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      07-03-2013, 05:54 PM   #110
jadnashuanh
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Drives: 535iGT x-drive; i3 BEV
Join Date: May 2010
Location: USA

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Look at the average derriere of an 'ugly american'...it gets wider every generation (and parts of Europe are doing this as well). We also tend to grow taller from better nutrition and who knows what. So, to me at least, it makes a lot of sense that the vehicles tend to be getting larger. Now, if you were driving say a 5-series, maybe a switch to the 3-series would be called for since it may now be as big as a (much) older 5 was...you can have your cake and eat it too.

Personally, I'm in the upper 90's-percentile of height (but not weight, thank god), so bigger gives me more choices.

Now, I'm not sure why anyone would want to live in someplace like say Phoenix, AZ, but try to tell them they can't buy a car with a/c! I can see where that might be viable in rainy England, but not in most places around the civilized world (and a lot that aren't!). It's easier to design one duct system and slap that in along with an a/c system than design two different ones. Certainly, it can affect weight, but it may not affect cost as much as you think. Plus, it also would affect weight distribution, dash panel design, and moving other things around to keep the balance would be quite costly, too. There are ramifications for almost any change, some of them small, some much bigger, and then there's the cost involved.

Unless you're into a market like say a Bently where you can customize many things, you have to consider what's economically possible on the semi-mass-produced assembly line.
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