Spoken like someone without a family. You have no idea how small cars are for even a short trip with a family of 4.
Manufactures are also dropping their smallest cars, so effectively all cars are getting continually bigger and as a consumer it’s gradual you don’t realize it until the car doesn’t fit into the garage any more.
Surely this can't be correct?
There are more city car models (compact cars) available right now than 10 years ago. You might argue that their sales are lacklustre, but if a consumer wanted one, they are spoilt for choice.
I think the thing is, people who need a car need something slightly larger than a subcompact (2x baby seats + 1x pram don't normally fit in these tiny cars), while people who don't have kids don't need a car anyway - cheaper and easier to use the public transport.
We used to go on long trips with a family of 5 in normal sized cars regularly. Of course I would never do that today. Like many families we don't have a car and rent as needed. Long trips with kids are just infinitely much better by train.
Of course you won't - the baby seats that are safe enough to pass regulations are too large to fit 2 of them into the back seat of that old normal sized car.
Long family trips in smaller cars were done without baby seats or booster seats.
Used to be that putting unbelted kids in the back of a vehicle was fine. I grew up using such vehicles. The regulatory environment and equipment have changed significantly over the years. Can't really compare today with the past as trying to live that way will get you seriously fined if not arrested.
https://www.argos.co.uk/product/9020706
Though the ones we have are a bit more bulky.
Do you go on multi-day trips, where you need clothes are gear for everyone?
Do you have smaller children's car seats will take up 80% of the back seats?
Sometimes I bring a Brompton folding bicycle and a Thule Coaster trailer along with the kids when we want to go for a ride.
https://axkid.com/uk/product/axkid-move/ https://www.babyzen.com/
But for the record, when biking to work today I biked for some time behind a father on a cargo bike with two kids seated in the trunk. We zoomed past the traffic on the main road, that of course was at a stand still. :)
And the reason everyone is going on about "car size inflation" and how it was fine in smaller cars 20 years ago is the same reason - you didn't have to use child seats. Now because of safety you literally can't have a family larger than 2 children with a smaller car.
Do families get to go anywhere for more than a few hours? How do you bring all their stuff along like clothes, toothbrush, etc. Every child needs a minimum of 1l of water all the time, and some snacks in case they get hungry. And toys. And change of clothes in case they spill the 1l of water on themselves in the winter.
What happens when both parents have 20kg+ bags and one of your children decides to run away, say into traffic?
Judging by the replies to my original comment, not many people on HN have children or have any idea what it involves.
While I instinctively agree with you, I have lots of friends with children who seem to do perfectly fine with just electric cargo bikes and public transport. And these are people with good jobs that could afford a big SUV if they really wanted one. So while you or I don't seem to get it, a lot of other people seem have worked it out no problem.
Even the new Chevy trucks that everyone loves to hate don't have a child blind spot that's larger than their stopping distance at any double digit speed.
The rest of the world can fit 4 people, a dog and their stuff in a normal sedan or station wagon.
Americans need a TRUCK to get groceries.
The demographics who are doing most of the complaining about the proliferation of big vehicles generally wouldn't be caught dead doing this (let alone doing it regularly) because it's not acceptable for people of their means if you catch my drift.
They also tend to complain and complain and complain about people buying trucks and SUVs they "don't need" and then the nanosecond they see someone doing "truck stuff" with a station wagon or crossover they're hand wringing about safety and margin for error.
Basically this is a social norms problem and the groups complaining about it are the ones who created the mess.
This thread has plenty of parents (myself included) saying that small cars are fine for raising a family. I see people towing with wagons (rare, now, sadly) and wring no hands. What's not acceptable for someone of my means? I am genuinely confused.
> You have no idea how small cars are for even a short trip with a family of 4.
You think that they grew up in family of 2?