The House Size - Car Size Disconnect

[ChewingGrass]

Just realised that in the same time frame that new houses have got smaller cars have got correspondingly bigger. Have been watching with some amusement all the large SUV/Merc/AUDI type cars trying to squeeze through a chicane of parked vehicles in my twee estate this morning and come to the conclusion that as global manufacturers swing to one floorpan suits all for both American and European markets we have been left with the consequences of this and vehicular vanity.

Can't for the life of me see why people are so stupid as to put up with the hassle of driving a car that is as big if not bigger in some cases as a transit van!

[MattW]

19 minutes ago, ChewingGrass said:

Just realised that in the same time frame that new houses have got smaller cars have got correspondingly bigger. Have been watching with some amusement all the large SUV/Merc/AUDI type cars trying to squeeze through a chicane of parked vehicles in my twee estate this morning and come to the conclusion that as global manufacturers swing to one floorpan suits all for both American and European markets we have been left with the consequences of this and vehicular vanity.

Can't for the life of me see why people are so stupid as to put up with the hassle of driving a car that is as big if not bigger in some cases as a transit van!

I live on a shite 2006 built estate and I see this. A chicane which is very narrow, cars parked on the section of the chicane where pedestrians are supposed to work and houses slap bang opposite one another c. 30 foot apart. Nice view into the bedrooms of the neighbours opposite. An ugly white whale of a 14 reg BMW 520d is parked in the drive of a plain looking semi. A bit 'keeping up with the Joneses' around here, which I detest.

Not just this but these cars are always parked in the drive and not the garage. I park my 13 year old sub £1,000 value car in the garage underneith the 'coach house' style flat I rent but the neighbours prefer to park their £20,000 cars outside, exposed to the elements while their junk (maybe worth less than £100) is stored in the garages! Maybe cars are so large that they don't fit in the garages.

[ChewingGrass]

Audi Q7 is 75mm longer but 20mm narrower than a Transit Custom so in all intents and purposes it is the same size.

The Q7 starts at £47600 whereas the transit starts at £22000 and finishes at £33000 for the spunked up one with alloys, leather seats and the most powerful engine.

 

[Inoperational Bumblebee]

It's not just the size. Council estate near me is packed to the brim with expensive German cars!

[renting til I die]

That is because German cars have been so cheap while the pound was high against the euro. 

We'll see how many German cars there are over the next few years! 

Edited October 9, 2016 by renting til I die
Additional cr#p

[Sandwiches33]

I am often in many many traffic jams as someone tries to turn there panzer in a typically british street and has to do a many point turn. Its usually tiny women driving these monsters too while sitting on a  cushion.

I love having a little car. You get everywhere much faster, you find spaces easier and driving is much less stressful. My little car has all the features too, leather seats nice stereo, sat nav. I can see no reasons for a panzer outside of ego. If I need to carry big stuff i rent or borrow a transit.

The only difference between one of these and me on british streets is that every 10 minutes they throw a tenner out the window while we are both stuck in the same traffic.

 

[DrMartinSanchez]

Every time I see someone driving one of those giant "urban SUVs" this is what I think happened:

[MattW]

^ Brilliant!

[Si1]

Low interest rates. My money's not doing anything sat in the bank! I'm an accidental BTLer. S24, who me?

[worried1]

On ‎09‎/‎10‎/‎2016 at 8:07 PM, Inoperational Bumblebee said:

It's not just the size. Council estate near me is packed to the brim with expensive German cars!

I guess cars are just ridiculously cheap compared to houses these days.

If you go back to the 1980s, a luxury detached house in a good SE commuter town was probably around £250k, and a 'commensurate' car to park on the drive about £25k new.

Now that house would be £2m+ and the car about £50k, so in some ways it is not a surprise to see the equivalent car outside a £500k flat or terraced house instead.

In fact, it is often the £2m+ houses often have old, cheap cars outside now. Is that because the owners don't car about cars or because they are spending all of their money on the house?

[Inoperational Bumblebee]

46 minutes ago, worried1 said:

I guess cars are just ridiculously cheap compared to houses these days.

If you go back to the 1980s, a luxury detached house in a good SE commuter town was probably around £250k, and a 'commensurate' car to park on the drive about £25k new.

Now that house would be £2m+ and the car about £50k, so in some ways it is not a surprise to see the equivalent car outside a £500k flat or terraced house instead.

In fact, it is often the £2m+ houses often have old, cheap cars outside now. Is that because the owners don't car about cars or because they are spending all of their money on the house?

That, and the PCP/ HP deals on cars making expensive ones 'affordable'. All about the monthly payment, innit.

Regarding the £2m+ houses, I suspect there's a class thing going on there. Upper middle-class people seem to be less about conspicuous consumption i.e. will have the 10 year old Volvo estate outside because they don't need to make a show of being rich.

[spunko2010]

I'd take a £33k transit over a Q7 any day. I love the go faster stripes on the top end ones, tacky but of course necessary.

 While we're on the subject I do like the "M Sport" chavvy transits you see, eg: http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201609157800065

[Sandwiches33]

1 hour ago, spunko2010 said:

I'd take a £33k transit over a Q7 any day. I love the go faster stripes on the top end ones, tacky but of course necessary.

