A new car that decreased in size?

Great Headline for a New Car: Next Gen Civic to go lighter, smaller

Since when has that happened!? Sure would be nice if that could start a trend and get rid of the bloat mobiles.

The new 370Z is lighter and smaller (than 350Z). That is the only one I can think of.

snipes wrote: The new 370Z is lighter and smaller (than 350Z). That is the only one I can think of.

Not really. The base model 370Z is 20#s or so lighter than the loaded model 350Z.

The wheelbase is shorter which was a great step in the right direction!

C6 Corvette is smaller than the C5 (not sure on weight, though)...

Hasn't happened yet, but at this year's Tokyo Motor Show Mazda has pledged to reduce the weight of all their new vehicles by at least 100kg (220lb) starting in 2011.

http://blogs.insideline.com/straightline/Manufacturers/Mazda/

Your going to see this across all manufactures. To meet upcoming fuel econ regs everything is going to have to get lighter.

Adding lightness, WOOT!!!

2010 mustang is lighter and shorter overall than the previous model as well

During the 80s there were quite a few cars that were smaller reinventions of the 70's models.

The Thunderbird and Cougar got so enormous in middle age that they couldn't help but get smaller, especially with the 1983 redesign.

Early Mustang to Mustang II.

T-bird as already stated.

1976 > 1977 full size GM cars (Impala, Bonneville, etc.)

Daytona and Challengers got dramatic weight and size reductions when they were made into fwd thingies.

Yeah, the 80's saw downsizing for most everything. The 90's and 00's were upsizing. Getting smaller will be great! Too bad getting less expensive won't be part of the deal. I hope to see lower cowls in these new cars. Half the stuff out there gives me the feeling of peering over the dash like a little old lady.

Gearheadotaku wrote: I hope to see lower cowls in these new cars. Half the stuff out there gives me the feeling of peering over the dash like a little old lady.

Yeah, I rented a V6 mustang a few years back and it felt like I was in a tank with the cowl up so high (and the monster A pillars).

370Z is smaller/lighter. I think I heard the new maxima is smaller/lighter too.

I think i heard somewher that the next gen civic redesign was scrapped mid cycle to start over with a focus on smaller/lighter

Wow, at this rate I may actually be interested in new cars in a few years!

Strizzo wrote: 2010 mustang is lighter and shorter overall than the previous model as well

Nope. The 05GT and the 10GT have the same overall length at 188 in. The 05 wins by a nose in the weight department 3480lbs to 3533. My 03 weighs in around 3300.

I could be wrong, but I think the '94 through '97 Accord was smaller than the previous model ('90 to '93). I think there was an attempt at that time to get/keep all the world's Accords on one platform. Toyotas building ever bigger Camrys put the pressure on Honda to keep upsizing their best seller.

I once drove a '74 T-Bird....what a boat. HUGE on the outside, but no bigger than a Pinto inside. The '77 through '80 T-Bird got a down-size, the '81 through '82 and 1/2 T-Bird got even smaller, but the '83 through '97 started the bigger trend again.

And for trivia buffs, the Mercury Cougar has at one time or another been available from FoMoCo in EVERY mainstream body style (INCLUDING a station wagon) with engines from 2.3 liters to 7 liters.

lewbud wrote:

Strizzo wrote: 2010 mustang is lighter and shorter overall than the previous model as well

Nope. The 05GT and the 10GT have the same overall length at 188 in. The 05 wins by a nose in the weight department 3480lbs to 3533. My 03 weighs in around 3300.

hmm, i thought i had read that it was shorter by a bit and that ford had focused on saving weight on the new model. i also thought the magazines said it weighed around 3350, but that could be for the v6, iunno.

Honda is advertising the Accord as being lighter.

Strizzo wrote:

lewbud wrote:

Strizzo wrote: 2010 mustang is lighter and shorter overall than the previous model as well

Nope. The 05GT and the 10GT have the same overall length at 188 in. The 05 wins by a nose in the weight department 3480lbs to 3533. My 03 weighs in around 3300.

hmm, i thought i had read that it was shorter by a bit and that ford had focused on saving weight on the new model. i also thought the magazines said it weighed around 3350, but that could be for the v6, iunno.

It wasn't shortened, but it was made to LOOK shorter. The way they curved the rear bumper inward makes it look shorter, but the overall length is exactly the same. She got a little plastic surgery, but she's still the same pony on the inside.

New BMW Mini = lighter than old BMW Mini, right?

confuZion3 wrote: New BMW Mini = lighter than old BMW Mini, right?

way lighter...all seven air bags are filled with helium and the fact that it's so much taller means that it's further away from the earth's center of gravitational force.