Looking at replacing the 11 year old estate which just fits between our
house and next door (with the wooden gates folded back pretty flat
against the walls. There is enough room but it can be a bit of a fiddle.

The new cars all seem to be between 7 and 10 cms wider - when you only
have about 18cms to play with now....

May need to look at replacing the gates - what would be the thinest
material to use to give as much space as possible?

--
John Alexander

On Sunday, July 20, 2014 6:30:11 PM UTC+1, John Alexander wrote:
Looking at replacing the 11 year old estate which just fits between our

house and next door (with the wooden gates folded back pretty flat

against the walls. There is enough room but it can be a bit of a fiddle.



The new cars all seem to be between 7 and 10 cms wider - when you only

have about 18cms to play with now....



May need to look at replacing the gates - what would be the thinest

material to use to give as much space as possible?



--

John Alexander

Because people are?

Jonathan

On 20/07/2014 18:42, Jonathan wrote:
On Sunday, July 20, 2014 6:30:11 PM UTC+1, John Alexander wrote:
Looking at replacing the 11 year old estate which just fits between our

house and next door (with the wooden gates folded back pretty flat

against the walls. There is enough room but it can be a bit of a fiddle.



The new cars all seem to be between 7 and 10 cms wider - when you only

have about 18cms to play with now....



May need to look at replacing the gates - what would be the thinest

material to use to give as much space as possible?



--

John Alexander

Because people are?

Jonathan


I think it is to meet standard "side impact" accidents.

Sheet metal could be made thinner than wooden gates, as could fabricated
metal ones, but do they need to fold back against the walls? Perhaps you
need a portcullis.

On 20/07/2014 18:30, John Alexander wrote:
Looking at replacing the 11 year old estate which just fits between our
house and next door (with the wooden gates folded back pretty flat
against the walls. There is enough room but it can be a bit of a fiddle.

The new cars all seem to be between 7 and 10 cms wider - when you only
have about 18cms to play with now....

Side impact protection is the main reason that cars have got wider over
the years.

May need to look at replacing the gates - what would be the thinest
material to use to give as much space as possible?


Do you really need a gate? If you do, could it slide to one side, or
lift (either vertically or like and up and over garage door) instead of
folding back against the walls?

--
Colin Bignell

Nightjar wrote:
Do you really need a gate? If you do, could it slide to one side, or
lift (either vertically or like and up and over garage door) instead of
folding back against the walls?

Find a half-gate level crossing that's being upgraded full-gate?...

jgh

"John Alexander" wrote in message
...
Looking at replacing the 11 year old estate which just fits between our
house and next door (with the wooden gates folded back pretty flat against
the walls. There is enough room but it can be a bit of a fiddle.

The new cars all seem to be between 7 and 10 cms wider - when you only
have about 18cms to play with now....

May need to look at replacing the gates - what would be the thinest
material to use to give as much space as possible?

--
John Alexander


Graphene

On 20/07/14 18:30, John Alexander wrote:
Looking at replacing the 11 year old estate which just fits between our
house and next door (with the wooden gates folded back pretty flat
against the walls. There is enough room but it can be a bit of a fiddle.

The new cars all seem to be between 7 and 10 cms wider - when you only
have about 18cms to play with now....

May need to look at replacing the gates - what would be the thinest
material to use to give as much space as possible?


Sliding gate?

--
Adrian C

On 20/07/14 18:30, John Alexander wrote:
Looking at replacing the 11 year old estate which just fits between our
house and next door (with the wooden gates folded back pretty flat
against the walls. There is enough room but it can be a bit of a fiddle.

The new cars all seem to be between 7 and 10 cms wider - when you only
have about 18cms to play with now....

May need to look at replacing the gates - what would be the thinest
material to use to give as much space as possible?


Thinnest gates that do not look crap would be 1x2" steel box welded into
a frame and clad with thin wood on the outside. Look just like regular
gates. My mate did did some years ago.

Funny you should say this. Behind our house is an estate built in the late
60s early 70s, and each house has a garage in a block to the side of each
terrace. These wer fine back then, but now nobody uses them as there is not
enough room to actually get out of the car when its in the garage.
so what is the reason for this trend. it also impacts roads which were
narrower in those days, and now they have to park with two wheels on the
pavement or emergency vehicles can't get past.

