathematically correct, and my brain just supernova'd.

** ducks **
Lol...I'm going to say if you plot parking distance between vehicles on the x-axis vs % chance of door contact on the y-axis, as the distance between parked cars decreases, the % chance of door contact increases exponentially following an exponential decay function. The question is what is the decay constant (which would have to be experimentally determined to factor in different vehicles plus human behavior - super messy) as that will greatly affect the "minimum safe distance" to park where the chance of door contact isn't necessarily zero (that'd be a distance greater than the swing of the door), but low enough to tolerate some risk of door contact vs available parking space.
 
Eh, maybe. It's debateable. The EPA disagrees, but it's moot. Is length the issue here? NO.

A mustang is close enough to be considered a compact, regardless of a few inches length. EPA says it's a subcompact. Regardless, empty lot. Lexus is visually the same size as well, AND decides to snug up. That's a problem.
Not sure how to say this any more clearly.
You keep replying without processing the information you are given.. its like you see half the post and ignore the other half.

Summary:
the mustang is 9" wider than a 1980's compact... assuming the 1980's compact had 2 mirrors otherwise the mustang is well over 15" wider.

the mustang if it had sufficient interior room would be "mid size"
since its a sports car its rated subcompact for its INTERIOR SIZE. Which has absolutely no bearing.

The OP parked in the compact section of a 1980's parking deck.

Main point: While not ideal a car that parked next to me without leaving a door ding wouldn't enrage me to thoughts of vandalism or posting it on the internet.

The bad "girl" car in this is perfectly centered.. not "snugged up".

The car was not "Snugged up"
Just to say it again
The car was not "Snugged up".
 
BINGO. I interpret the "compact" request to be telling drivers of clearly full sized vehicles, including obnoxious monster SUVs and Trucks, or clearly full size sedans, station wagons, etc. to park elsewhere.

By common parlance a mustang is a compact car, a 2+2 coupe. It has the same basic dimensions, give or take, as a Civic. Civic is 5 inches shorter but has 15 c/f more volume. I'd consider the Civic a compact and not think twice if one parked there.

OP has parked within all dimensions of the lines, including length. I don't see an issue with his car parked there whatsoever.
The "compact" thing is a red herring here; like the OP said the garage was built in the early 80s and nothing has been changed since. We have no reason to believe the management company of that building has remained current with the legal designations of what is and what isn't a compact over all these years since then. Most likely not. If those spots are indeed shorter than some of the others, they might have more likely labelled them as being for subcompacts not compacts.
 
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