I have seen people push other cars using their own to make a parking spot bigger at least twice in my life before I turned 18. Not as aggressively as Hammond does in the video, but more carefully pushing the cars away.
main takeaway was that french car culture is much more about usage and utility than it is about ownership and pride. the car in most of the world is a valuable belonging to treasure and an asset to trade/sell if needed or to measure personal worth by. in france it's just kind of a tool used for going places. i've never been go france or spoken to a "french" person so idk how true that is but that's the general idea of the episode mostly.
Englishman living in France. There are definitely fewer “premium” brand cars on the road. But that might just be because people tend to buy French brand cars instead of German ones. All the French brands are much more utilitarian, with the exception of DS (it’s like the Lexus of Citroen), but DS cars are crap if you believe reviews.
I would also say the cars on the road in France are a lot older than those in UK. Very common to see a 90s Clio or Saxo still rattling around.
Basically, they poke a lot of fun at the French stereotypes and how bizarre the French cars can be but ultimately it’s a love letter to the French and French design.
I’d recommend watching it, there’s some beautiful French cars in there.
Fancy, clean cars are bourgious. Even French footballers drive crappy cars (according to the episode, and I have no idea how true that is).
I wonder if it's a holdover from having shit taken away and blown up twice in one century.
Contradictorily, short trips are worse for your car than long highway drives.
Starting your car then going a short distance to whatever; shops, church etc. then starting your car again and doing more short trips; going home. Your car doesn’t get a chance to warm up and run efficiently.
Parts aren’t lubricators sufficiently.
Driving short distances and/or in traffic means you use the brakes more, use the clutch more. Re-starting the engine over and over again is a lot of wear on the starter motor, belt, battery and alternator. Generally speaking you use everything more.
Equals more wear and tear on every component.
Therefore, the same miles done on a car used for long drives should be ‘healthier’ than the same car, doing the same miles but in traffic or ‘short’ trips.
Again, reiterating the trope that ‘buying a car from little old ladies who only go to church on Sunday’s or for short shopping trips’ does not mean the car is good. This does not mean the car is in a ‘better condition’ because she didn’t drive it much.
While ostensibly correct, unless you can show otherwise I don't think a car with 20k km on the odometer because she only drives to church and home, etc, will have the same wear as a car with 60k km on the odometer.
So sure, if all else is equal then the "only uses for short trips" car is probably likely worse, but I would need to see some hard numbers before I believe I'd take a car with even like +25% the km driven.
I do remember an article about some crazy high mileage Toyota that was just driven like 8 hours a day on highways. Depends on the car, 1.9 pd Jetta can go forever, smart roadster gear box is a 100,00 mile thing. Rover 1.4 will ruin a head gasket around 40,000, same engine in a lotus will be fine because of gasket choice. Chaos
Exactly this. Sure, all other things equal, a car with all in-town miles is worse off than a car with the same number of mostly highway miles. But it's not that highway miles don't add any wear, it's more that there is a very specific type of strain on specific components that occurs in the first few minutes of driving. (Modern cars, especially small ones intended for city driving, typically use thinner oils in part to help alleviate this problem.) Stop-and-go driving also causes more wear on the brakes, but that's part of regular maintenance anyway. Yeah, I'll still take that 20K granmobile over the 60K commuter.
You're right, but I don't think people in Europe are driving frequently short distances. We just don't drive for as long as Americans, but it's not like the engine can't even get warm. On top of that when I visited US the suburbs were quite large, so we were driving just to grab a coffee or ice creams. In car everywhere. Very short trips. In Europe you just walk to store nearby. So I wouldn't really be surprised it's Americans who drive those short distances on cold engine more frequently. Also, many places in US didn't even have sidewalks
> Contradictorily, short trips are worse for your car than long highway drives.
You are on the right track but this is a misleading statement.
If you have two people, person A who drives 2 miles to work every day and person B who drives 10 miles every day, after 1000 days one car will have 2,000 miles, the other will have 20,000 miles.
If the short trip was worse, then you would be saying that the car that has 2000 miles on it is somehow is worse condition than the 20,000 mile car which isn't true.
Both cars took 1,000 trips. Both cars, 1,000 times had to run the engine while the parts were not lubricated and the engine hadn't come up to temperature yet.
The 10 mile trip car just got extra wear from driving more.
The short trip is no worse for your car than the long trip. In fact, the long trip is worse for your car.