I don't know the answer, though I know by the bruises that wing mirrors are
a lot bigger than they used to be, and even folded they are a bit fat.


Maybe its all these air bags in the doors etc, that is the problem.
Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
"John Alexander" wrote in message
...
Looking at replacing the 11 year old estate which just fits between our
house and next door (with the wooden gates folded back pretty flat against
the walls. There is enough room but it can be a bit of a fiddle.

The new cars all seem to be between 7 and 10 cms wider - when you only
have about 18cms to play with now....

May need to look at replacing the gates - what would be the thinest
material to use to give as much space as possible?

--
John Alexander

Surprised they have gates, most folk around here simply leave the whole of
their frontage open so poor blind folk end yup in their gardens.

Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
"Adrian C" wrote in message
...
On 20/07/14 18:30, John Alexander wrote:
Looking at replacing the 11 year old estate which just fits between our
house and next door (with the wooden gates folded back pretty flat
against the walls. There is enough room but it can be a bit of a fiddle.

The new cars all seem to be between 7 and 10 cms wider - when you only
have about 18cms to play with now....

May need to look at replacing the gates - what would be the thinest
material to use to give as much space as possible?


Sliding gate?

--
Adrian C

"Tim Watts" wrote in message
...
On 20/07/14 18:30, John Alexander wrote:
Looking at replacing the 11 year old estate which just fits between our
house and next door (with the wooden gates folded back pretty flat
against the walls. There is enough room but it can be a bit of a fiddle.

The new cars all seem to be between 7 and 10 cms wider - when you only
have about 18cms to play with now....

May need to look at replacing the gates - what would be the thinest
material to use to give as much space as possible?


Thinnest gates that do not look crap would be 1x2" steel box welded into a
frame and clad with thin wood on the outside. Look just like regular
gates. My mate did did some years ago.

Doesn't need to be anything like 1x2", 3/4" square would be fine.

All cars are getting wider, longer and heavier, driven(!) by safety
requirements and customer demand for more and more toys.

The Smart ForTwo is shorter and marginally narrower than a Morris Minor
And also perhaps an example of customer demand for toys
--
Robin
reply to address is (meant to be) valid

On 20/07/2014 22:11, Brian Gaff wrote:
Funny you should say this. Behind our house is an estate built in the late
60s early 70s, and each house has a garage in a block to the side of each
terrace. These wer fine back then, but now nobody uses them as there is not
enough room to actually get out of the car when its in the garage.
so what is the reason for this trend. it also impacts roads which were
narrower in those days, and now they have to park with two wheels on the
pavement or emergency vehicles can't get past.

You need space to slow a vehicle down when it hits you, so as side
impact protection improves, cars have to get wider.


I don't know the answer, though I know by the bruises that wing mirrors are
a lot bigger than they used to be, and even folded they are a bit fat.

Door mirrors need room for the motors inside that allow for remote
adjustment and for folding back.

--
Colin Bignell

On Sun, 20 Jul 2014 19:23:21 +0100, "Andy Bartlett"
wrote:


"John Alexander" wrote in message
...

May need to look at replacing the gates - what would be the thinest
material to use to give as much space as possible?

Graphene

+1


--

replying to newshound, dave wrote:
There are some very small cars e.g. the Volkswagen UP that can still satisfy
safety requirements so this can't be the reason for wider cars.

--
for full context, visit http://www.homeownershub.com/uk-diy/...er-985002-.htm

Round here the problem is now so bad that garages built only around ten
years ago are too small to allow the ocupants out when in the garage!
Brian

--
----- -
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please!
"dave" m wrote in message
oups.com...
replying to newshound, dave wrote:
There are some very small cars e.g. the Volkswagen UP that can still
satisfy
safety requirements so this can't be the reason for wider cars.

--
for full context, visit
http://www.homeownershub.com/uk-diy/...er-985002-.htm

On 20/10/2016 20:28, Brian Gaff wrote:
Round here the problem is now so bad that garages built only around ten
years ago are too small to allow the ocupants out when in the garage!
Brian


Ahead of their time perhaps? Sounds as if they were designed for the new
breed of BMWs which can be parked by remote control without the driver
needing to be in the car.
--
Cheers,
Roger
____________
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.

