OT: Why do cars slope inwards at the sides?

I see you don't know the answer then.

Correct.

Prick.

I suspect that a lot of the inverse tardis effect is due to safety requirements.

My old 1970s Cortina was fairly small by today's standards, but had great visibility with thin A-pillars, and felt spacious inside. I've been in lots of much larger modern cars that feel claustrophobic inside, with lousy visibility.

I think it makes them come out of the mould easier.

Not sure how adding a huge centre console and sloping the top half of the sides in helps that. Sure, they will have added side impact bars and airbags, but those don't mean the windows have to slope in.

As for visibility, the health and softy folk are shooting themselves in the foot by adding thicker pillars. So it's safer if you crash, but more likely you will!

Blame the wind tunnel tests. They figured out that shape goes through the air easier. That is also why it is hard to tell cars apart just by looking at them. They all use the same data.

Surely air normally goes from front to back (that's the direction we drive in). Sloping sides makes them more aerodynamic going sideways. Only useful if you're attempting to cross a runway behind a jet aircraft.

Another reason is they need the width att he bottom to accomodate the hips and rears of the passengers as well as the side impact protection and space for window mechanisms at the bottom, but do not rerquire the width at the top. The straight sided look went out with the model "A"

But since you've got that width at the bottom, why not continue it to the top? It would look nicer and have more room for your shoulders, or when putting large boxes in the back. Some cars are straight, some are not, seems to be about 50/50. Cars that slope in at the bottom look cheap and nasty to me.

Races should be made up of many different cars. That's why F1 is so boring, they're all the same, adhering to rules in engine size etc.

That's stating the bleedin' obvious. :-)

He's been in my killfile for quite some time now (and I'm rather choosy about who I allow into my kill file. :-)

Anyhow, just checking whether Pan has turned this follow up into a new thread.

If he's in your killfile, then it's broken, as you just saw his post. F****it.

Do you sit sideways?

To impress the neighbors.

If you don't want to go on a diet, Ford makes vehicles for obese people.

Diet doesn't tend to make very much difference to your width at the shoulders though.

SteveW

Maybe a Kenworth then?

They also make a smaller one, grand connect tourneo, having one delivered on thursday.

No I am not obese.

Why do modern cars slope inwards at the sides, giving you less shoulder ro om? And then they have huge centre consoles so you have no leg room. What 's the point in buying a car that's big on the outside and small on the ins ide?

Except for the Isuzu Trooper. We had one in the late 1980s. It had the aerodynamics of a brick. Handled like a pig in the least bit of crosswind.

Cindy Hamilton