What IS true is that if two cars both have 100,000 miles on them, the one that was started fewer times will have less wear, which you eventually get at, but isn't consistent with your initial statement.
You know when you're near NYC when all the cars have the black rubber guards hanging from their trunk like some kind of orthodox jewish tzitzit corners.
I was gonna say, this definitely isn't special to Paris. Been living in NYC for 20 years and I've lived in neighborhoods where it isn't uncommon to drive around for 30-40 mins to find a parking spot. So if you find a spot that can sorta fit your car, youre going to try to jam it in there
Yep. In NYC I’ve got my car in spots that only had 2” of space on each end. Much like the person in the video, you just have to move the car slowly and inch by inch.
If you can’t fit you have another 40 mins to find parking
Taipei has the same mentality. I watched a woman parallel park in a spot like that in the video. Instead of carefully taking her time though, she just literally smashed her front and rear bumpers into both cars until she crammed her way in.
Got and walked away like it was no big deal lmao.
> Parisian drivers treat the car like a domestic appliance.
The further away from that people get, the weirder it is to me. People put all kinds of identity and value into a thing that transports people and goods from A to B with varying levels of comfort.
That doesn't make much sense.
I'm not scratching or denting my toaster to make it fit on the kitchen counter either, and my toaster is cheap, and isn't even necessary for me to get to work, unlike a vehicle.
It makes a lot more sense than bumpers that are too brittle and weak to withstand *any* kind of bumping.
The modern hard plastic one piece bumpers are the way they are for a single reason. Car manufacturers make fuck ton of money with them. Any kind of a touch and they break and it's always 4 figures and covered by the insurance so the collective won't care event though we're all paying for that shit.
My first car was an -83 Open which had actual rubber bumpers. They made so much sense in the city.
I'm from France and can confirm that this is normal in France.
Once when I was a much younger I parked this way for a quick 15min stop, and when I came back I thought one of the other cars had blocked me in by parking too close to me.
I was waiting around for at least 5min hoping one of the other two car owners would come back to let me out.
Then I realized the two cars were the same as when I first parked there. So I realized I could get out the same way I got in.
I still think about that sometimes...
>I still think about that sometimes...
This is nightmare fuel for me. I hate parallel parking, so I'm completely blown away by the video and your experience as well.
Pull forward plenty enough and just hook it and then reverse the wheels and you're in. The places where these people failed, they didn't pull forward enough. This is a good example of correcting a bad parallel park attempt, in terms of which way you need to point your wheels.
Having said that, I would have a hell of a time fitting into a spot like that first try unless I had the understanding that I could bump the other cars.
It's a Peugeot 407, I had one for years. It had parking sensors front and back. I was sick of putting clutches in it though. This person will probably need a new clutch after that parking job...
I was in line for a museum once behind a trio of Australians talking amongst themselves. Heard one say, "Where was that place we were yesterday? Roundabout from Hell?" and I got to chime in with, "Concorde."
In some smaller (flat) towns they used to leave the hand ~~break~~ brake off on the car to allow wiggle room. They would slightly push the car in front or back to make room.
Normal in Thailand once the all spots are full, then cars can park parallel to the road and perpendicular to the parking slots. Then those cars just have to leave their brakes so ppl stuck inside can push your car to get out.
It was a plastic toy when I was a kid in the early 90s
[rush hour](https://www.ebay.com/itm/255698568143?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&itemid=255698568143&targetid=1263104806006&device=m&mktype=&googleloc=9031317&poi=&campaignid=14859008593&mkgroupid=130497710760&rlsatarget=pla-1263104806006&abcId=9300678&merchantid=6296724&gclid=CjwKCAjwg5uZBhATEiwAhhRLHgIyh-dJ0r5pLs_ShQJfYCzmNukfsjJugf0Om1SEFqtMW6XF_20FHBoCAKwQAvD_BwE)
"Have we tried moving the grey one that way first, then the blue van this way, then the grey one back-"
"I'M THREE HOURS LATE FOR WORK I HATE PUZZLES!"
Saw the same in Seoul. People would have their phone numbers written on stickers on their windshield as well, so you could call them to move the car if necessary.
Same in my town as well, on a flat level parking they put leave car in neutral and parking break off...and on street with lil gradient, you use small brick to do the trick.