On 20/10/16 20:28, Brian Gaff wrote:
Round here the problem is now so bad that garages built only around ten
years ago are too small to allow the ocupants out when in the garage!
Brian


That's because they were tarts and made the garage too small in the
first place!

Our rented house was less than 10 years old and a Deawoo Lanos was a
tight fit.

Silly sods could easily have added 1ft to every garage - it would have
made naff all difference losing 1ft off the kitchen/diner which was long
anyway.

"Tim Watts" wrote in message
...
On 20/10/16 20:28, Brian Gaff wrote:
Round here the problem is now so bad that garages built only around ten
years ago are too small to allow the ocupants out when in the garage!
Brian


That's because they were tarts and made the garage too small in the first
place!

Our rented house was less than 10 years old and a Deawoo Lanos was a tight
fit.

Silly sods could easily have added 1ft to every garage - it would have
made naff all difference losing 1ft off the kitchen/diner which was long
anyway.

My last house, which was brand new in 2000, had a garage in a block that was
built at the time. The garage was just about wide enough to open a door
enough to squeeze in or out of the car, though it was a very tight squeeze.
OK, I had have had to park carefully because there was a breezeblock pillar
(maybe to give the wall between my garage and my neighbour's garage a bit of
extra strength).

But the up-and-over doorway was *way* too narrow. I only once parked my car
in the garage and that was overnight when a toerag had broken a window and
tried to break into the car (thank goodness for deadlocks). And it took a
long time to position myself accurately because there was only about 3" on
each side. And that was for a Peugeot 306 - hardly a big car.

For most purposes, those garages were useless as car storage and everyone
used them as overflow loft storage and kept their car on the allocated
open-air parking for the second car in the family, which meant that my
girlfriend had to find parking elsewhere whenever she came to stay. Even a
guy with an old-style (Austin/Morris, rather than BMW) Mini said the garage
door openings were a bit tight.

The doorways were probably about 18" narrower than the garages that they
gave access to.

Interestingly, other neighbours whose garages were in another nearby block
all used their garages, so I wonder if those had wider doors and/or garages.


Don't have that problem in our new house: there's no garage and the driveway
is wide enough to fit two cars (including my wife's big Honda CVR) side by
side and for my Peugeot to get in and out even when the CRV is parked
opposite the gap in the hedge and my car is in the offset space. Takes
courage to reverse straight towards her car before swinging round and
missing it by about 6 inches at the closest point before swinging back to
avoid the boundary hedge - one of those things that you take slowly and have
to try several times till you've got the hang of it, and passenger's door
mirror is always needed to check for clearance from the CRV.

On 20/10/16 18:44, dave wrote:
replying to newshound, dave wrote:
There are some very small cars e.g. the Volkswagen UP that can still
satisfy
safety requirements so this can't be the reason for wider cars.

I think its something to do with the average driver getting wider.

--
"If you dont read the news paper, you are un-informed. If you read the
news paper, you are mis-informed."

Mark Twain

On 21 Oct 2016 05:09, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 20/10/16 18:44, dave wrote:
replying to newshound, dave wrote:
There are some very small cars e.g. the Volkswagen UP that can still
satisfy
safety requirements so this can't be the reason for wider cars.

I think its something to do with the average driver getting wider.

There are certainly some extreme examples waddling the streets of many
"civilised" countries.

--
Flying on Per Ardua ad Astra

On 21/10/16 05:22, Zephirum wrote:
On 21 Oct 2016 05:09, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 20/10/16 18:44, dave wrote:
replying to newshound, dave wrote:
There are some very small cars e.g. the Volkswagen UP that can still
satisfy
safety requirements so this can't be the reason for wider cars.

I think its something to do with the average driver getting wider.

There are certainly some extreme examples waddling the streets of many
"civilised" countries.

The Abottopotamous springs to mind...

--
A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on
its shoes.

On 21 Oct 2016 06:02, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 21/10/16 05:22, Zephirum wrote:
On 21 Oct 2016 05:09, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 20/10/16 18:44, dave wrote:
replying to newshound, dave wrote:
There are some very small cars e.g. the Volkswagen UP that can still
satisfy
safety requirements so this can't be the reason for wider cars.

I think its something to do with the average driver getting wider.

