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Why so big?

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FLUndertaker

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Took a family pic today and really realized how much bigger current Jeeps are from where they began (86 wide track is still wider than earlier CJs). Funny how cars in general have gotten much smaller but trucks and Jeeps have gotten remarkably larger. Some of it I’m sure is consumer driven but a bunch of it is Uncle Sugar knowing what’s best for us and mandating a bunch of crap to protect the public from themselves. Funny since horsepower today has never been more affordable and 400+ Legit HP is common place in all sorts of vehicles. While I love my JT, this pic makes me wish even more it was an extended cab at most and was about a foot narrower.

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NachoRuby

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Cars and trucks have all gotten much bigger. Look at an 80s civic, and then look at a new one. Or an 80s or 90s F150 compared to a new one. The new Civics are much bigger than even the old accords. The new F150s are much larger than the older F250s. My '70s VW is like a clown car compared to even the smallest of modern vehicles. Other than the luxo-barge era of the late 60s/early 70s (right before the oil crisis), cars and trucks now are larger than they've ever been.
 

dcmdon

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That's what she said.

But seriously. I have a '66 impala that was considered the height of "big cars". But now I park it nexts to a run of the mill F150 and it's dwarfed. Not just in height, but in length and width.
 

dcmdon

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Cars and trucks have all gotten much bigger. Look at an 80s civic, and then look at a new one. Or an 80s or 90s F150 compared to a new one. The new Civics are much bigger than even the old accords. The new F150s are much larger than the older F250s. My '70s VW is like a clown car compared to even the smallest of modern vehicles. Other than the luxo-barge era of the late 60s/early 70s (right before the oil crisis), cars and trucks now are larger than they've ever been.
Yup. I saw an 80s accord recently. It is MUCH smaller than a modern Civic.
 
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FLUndertaker

FLUndertaker

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Look at a 70’s caddy, LTD, Buick, Chevy sedan, compared to today. If they’re still made they’ve gotten smaller.
imports may have grown because they were small to begin with but American made cars have gotten smaller.
 

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Lost Cosmonaut

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The main reason is not that interiors are necessarily getting bigger (if anything, they use space more efficiently now in most cases), a big reason for cars and trucks getting bigger is due to safety equipment and crumple zones and the like. A CJ has ZERO safety equipment, no airbags, barely seatbelts, barely a roll cage. No doors. No crumple zones. And because of that, it doesn't need the space to fit it all either. There's a reason Mahindra's Jeep knockoffs are sold as a Side-by-Side and not an actual vehicle, because if they sold it as an actual automobile it would have to have all that safety equipment that's just not possible to fit in that size of a vehicle.

That's why a Ford Maverick is only a few inches smaller than a Ranger despite being a smaller class of vehicle.
 

AverageDad

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All cars are getting bigger. And we they get significantly bigger, they just introduce a new model underneath. BMW 3 series used to me small, now there is a 2 series. Jeep has the renegade (that probably isn’t much different than the old CJ). Ford now has the Maverick.

So why do cars get bigger? Mostly marketing. They survey buyers every year: Do you want more power? More storage space? More elbow room? More more? When asked if you would like more, Americans don’t say ”No Thanks”. Even if we are perfectly happy, we still say, “sure, more would be nice”. Then marketing tells accounting that they could sell more if they offered “more”. So bigger it gets.

On the plus side, the new Jeeps, with the wider tracks, aren’t as prone to flipping.
 

fun2drum

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I’ve noticed the Jeep size increase you’re talking about. I actually like it, and it helped me to take the plunge back into the Jeep world. That said, I love the old smaller Jeeps too. They’re a whole different animal than what the new Jeeps are. They’re more spartan and harsh - and I mean in a good way.
 

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Look at a 70’s caddy, LTD, Buick, Chevy sedan, compared to today. If they’re still made they’ve gotten smaller.
imports may have grown because they were small to begin with but American made cars have gotten smaller.
Not all of them. Look at modern Challengers, Camaros, and Mustangs compared to their 60s-70s-80s counterparts. They’re all significantly larger and heavier.
 

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McDonald's did it to us. Would you like that super sized? I mean really. We need to have bigger cars and trucks for our larger asses to fit into. Blame it on McDonald's!?
 

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Jeep Gladiator Why so big? 20210805_071252


Agreed. The CJ even has a 2-2.5" lift and 33s and it's still dwarfed. Granted, the JT has a 2.5" leveling kit and 315s but next to the CJ it's just plain laughable.

Reason is definitely safety and comfort. The CJ's fun, but after an hour or two your back is screaming. Cars in general back in the day really were utter shit when it came to basic structure and construction. I remember a neighborhood dog was chasing a cat one day back in the 70s. Cat darted under a VW Bug, dog didn't. That dog even pulled up a bit before slamming squarely in the door. Owner tried working on it for months then finally threw in the towel and got a new door (gotta love the Pomona Swap Meet, 17 miles of VW parts.) He said one of the hinges was bent and two holes were stripped out on the other, glass was down so that was in a brazillion pieces in the door. Window gear was tweaked and the door handle broke the hook on the back. Can't imagine a 76 Oldsmobuick slamming into it.

I'll take my JT any day as big as it is. What amazes me the most is how smaller cars can have the same safety levels as this thing. Our Mazda CX-3 is a flea in comparison, but I feel equally safe in it.
 
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