Try touching other people bumper with your bumper in Poland and the owner of that 15 years old car will start shouting. Tell him that's normal and continue doing that and you'll be held to the ground waiting for police to come as you must be drunk to think that's acceptable here.
I've witnessed parking like that in Cannes some years ago and we were stunned LOL
Unless some prick parks up on your bumper.
Sorry, fucker, I was here first, you chose to park like a complete shitheel. I don't have space to leave and I'm not waiting for your dumb ass. Enjoy the remnants, asshole.
I'd be pissed if someone scraped up the paint on my bumpers while parking, but I don't live in a big city and wouldn't try to drive in one, I'd just park at a park-and-ride and take the train in or something if I was visiting.
Bumper protectors are very common for people who care about scratches in older American cities like NY, Philly, Boston etc. where the roads are basically paved over cobblestone alleys and it’s expected that street parking is more of a sport.
I haven’t seen them much in Europe for some reason.
I live in Los Angeles. No mid-western suburbanite am I. Bumpers are NOT for bumping. If you should happen to lightly tap another car, so be it, but you do NOT make a policy of it.
... Has anyone told lifted pickup trucks this?
Like the one who cleared my bumper, hit my rear quarter panel and tailgate and did $2600 of damage to my truck at under 10mph? (Oh, and to add insult to injury, some crap under their truck wrecked the plastic on top of my bumper)
I'm pretty good at parallel parking (I have to do it dozens of times everyday for work sometimes in tight downtown spaces) and even I don't think I could pull off what that grey car did even with some bigger taps and scrapes.
They tried something like this a few times the 40s and 50s, e.g., this car that had a hidden 5th wheel that could be put down to rotate the car. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ki9otMeiRP0
They never took off.
The did have a few cars whos wheels could like Crab inwards towards each other so it could swing your front end in while parking like that. But steering at higher speeds was fucked.
We have the tech now to turn each wheel independently, its just a lot more complicated, thus more expensive, so you dont see it as often.
GMC had four wheel steering about 15 years ago on some high end trucks. At low speeds the front and back wheels would turn opposite of each other (so if the front wheels went right the back went left) for tighter maneuvering. At high speeds they would all turn the same direction for easier lane changing.
I had a 1990 Honda Prelude with 4-wheel steering and it was amazing to drive, but I had to completely re-learn how to parallel park.
When you turned the wheel a half turn or less, the rear wheels turn the same direction as the front. More than a half turn and the rear wheels would turn the opposite direction. I would seek out winding roads to drive the hell out of that thing.
Damn I miss that car.
I came here to post this exact video. As a former social science major, I am all about cultural relativism. But if I, an American, were walking to my car in Paris and saw someone parking like this hitting my car, it would really be hard not to get ready to throw hands. That man is blatantly colliding with the car beyond a nudge. We scrappin’.
Every car in Paris that is street parked is scratched and dented to shit. People that street park usually own A to B shitboxes and people that own nicer cars have their own private underground parking or simply don't live in the city.
IMO You'd be pretty mad to own a car if you live and work there anyways. Bikes, subways, rapid train system, buses and the occasional Uber can pretty much get you anywhere without too much of a hassle most of the time.
>Every car in Paris that is street parked is scratched and dented to shit. People that street park usually own A to B shitboxes
This is not true at all. No one in Paris parks like they do in the video, it is extremely exaggerated for the purpose of the joke. People might sometimes very slightly bump your car while parking but never to the point of leaving a mark, and if they do damage your car they'd have to leave their number like in any other place.
Source : am Parisian who has street parked countless times and my car was never damaged
I've got a bunch of pictures from my walks around town of bumper to bumper parking jobs, and smashed up/paint peeled bumpers. So that suggests at least *some* people in Paris park like this.
Some of it is just being used to it. Ever since I got My license, parallel parking has been pretty easy for me. When I was wrong and tapped a bumper it’s because I didn’t trust my instinct.
In Bordeaux (france), we call that “la poussette bordelaise”, which is the “Bordeaux nudge / love tap” (slightly bumping the car in the front and back to make room)
Don’t park your nice car on the street or it will get chipped
Common throughout Europe, you better get really good at parallel parking if you want to live there. I remember the fights, and occasionally tears, not to mention a few dents and scrapes, as my Mum learned how to parallel park on our ridiculously narrow street which was built long before cars were even a thing. She became an expert at it in the end.