There are certainly some extreme examples waddling the streets of many
"civilised" countries.

The Abottopotamous springs to mind...

Not sure who that is sorry.

--
Flying on Per Ardua ad Astra

On 21/10/16 05:09, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 20/10/16 18:44, dave wrote:
replying to newshound, dave wrote:
There are some very small cars e.g. the Volkswagen UP that can still
satisfy
safety requirements so this can't be the reason for wider cars.

I think its something to do with the average driver getting wider.


It's partly the doors are getting thicker with the impact protection.

But they could save space in other areas. A Santa Fe I hired last summer
had an auto gearbox (electronic) and an electronic parking brake.

They could have put both somewhere else and lost the entire centre
console space.

On 21/10/16 07:00, Zephirum wrote:
On 21 Oct 2016 06:02, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 21/10/16 05:22, Zephirum wrote:
On 21 Oct 2016 05:09, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 20/10/16 18:44, dave wrote:
replying to newshound, dave wrote:
There are some very small cars e.g. the Volkswagen UP that can still
satisfy
safety requirements so this can't be the reason for wider cars.

I think its something to do with the average driver getting wider.

There are certainly some extreme examples waddling the streets of many
"civilised" countries.

The Abottopotamous springs to mind...

Not sure who that is sorry.

https://static.standard.co.uk/s3fs-p...ianeabbott.jpg

--
If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will
eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such
time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic
and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally
important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for
the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the
truth is the greatest enemy of the State.

Joseph Goebbels

Two door cars are the worse as the door are so much longer.

In message
The Natural Philosopher wrote:

On 21/10/16 05:22, Zephirum wrote:
On 21 Oct 2016 05:09, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

[snip]


There are certainly some extreme examples waddling the streets of many
"civilised" countries.

The Abottopotamous springs to mind...

*******!
Mind-Bleach stock now exhausted to no avail.
Bleurgh.


--
Jim White
Wimbledon London England
I will not yell "fire!" in a crowded classroom

On 21/10/2016 09:05, DerbyBorn wrote:


Two door cars are the worse as the door are so much longer.


Amply illustrated by my neighbour's new Mustang. He's only had it for a
month and the door's bashed in.

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus

In article ,
Tim Watts wrote:
But they could save space in other areas. A Santa Fe I hired last summer
had an auto gearbox (electronic) and an electronic parking brake.

There's actually not much difference in size between a manual and auto box.
Not sure about a parking brake.

--
*Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 21/10/16 09:05, DerbyBorn wrote:


Two door cars are the worse as the door are so much longer.


Yes - our MINI is worse than the Touran for that reason. Please the MINI
is low down so you need more door opening to get out. The Touran, you
are already at near standing height so can just slide out sideways.

On 21/10/16 09:05, DerbyBorn wrote:


Two door cars are the worse as the door are so much longer.


It's a pity that with modern car bodystyles, that it's hard to make ones
with sliding doors.

But I wonder if it's actually impossible? Would have to be a 2 door car
or just the rear doors I expect.

On 21/10/16 09:55, Stuart Noble wrote:
On 21/10/2016 09:05, DerbyBorn wrote:


Two door cars are the worse as the door are so much longer.


Amply illustrated by my neighbour's new Mustang. He's only had it for a
month and the door's bashed in.

---

^ Better if that is:

dash dash space newline



This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus


A Santa Fe is 1.88m wide (not including mirrors)

Standard car parking space (minimum) is 5 x 2.4 x 2(high) metres.

So if everyone parks Santa Fe's perfectly, you have 0.502m door skin to
door skin. Take off 0.2m for door thickness and that's a foot if your
door is touching the next car.

It's certainly not really adequate.

Back in the 60s-70s, a Morris Minor 1000 was 1.524mm width. In a car
park full of them, you'd have just under 0.9m clearance. Doors were
thinner too. So probably 0.7m or over 2ft of gap to get out of!

On Fri, 21 Oct 2016 05:09:08 +0100, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:

On 20/10/16 18:44, dave wrote:
replying to newshound, dave wrote:
There are some very small cars e.g. the Volkswagen UP that can still
satisfy
safety requirements so this can't be the reason for wider cars.

I think its something to do with the average driver getting wider.

