See How Much Bigger Cars Really Are Today With This Neat Visualizer Tool
To be fair, just about everything is smaller parked next to today’s SUVs, including the sun.
Not too long ago, I parked a Ford Ranger rental truck next to my friend’s 100-Series Land Cruiser. “Look at those two next to each other,” he said. “The biggest SUV Toyota would sell you in the late-90s, early-2000s is smaller than Ford’s mid-size truck.” I highly recommend finding the nearest Ranger and 100-Series Land Cruiser to see for yourself, but in the meantime, Carsized.com is about the next best thing.
Comparing cars’ length, width, and height via an easy-to-use interface, the site does for you what the parking lot did for me: line ‘em up like fighters weighing in before a title bout. We plugged in a few other models for comparison with some surprising results. For example, the Toyota 86 and C7 Chevy Corvette were actually fairly close in size, despite the idea that one is typically considered a nimble sports car and the other is a Corvette. (Ed’s note: That one is for our very own C7 Corvette owner on staff, Peter Holderith.)
Similarly, the itty-bitty 1960s Lotus Elan was hilariously smaller than anything on the road today. You’ll see that not only does an Elan size almost between the hubs and below the door handles of a Cadillac Escalade, but also the Elan could live in the shadow cast by an ND MX-5 Miata.
And so on. I’ll be the first to admit that it’s hard to gauge the size of other cars when they’re alone on the road or in a parking lot far from anything else. Measuring them up to other cars side by side reveals their relative specifications. Of course, anyone with a ruler could do the same but a visual reference uncovers much more than the tale of the tape could specify. It’s eye-opening to see the discrepancy, and here’s hoping the bigs and the smalls on the road don’t come together in other, less-safe ways.
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