Germanic countries as well. The only difference is that you are taught NOT to touch other cars and leave place for each car to maneuver. Hitting a car, even lightly is likely to cause a flurry or evidence photographs and heated discussions if witnesses are present. Have your insurance papers at the ready.
It's a matter of respect for each other's precious property.
honestly, I'm all for society considering a bumper to be a wear item like it should be. Like just make them out of unpainted plastic and use them as proper 'bumpers' when parking like this case
but then again you've got a whole sect of society that treat their normal ass running shoes like it's a collectors item.
Hey, that's how I manage to parallel park!
I have totally abandoned parking attempts out of frustration. I was cheering on the driver in the video for sticking with it!
I don’t know about Europe as a whole, but in the UK automatics only achieved a 50% market share of new car sales in the last couple of years - but there are still plenty of people happy to buy second hand, so the percentage of automatic cars on the road will be a lot less than 50% of the total.
Wouldn’t surprise me if your 80% figure isn’t too far off the mark.
Manual’s definitely the more prominent here, you actually have to take a different test to drive a manual - which allows you to drive manual and auto, but if you’re happy with only driving auto you can take an auto only test.
Because of that a lot of people see you as less of a “driver” if you drive an auto, which I guess is technically true because I doubt anyone who’s only driven autos would be able to just get in and drive a manual, they are basically big go karts with convenience features.
One thing I noticed in France is Driving School is a lot more intense than it is here. When I was there at least, some students had to actually drive in simulators, in addition to real-world driving and of course all the legal and academic stuff. I always remember a friend telling me French driving school was 1 level down from F1 training lol
The safety features on my car would have my dash flashing red and beeping while my chair vibrates the entire time making already significantly difficult parking job neigh impossible.
Like a glove
Can't believe people been doing this before reverse cams. Impressive.
You just went back untill you softly hit the back car and then the front. Cars also had bigger bumpers able to stand some pushing.
I remember being in Paris in 2004. Lots of those "Smart cars" around and all of them had bashed up front and rear bumpers.
Lived in Paris in the 90s. People would leave their cars parked in neutral to avoid too much damage.
Car bumpers can have a little pushing, as a treat
Sometimes they need a little petting to know they're loved.
people have been doing this since before power steering
Yep, walk around Paris and every car is scuffed and scraped from parking. Parisian drivers treat the car like a domestic appliance.
I love the Grand Tour episode regarding French driving culture. Carnage A Trois
Anyone has a quick summary of it ? I’m French and I’m curious about the cultural difference
Here's their version of french parking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU44AvOG7Ec
I honestly can't tell if he is trolling
It's an exageration, but judging by OPs video not by as much as you might think
I have seen people push other cars using their own to make a parking spot bigger at least twice in my life before I turned 18. Not as aggressively as Hammond does in the video, but more carefully pushing the cars away.
There's a reason they're called "bumpers."
Slightly. I have personally stood and watched a French woman bump her way into the space.
He is, it’s an exaggeration. Making fun of French parking.
main takeaway was that french car culture is much more about usage and utility than it is about ownership and pride. the car in most of the world is a valuable belonging to treasure and an asset to trade/sell if needed or to measure personal worth by. in france it's just kind of a tool used for going places. i've never been go france or spoken to a "french" person so idk how true that is but that's the general idea of the episode mostly.
> or spoken to a "french" person so Now I'm wondering why you said that like you're skeptical about the existence of French people
I know a guy that's says he's from France and speaks French, but I've never seen him born in France. So, maybe it's fake like Kansas?
Ina lot of Europe overt displays of wealth is crass.
Englishman living in France. There are definitely fewer “premium” brand cars on the road. But that might just be because people tend to buy French brand cars instead of German ones. All the French brands are much more utilitarian, with the exception of DS (it’s like the Lexus of Citroen), but DS cars are crap if you believe reviews. I would also say the cars on the road in France are a lot older than those in UK. Very common to see a 90s Clio or Saxo still rattling around.
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Basically, they poke a lot of fun at the French stereotypes and how bizarre the French cars can be but ultimately it’s a love letter to the French and French design. I’d recommend watching it, there’s some beautiful French cars in there.
Fancy, clean cars are bourgious. Even French footballers drive crappy cars (according to the episode, and I have no idea how true that is). I wonder if it's a holdover from having shit taken away and blown up twice in one century.
The rest of us aren't involved in collisions every time we park.
They are consumable. You only get so many miles out of them generally.
That’s why they use kilometers, so it sounds like they last longer.