Maybe car salesmen are getting wider :-)

On 21/10/2016 11:12, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Tim Watts wrote:
But they could save space in other areas. A Santa Fe I hired last summer
had an auto gearbox (electronic) and an electronic parking brake.

There's actually not much difference in size between a manual and auto box.
Not sure about a parking brake.


You can get electric ones that take 1"ish.

I like the astra as its quite wide inside.
I just don't fit in 306s as my shoulders are too wide.

There are a lot of continental cars I can't drive as its impossible for
me to adjust the seat so I can reach the pedals and steering without
having my head on the roof lining even though I am average height and
weight.

On Fri, 21 Oct 2016 11:15:50 +0100, Tim Watts
wrote:


Two door cars are the worse as the door are so much longer.


It's a pity that with modern car bodystyles, that it's hard to make ones
with sliding doors.

But I wonder if it's actually impossible? Would have to be a 2 door car
or just the rear doors I expect.

I came across this list recently while looking out of curiosity.
https://www.carwow.co.uk/best/cars-with-sliding-doors

We have a MINI as well and it is awkward sometimes to open the door
enough, fortunately mother let me have her Aygo when she decided she
go too old to drive as she didn't see any point in the "chauffeur "
coming to her in one car and changing to another.
It's the four door version and access is far better and for older
people a more suitable seat height .
So we use the Aygo for local shopping trips where parking spaces may
be at a premium and keep the MINI for the longer fast runs.
That let me drop the annual mileage on the MINI as well so got an
Insurance saving overall . That in itself was not a game changer but
by using a cheap granny mobile to do shopping we are not wearing the
expensive V rated tyres on the MINI and lessens the risk of wheel
damage on potholes etc.

G.Harman

On Fri, 21 Oct 2016 11:52:26 +0100, Scott
wrote:

On Fri, 21 Oct 2016 05:09:08 +0100, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:

On 20/10/16 18:44, dave wrote:
replying to newshound, dave wrote:
There are some very small cars e.g. the Volkswagen UP that can still
satisfy
safety requirements so this can't be the reason for wider cars.

I think its something to do with the average driver getting wider.

Maybe car salesmen are getting wider :-)

No, they have always been wide boys.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide_boy


G.Harman

Is it possible that our houses are smaller than those in most other
countries? Perhaps if the designers saw how small our garages are, they
might be somewhat surprised.

Brian Gaff wrote:
Round here the problem is now so bad that garages built only around ten
years ago are too small to allow the ocupants out when in the garage!
Brian

On Friday, 21 October 2016 13:15:21 UTC+1, Dan S. MacAbre wrote:
Is it possible that our houses are smaller than those in most other
countries? Perhaps if the designers saw how small our garages are, they
might be somewhat surprised.

Surely the EU would have some sort of standard to follow so everyone has the same so that cars can be shipped to anywhere in the EU and no road will be too narrow no car to wide to go into any garage etc...


Brian Gaff wrote:
Round here the problem is now so bad that garages built only around ten
years ago are too small to allow the ocupants out when in the garage!
Brian

On Friday, 21 October 2016 11:18:01 UTC+1, Tim Watts wrote:
On 21/10/16 09:05, DerbyBorn wrote:


Two door cars are the worse as the door are so much longer.


It's a pity that with modern car bodystyles, that it's hard to make ones
with sliding doors.

But I wonder if it's actually impossible? Would have to be a 2 door car
or just the rear doors I expect.

Thundersley Invacar shows how it's done. A car at the top of my least wanted list. I'd rather drive a Hoffmann.


NT

whisky-dave wrote:
On Friday, 21 October 2016 13:15:21 UTC+1, Dan S. MacAbre wrote:
Is it possible that our houses are smaller than those in most other
countries? Perhaps if the designers saw how small our garages are, they
might be somewhat surprised.

Surely the EU would have some sort of standard to follow so everyone has the same so that cars can be shipped to anywhere in the EU and no road will be too narrow no car to wide to go into any garage etc...


You'd have thought so, but look how long it took them to sort out
bananas :-)

Maybe one day in the distant future they'll get to sorting out garages.


Brian Gaff wrote:
Round here the problem is now so bad that garages built only around ten
years ago are too small to allow the ocupants out when in the garage!
Brian