Watch your self Doug. Someone will be by to call you a "Camaro hater" any moment now, for pointing that out.

 

Same size as a Malibu. We must get different Camaros in NY, ours are not huge, they look the same size as a Mustang or Accord coupe

 

My point is not that the F5 is individually a big car....but that ALL cars are MUCH bigger than they were before.

I know it's apples and oranges, but say, compare a first gen Mustang to the current model...or a Vega to a Cobalt or....

The trunk lid heghts on new cars is mid chest high to an average person....quarter panel height dimensions on new cars are gynormous.

Why?

 

I have definitely noticed the trend too. Cars seem to be much taller and look more "substantial" than they ever have before. Especially in the rear-ends, they are much higher.

My guess is, crash standards.

 

For the love of god say that louder. I dont know if people realize how big of a savings this is from a weight standpoint. You not only reduce the number of wires, you reduce the size of wires run to switches. Then you have the weight differences between GXL, SXL, TXL insulation (which adds up ). The only downside is all your switches and instrumentation get more expensive...


Weight:

-Wiring/electronics
-Airbags
-Wheels
-Brakes
-Stereos
-50 way power seats
-Big cooling packages (all engines are running hotter these days)
-larger wheelbases
-more steel for better crash protection
-Sound insulation (a lot of weight there)
-Spare tire

 

And the huge SUVs of the last 15 years helped that out a lot. Moving truck bumpers ever and ever higher demanded higher beltlines and trunk lids in an attempt to compensate.

Can you imagine getting broadsided by a new Chevy 1500 with the offroad package while in a new Z06?

 

I was thinking more along the lines of the TR3650 to T56, the T-5's were pretty light duty (I thought they were rated for a maximum of 325 ft/lbs but I see its only 310 with the world class) and Ford hasn't used the T-5 behind anything V8 (with at least 260hp) in some time.

The TR3650 is a beefier M5 trans and I believe the difference from the 3650 to a T56 (or whatever the current M6 in the GT500 is) is right around 25 pounds.

 

Have you seen how big Americans are now a days. I imagine that has something to do with cars being bigger. Everything is bigger today including the seats at the new Yankee Stadium.

 

Charlie,

I'm faaaaaar from being a h8ter...just don't know how we got to this point of building SUV sized cars and then complaining about mileage, etc....

Of course I know the cars of the 50's and early 60's weren't dainty, but there for a while (mid 70's) I 'thought we were going toward smaller, lighter, more efficient cars.......and then the SUV craze went BLAMM...and now everything is bigger than Jay-Lo's @$$........

 

If one compares the current Camry to one from the 80's, there is no contest. You'd have to compare the current Corolla to the 80's Camry to have a competition.

I remember in the mid to late 90's it seemed that Dodge (I wanted to hate Dodge because a buddy of mine always argued with me about how awesome they were) seemed to increasingly make their vehicles bigger than the competition and use that in their marketing approach, IE: Dodge Dakota in 1997 just seemed much, MUCH larger than the Ranger, S10/Sonoma and Tacoma.

It's almost like the inflation of money. Little changes, over time, creating this cycle.

Doug, I'm with you in the 'WHY?'

Maybe it's something beyond the progression of a bigger is better attitude. Maybe people are less and less secure about themselves today then they were and continue to increase sizes in their vehicles. I've often found that the bigger of a truck a guy owns, the more of an inferiority complex he has.

Jeff

 

Coming from the guy who owns the Ranger.

There's all kinds of stereotypes. They say similar things about guys who own cars like ours and the size of their equipment. Owning a certain type or size of vehicle can also say nothing more about the person than the fact that they really like big trucks, or fast cars, or whatever.

 

Yeah, this thing's huge!













[mumble]friggin Camaro haters...[/mumble]

 

I knew that was coming!

True enough - what I should have added was that it appears the manufacturers and designers are using these stereotypes, regardless of how true they are/aren't to influence their increasing models sizes....


....Now I'm off to trade in my Ranger....

 

Doug, I know you are a big Camaro enthusiast, just like I am. I was just being facetious and poking fun at all the resident 5th gen ***** who label people if you happen to notice and mention that the new car is LARGE.

But I know what you mean about cars getting larger. I mean, I can see why a sedan like say the Accord for instance, would get larger. With every gen, you're trying to get your buyer into a larger, more contented, more expensive car, as they're demographics change.

But it's a trend that concerns me, and with new CAFE, I think we'll see it being reversed.

 

Agreed.