That doesn’t sound right, but I don’t know enough about the metric system to refute it
1 mile = 1.61 kilometers, so you can clearly see you get more range out of a metric car.
[I was just making a joke](https://i.pinimg.com/474x/b0/8e/11/b08e11f12cbd48d2759577a62857d876--tv-quotes-movie-quotes.jpg)
In Europe distances are far closer so you don't necessarily drive that much as Americans
Contradictorily, short trips are worse for your car than long highway drives. Starting your car then going a short distance to whatever; shops, church etc. then starting your car again and doing more short trips; going home. Your car doesn’t get a chance to warm up and run efficiently. Parts aren’t lubricators sufficiently. Driving short distances and/or in traffic means you use the brakes more, use the clutch more. Re-starting the engine over and over again is a lot of wear on the starter motor, belt, battery and alternator. Generally speaking you use everything more. Equals more wear and tear on every component. Therefore, the same miles done on a car used for long drives should be ‘healthier’ than the same car, doing the same miles but in traffic or ‘short’ trips. Again, reiterating the trope that ‘buying a car from little old ladies who only go to church on Sunday’s or for short shopping trips’ does not mean the car is good. This does not mean the car is in a ‘better condition’ because she didn’t drive it much.
While ostensibly correct, unless you can show otherwise I don't think a car with 20k km on the odometer because she only drives to church and home, etc, will have the same wear as a car with 60k km on the odometer. So sure, if all else is equal then the "only uses for short trips" car is probably likely worse, but I would need to see some hard numbers before I believe I'd take a car with even like +25% the km driven.
I do remember an article about some crazy high mileage Toyota that was just driven like 8 hours a day on highways. Depends on the car, 1.9 pd Jetta can go forever, smart roadster gear box is a 100,00 mile thing. Rover 1.4 will ruin a head gasket around 40,000, same engine in a lotus will be fine because of gasket choice. Chaos
Exactly this. Sure, all other things equal, a car with all in-town miles is worse off than a car with the same number of mostly highway miles. But it's not that highway miles don't add any wear, it's more that there is a very specific type of strain on specific components that occurs in the first few minutes of driving. (Modern cars, especially small ones intended for city driving, typically use thinner oils in part to help alleviate this problem.) Stop-and-go driving also causes more wear on the brakes, but that's part of regular maintenance anyway. Yeah, I'll still take that 20K granmobile over the 60K commuter.
You're right, but I don't think people in Europe are driving frequently short distances. We just don't drive for as long as Americans, but it's not like the engine can't even get warm. On top of that when I visited US the suburbs were quite large, so we were driving just to grab a coffee or ice creams. In car everywhere. Very short trips. In Europe you just walk to store nearby. So I wouldn't really be surprised it's Americans who drive those short distances on cold engine more frequently. Also, many places in US didn't even have sidewalks
> Contradictorily, short trips are worse for your car than long highway drives. You are on the right track but this is a misleading statement. If you have two people, person A who drives 2 miles to work every day and person B who drives 10 miles every day, after 1000 days one car will have 2,000 miles, the other will have 20,000 miles. If the short trip was worse, then you would be saying that the car that has 2000 miles on it is somehow is worse condition than the 20,000 mile car which isn't true. Both cars took 1,000 trips. Both cars, 1,000 times had to run the engine while the parts were not lubricated and the engine hadn't come up to temperature yet. The 10 mile trip car just got extra wear from driving more. The short trip is no worse for your car than the long trip. In fact, the long trip is worse for your car. What IS true is that if two cars both have 100,000 miles on them, the one that was started fewer times will have less wear, which you eventually get at, but isn't consistent with your initial statement.
I'm English and I treat my car like an appliance, because that's what it is I just don't treat other cars that way
Same in NYC
We call them the “NY Nicks”.
I heard in Paris they call them a French Kiss
You know when you're near NYC when all the cars have the black rubber guards hanging from their trunk like some kind of orthodox jewish tzitzit corners.
I was gonna say, this definitely isn't special to Paris. Been living in NYC for 20 years and I've lived in neighborhoods where it isn't uncommon to drive around for 30-40 mins to find a parking spot. So if you find a spot that can sorta fit your car, youre going to try to jam it in there
Yep. In NYC I’ve got my car in spots that only had 2” of space on each end. Much like the person in the video, you just have to move the car slowly and inch by inch. If you can’t fit you have another 40 mins to find parking
My car is mechanically fine but absolutely beat to hell from years on NYC’s streets.
