More than 150 car models are now too big to fit in average car parking spaces, according to analysis conducted by Which?.
While the size of the standard parking bay has remained static for decades, cars have been growing longer and wider in a phenomenon known as “autobesity”.
Natalie Hitchins, Which?’s home products and services editor, said: “Cars are getting larger and larger, and while this might mean a more comfortable driving experience, it could be a problem when it comes to squeezing into a parking space.”
There is growing debate about car size and road safety, after two eight-year-old girls, Selena Lau and Nuria Sajjad, died when a Land Rover crashed through a school fence in south-west London in July.
Which? found that 161 car models it tested were longer than a standard car parking bay, with 12 exceeding the limit by more than 30cm. This was an increase from 2019, when only 129 did not fit the standard bay.
The longest car is now the BMW i7, which when parked in a standard bay will stick out more than half a metre, posing potential challenges for other motorists manoeuvring around the car park, as well as pedestrians. A Mercedes-Benz S-Class hybrid is 44.6cm longer than an average bay, while an Audi A8 sticks out by 37.2cm.
The research also revealed that 27 models are too wide for drivers to comfortably open their doors when parked between two other cars. Which? categorised a car as being “too wide” if its width leaves less than 22cm between the car and the bay.
The Land Rover Discovery measures 2.073 metres wide, leaving a narrow 16.35cm space between the doors and the bay’s borders. That’s little more than the height of an iPhone 14 Plus.
The Jaguar I-Pace is 2.011 metres, while the BMW X5’s width spans 2.004 metres across, leaving the driver and passengers with a 19.8cm leeway each side in a parking bay.
The trend of “autobesity” is forcing car park providers to think of new ways to accommodate larger cars, such as introducing wider bays. However, the British Parking Association (BPA) told Which? that adapting to the trend of bigger, wider cars was not always easy. Multistorey car parks in particular provide challenges to growing car sizes, as they are not easily adaptable and rebuilding is too costly.
“While some car parks are introducing wider bays it won’t be the case everywhere, and some drivers might struggle getting parked up in certain locations – particularly multistorey car parks,” said Hitchins.
All three of the widest cars are sports utility vehicles (SUVs). Often nicknamed “Chelsea tractors”, their use in city centres has long been criticised, with some road safety campaigners calling for them to be banned in busy pedestrian areas.
A study published in the Journal of Safety Research last year found that children were eight times more likely to die when struck by an SUV than those struck by a passenger car. The largest SUV weighs 2,000kg, compared with about 1,200kg for a family hatchback.
Campaigners have questioned why drivers need such large and dangerous cars in the city, particularly when dropping children off at school, with some going to extreme measures to get their message across.
The guerrilla campaign group Tyre Extinguishers last week deflated the tyres of dozens of SUVs, tweeting: “These child killers have no place in our cities.”
Despite the dangers, the parking challenges, and the protests, SUVs are becoming increasingly popular choices with car consumers. More than 40% of annual car sales in the UK today are SUVs, compared with less than 20% a decade ago.
