Is downsizing the next big thing?
Thursday, November 18, 2010We’ve been hearing for years now that we’re all going to be trading in our cars for smaller ones.
We all know people who were in upper-medium sector cars like Mondeo a few years ago and now drive lower-medium Focus type products. But you might not have realised that today’s Focus is actually big car compared with the original Mondeo.
So it seems we haven’t really been downsizing, just moving down a sector. If you can find one, jump in a MK1 Golf and you’ll see what I mean.
I think the latest generation of small cars is finally going to change all that.
Until recently the key discouragement was that a small car, well, it just felt like a cheap version of the real thing – particularly when it comes to ride comfort, quality of interior and noise level.
Several of the latest small cars that I’ve driven manage to create that big car feel like never before.
The current Mini Cooper delivers an engineered ride and Citroen’s DS3 managed to deliver a sporty but quite supple set-up that you simply aren’t used to getting on a car of this size.
Audi’s new A1 hatch deserves praise for a ride that’s more compliant than normally associated with the brand, plus it’s great inside with soft touch materials really adding to that big car feel.
So, maybe downsizing really will be the next big thing.