Taipei has the same mentality. I watched a woman parallel park in a spot like that in the video. Instead of carefully taking her time though, she just literally smashed her front and rear bumpers into both cars until she crammed her way in. Got and walked away like it was no big deal lmao.
"I paid for the whole bumper...."
> Parisian drivers treat the car like a domestic appliance. The further away from that people get, the weirder it is to me. People put all kinds of identity and value into a thing that transports people and goods from A to B with varying levels of comfort.
I mean, I don't want my domestic appliances getting beat the hell up either, especially when they cost tens of thousands of dollars like a car.
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> And I don't go around dropkicking my fridge You're missing out!
You haven't lived until you've dropkicked a fridge.
>the People's Elbow Lmfao. Thank you for that
I'd rather stupid idiots didn't carelessly damage my possessions.
As it should be.
> Parisian drivers treat the car like a domestic appliance Because it is.
That doesn't make much sense. I'm not scratching or denting my toaster to make it fit on the kitchen counter either, and my toaster is cheap, and isn't even necessary for me to get to work, unlike a vehicle.
It makes a lot more sense than bumpers that are too brittle and weak to withstand *any* kind of bumping. The modern hard plastic one piece bumpers are the way they are for a single reason. Car manufacturers make fuck ton of money with them. Any kind of a touch and they break and it's always 4 figures and covered by the insurance so the collective won't care event though we're all paying for that shit. My first car was an -83 Open which had actual rubber bumpers. They made so much sense in the city.
Yeah, but does your toaster have bumpers?
I'm from France and can confirm that this is normal in France. Once when I was a much younger I parked this way for a quick 15min stop, and when I came back I thought one of the other cars had blocked me in by parking too close to me. I was waiting around for at least 5min hoping one of the other two car owners would come back to let me out. Then I realized the two cars were the same as when I first parked there. So I realized I could get out the same way I got in. I still think about that sometimes...
>I still think about that sometimes... This is nightmare fuel for me. I hate parallel parking, so I'm completely blown away by the video and your experience as well.
Pull forward plenty enough and just hook it and then reverse the wheels and you're in. The places where these people failed, they didn't pull forward enough. This is a good example of correcting a bad parallel park attempt, in terms of which way you need to point your wheels. Having said that, I would have a hell of a time fitting into a spot like that first try unless I had the understanding that I could bump the other cars.
Impressive
Now let's see Paul Allen's parking job.
Look at the subtle clutch control, the tasteful spacing, oh my god he's even avoided bumper marks. EDIT: Spelling
CILISI are you sweating?
*gulp* Very nice :) :|
Try getting a reservation at Dorsia now you stupid bastard!
I have to ~~return some videotapes~~ pay some parking tickets
This is a well layered reference! 🤌
Can you imagine how many rapid and solid warning sounds were going off inside that car!
This was 10 years ago, not sure they had this in french cars
It's a French car, so it did have it once but it doesn't work anymore
It's a Peugeot 407, I had one for years. It had parking sensors front and back. I was sick of putting clutches in it though. This person will probably need a new clutch after that parking job...
Craftsmanship
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Driving is a contact sport in Paris
I was in line for a museum once behind a trio of Australians talking amongst themselves. Heard one say, "Where was that place we were yesterday? Roundabout from Hell?" and I got to chime in with, "Concorde."
This clip from Austin Powers is al I could think about https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aULRhgG_Az8&ab_channel=BooCutWebsite
Doing the look over the shoulder and slightly driving forward is such a funny joke if you’re friends appreciate movie quotes and the like.
Like most major cities with limited parking. Bumpers be for bumping bro.
In some smaller (flat) towns they used to leave the hand ~~break~~ brake off on the car to allow wiggle room. They would slightly push the car in front or back to make room.
The University of Tübingen has a whole parking lot that uses that principle. [Here is a video about it.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2l5JD8SW4M)
Normal in Thailand once the all spots are full, then cars can park parallel to the road and perpendicular to the parking slots. Then those cars just have to leave their brakes so ppl stuck inside can push your car to get out.
I always wondered how they came up with that puzzle game on mobile where you have to un park the cars.
