this post was submitted on 24 Jun 2026
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Today I Learned

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[–] Evil_Incarnate@sopuli.xyz 128 points 1 month ago (5 children)

Not sure about the accuracy of this, my car is still the same length as it was ten years ago.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 57 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Mine got 8cm shorter when the rear bumper fell off. So, it's safer.

[–] Ghoelian@piefed.social 26 points 1 month ago

I don't think that's very typical

[–] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 21 points 1 month ago

At least the front didn't fall off.

[–] hakunawazo@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

I imagine you driving.

[–] StillAlive@piefed.world 10 points 1 month ago

Stop giving it junk food.

[–] P00ptart@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

Mine is a smart car. I need a pill to make it grow into a suburban.

[–] CADmonkey@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

I have a car that hasn't grown any longer, but it has grown taller.

[–] NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

You're the exception that proves the rule.

[–] Diddlydee@feddit.uk 91 points 1 month ago (6 children)

Cars do not grow. Don't listen to this guy. My car is the same size as when I bought it.

[–] Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org 43 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Don't you water it regularly?

[–] edgemaster72@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

Water? Not for AI datacenters? In this economy?

[–] hakunawazo@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

Sometimes it's not growing by itself. Don't put too much pressure on that issue and enjoy just the other aspects of it.

[–] NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Yeah, yeah, yeah, always one or two nay sayers. You people are so sure of yourselfs.

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[–] FishFace@piefed.social 52 points 1 month ago (2 children)

The length is bad but the 0.5cm extra width per year strikes me as much worse. There's a lot of room for longer vehicles than the average cars of yesteryear - vans and light trucks have always been around. But those vehicles tended to only be slightly wider, if at all, in order to fit into lanes on the road, parking spaces, through gateways and so on. Half a centimetre wider per year is insane.

[–] Ghoelian@piefed.social 27 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I would hope countries will just stop approving cars as road legal if they are too wide to fit on the roads.

I do occasionally see the odd range rover in the Netherlands. It's always hilariously out of place, and of course does not fit in any single parking space here. But they have to drive around with a special license plate for import vehicles, apparently it's fine then.

[–] FishFace@piefed.social 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

There are loads here, and I immediately think that whoever's driving it is a bad person.

[–] klu9@piefed.social 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] FishFace@piefed.social 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

You can work it out from my other posts but I don't go around advertising it when I can help it...

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[–] PalmTreeIsBestTree@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

How about the dumbshits that import Ram trucks there? Recently read an article about it. I dunno how any of you guys could drive our pickup trucks at all there.

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[–] darklamer@feddit.org 27 points 1 month ago (2 children)

There's something very fishy about this claim, I happen to own a European car from the year 2000 so I just went out to the garage and measured it, just to be sure, and it's still exactly the same length as it was when it was brand new.

[–] partofthevoice@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Did you make sure not to use the cars built-in measurement utility? That would have grown too, you know…

[–] darklamer@feddit.org 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

My car really is from the year 2000, far too old to have any built-in measurement utility.

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[–] Etterra@discuss.online 21 points 1 month ago (1 children)

This just illustrates the importance of hiring a professional to trim back the cars periodically. You could do it yourself, but the heavy industrial equipment necessary for routine gardening like this is just too bulky and expensive for the average person to be able to use.

[–] NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

I don't want to make my engine bleed. It squirmed the last time I tried to do it myself and I ended up nicking the engine and it leaked eveywhere.

[–] CompactFlax@discuss.tchncs.de 15 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Some of this is safety equipment and more recently batteries and hybrid equipment, which takes up space. Some of this is simply design and aesthetics.

[–] starlinguk@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago (5 children)

My hybrid Suzuki Ignis (ugliest car on the planet) is smaller than my Suzuki Swift, which is supposed to be a small car.

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[–] Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)

1.2 cm? You know which body parts grow much faster?

The hair!

😇

[–] Goldholz@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 1 month ago
[–] Photonic@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (5 children)

Not only longer but also wider and taller… it’s an obesity pandemic that has blown over from the US.

Can someone prescribe some ozempic to these cars?

[–] NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Wait, it's contagious!?!?

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[–] elephantium@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

What are they feeding them?!

[–] catbum@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago
[–] homoludens@feddit.org 8 points 1 month ago

To be fair, people have been complaining that here are too many cars in the cities for a long time. By making the cars bigger you naturally decrease the number of cars per area!

[–] teft@piefed.social 6 points 1 month ago

Does this mean cars have plate tectonics?

[–] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 6 points 1 month ago (2 children)

A lot is extra safety features. It would be illegal to sell the original mini today.

[–] GenosseFlosse@feddit.org 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I remember that my parents car still didn't have seat belts in the back when I was a kid...

[–] Magister@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

Same, my father's car (Citroën GS) had no seat belt in the back...

[–] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Safety for occupants, not those outside

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[–] eleijeep@piefed.social 6 points 1 month ago

If they're going to make these cars that grow longer every year, are they also going to build garages that get longer too? In my day, cars stayed the same length for the whole time you owned them. I suppose it's good for parents that have growing teenagers and need more leg room in the back.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Consumer appeal for bigger vehicles tracks with historical weight gain.

[–] thejml@sh.itjust.works 15 points 1 month ago

Also, the number of burglaries in new Hampshire is dropping as there are less and less kids named Johnny

[–] melsaskca@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 month ago

It's called "American creep".

[–] FiniteBanjo@feddit.online 1 points 1 month ago

There are a lot more car brands in Europe than most regions so generalizations are a bit less useful. I wonder who the outliers would be?

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