 While we're on the subject I do like the "M Sport" chavvy transits you see, eg: http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201609157800065

That is amazing

I would put  a pop top on it and a day van conversion so I could adventure all over europe in it.

[MattW]

8 hours ago, spunko2010 said:

I'd take a £33k transit over a Q7 any day. I love the go faster stripes on the top end ones, tacky but of course necessary.

 While we're on the subject I do like the "M Sport" chavvy transits you see, eg: http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201609157800065

Wow, some impressive tranny action right there.

Cooler than a bodykitted Vauxhall Zafira or similar MPV...which just make the drivers look a bit desperate to be cool imo.

[spunko2010]

There is little on the road more tragic than a Sharan with a bodykit.

[Sandwiches33]

47 minutes ago, spunko2010 said:

There is little on the road more tragic than a Sharan with a bodykit.

Theres a Vauxhall zafira with a big body kit and bean tin exhaust round by me. 

If your an old dad there comes a point where you have to just let it go.

[hp72]

There is also a very low-key Ford S-Max with the ST engine (2.5 Turbo petrol) putting out from 220-300BHP that is a great drive whilst carrying seven passengers plus luggage. Trust me, I know - it's fun. 

[newbonic]

I traveled through a new housing estate that's been built on the old Orgreave coking plant/open cast mine in Sheffield recently. There are a mix of new 4 bed detached, semis and terraced houses (sorry, town houses). It was striking how most drives had new or newish German cars on their drives. If you were a keep up with the Jones's type I imagine you'd be pretty distraught if you had to have a Vauxhall on your drive.

I pretty sure that the majority of them are lease hire (or HP/on the tick as we used to say!) either via a company or a personal contract. And that most 'owners' are shelling out £4 - £5k per year to rent a car from Audi, VW, or BMW. Forever.

[The Knimbies who say No]

On 25 October 2016 at 11:27 AM, spunko2010 said:

There is little on the road more tragic than a Sharan with a bodykit.

I saw a Toyota Previa with a stainless aftermarket exhaust once. 

 

[spunko2010]

On 31/10/2016 at 0:57 PM, newbonic said:

I traveled through a new housing estate that's been built on the old Orgreave coking plant/open cast mine in Sheffield recently. There are a mix of new 4 bed detached, semis and terraced houses (sorry, town houses). It was striking how most drives had new or newish German cars on their drives. If you were a keep up with the Jones's type I imagine you'd be pretty distraught if you had to have a Vauxhall on your drive.

I pretty sure that the majority of them are lease hire (or HP/on the tick as we used to say!) either via a company or a personal contract. And that most 'owners' are shelling out £4 - £5k per year to rent a car from Audi, VW, or BMW. Forever.

It's the future innit. Everything on credit, sod it.

[notMyName]

On 10/31/2016 at 0:57 PM, newbonic said:

I traveled through a new housing estate that's been built on the old Orgreave coking plant/open cast mine in Sheffield recently. There are a mix of new 4 bed detached, semis and terraced houses (sorry, town houses). It was striking how most drives had new or newish German cars on their drives. If you were a keep up with the Jones's type I imagine you'd be pretty distraught if you had to have a Vauxhall on your drive.

I pretty sure that the majority of them are lease hire (or HP/on the tick as we used to say!) either via a company or a personal contract. And that most 'owners' are shelling out £4 - £5k per year to rent a car from Audi, VW, or BMW. Forever.

I mow a couple of lawns on there. The place looks like a BMW showroom, it's a bit weird.

[onlyme2]

Manufacturing has progressed, housebuilding hasn't and land has been restricted. Relatively, cars are cheap and productivity is orders of magnitude better than the housing industry, houses absurdly expensive as a result. There's real competition in the automative sector and very little in housing - almost a closed shop due to land banking. I looked for years for land and never found any suitable for self build.

Contract hire rates (very low at the moment) are highly reliant on residual values. Those will collapse when put to the test and the whole financing model will fall apart just like the debt/housing model did.

 

 

[Simon Taylor]

On 10/18/2016 at 2:34 PM, worried1 said:

I guess cars are just ridiculously cheap compared to houses these days.

If you go back to the 1980s, a luxury detached house in a good SE commuter town was probably around £250k, and a 'commensurate' car to park on the drive about £25k new.

Now that house would be £2m+ and the car about £50k, so in some ways it is not a surprise to see the equivalent car outside a £500k flat or terraced house instead.

In fact, it is often the £2m+ houses often have old, cheap cars outside now. Is that because the owners don't car about cars or because they are spending all of their money on the house?

Cars are subject to the forces of a free market.  Accordingly,  they get better.   Any which were badly built,  poorly designed,  smaller and yet more expensive that those built ten years ago wouldn't sell and the manufacturers would go bust.  

The housing market doesn't have such inconvenient market forces to improve its output and the state interferes in a way which restricts output,  stifles competition and results in a smaller,  more expensive product,  all to the detriment of the consumer.

[Errol]

They aren't actually 'selling'. They are mostly being rented or owned on credit. The car market has been and is being distorted by credit in almost exactly the same way as the housing market.