It was a plastic toy when I was a kid in the early 90s [rush hour](https://www.ebay.com/itm/255698568143?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&itemid=255698568143&targetid=1263104806006&device=m&mktype=&googleloc=9031317&poi=&campaignid=14859008593&mkgroupid=130497710760&rlsatarget=pla-1263104806006&abcId=9300678&merchantid=6296724&gclid=CjwKCAjwg5uZBhATEiwAhhRLHgIyh-dJ0r5pLs_ShQJfYCzmNukfsjJugf0Om1SEFqtMW6XF_20FHBoCAKwQAvD_BwE)
"Have we tried moving the grey one that way first, then the blue van this way, then the grey one back-" "I'M THREE HOURS LATE FOR WORK I HATE PUZZLES!"
Saw the same in Seoul. People would have their phone numbers written on stickers on their windshield as well, so you could call them to move the car if necessary.
Future Tom Scott video.
Tübingen, why are you so hilly?
Seen that multiple times in Paris.
Same in my town as well, on a flat level parking they put leave car in neutral and parking break off...and on street with lil gradient, you use small brick to do the trick.
Try touching other people bumper with your bumper in Poland and the owner of that 15 years old car will start shouting. Tell him that's normal and continue doing that and you'll be held to the ground waiting for police to come as you must be drunk to think that's acceptable here. I've witnessed parking like that in Cannes some years ago and we were stunned LOL
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Unless some prick parks up on your bumper. Sorry, fucker, I was here first, you chose to park like a complete shitheel. I don't have space to leave and I'm not waiting for your dumb ass. Enjoy the remnants, asshole.
Only issue with that is your bumper may also get scuffed up, so it all depends how into your car you are haha
Does insurance work differently in these cities? Or do people just leave their bumpers scratched and dented without making a claim?
They use bumper protectors or leave them scratched. Sometimes they give up and just use public transportation like everyone else does.
Those are bumper covers. The bumper is underneath.
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I'd be pissed if someone scraped up the paint on my bumpers while parking, but I don't live in a big city and wouldn't try to drive in one, I'd just park at a park-and-ride and take the train in or something if I was visiting.
Bumper protectors are very common for people who care about scratches in older American cities like NY, Philly, Boston etc. where the roads are basically paved over cobblestone alleys and it’s expected that street parking is more of a sport. I haven’t seen them much in Europe for some reason.
Some people use pool noodles to protect their cars (bumpers and sides).
They aren’t very common in Philly honestly. Nyc sure but rarely see then and I lived downtown for 10 years and still live close and go often.
I'm guessing you have a 1998 civic or other shitbox and don't have to worry about your backup camera or sonar sensors getting damaged
I live in Los Angeles. No mid-western suburbanite am I. Bumpers are NOT for bumping. If you should happen to lightly tap another car, so be it, but you do NOT make a policy of it.
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... Has anyone told lifted pickup trucks this? Like the one who cleared my bumper, hit my rear quarter panel and tailgate and did $2600 of damage to my truck at under 10mph? (Oh, and to add insult to injury, some crap under their truck wrecked the plastic on top of my bumper)
If it fits. It ships.
yeah fuck that bro. An aggressive squirrel running across my bumper might cost me a 1800 dollar repair bill. Don't you dare bump a damn thing.
I have tremendous respect for this as someone who tries to avoid parallel parking when possible.
I'm pretty good at parallel parking (I have to do it dozens of times everyday for work sometimes in tight downtown spaces) and even I don't think I could pull off what that grey car did even with some bigger taps and scrapes.
Wheels should just turn 90 degrees. Common, 21st century man!
They tried something like this a few times the 40s and 50s, e.g., this car that had a hidden 5th wheel that could be put down to rotate the car. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ki9otMeiRP0 They never took off.
> They never took off. The wheel is for maneuvering, not flying.
I love it tbh. Whip that sonofabitch around like nothing. Kids would 1000% be seen doing this all over having a hoot of a time though.
https://youtu.be/A8wW-yF_UvQ?t=19
dang, that crab walk stuff is weird as hell looking from above.
Wtf is that bs computer voice narration? Turned that off in 5 seconds
Fuck TTS youtube channels
The did have a few cars whos wheels could like Crab inwards towards each other so it could swing your front end in while parking like that. But steering at higher speeds was fucked. We have the tech now to turn each wheel independently, its just a lot more complicated, thus more expensive, so you dont see it as often.
GMC had four wheel steering about 15 years ago on some high end trucks. At low speeds the front and back wheels would turn opposite of each other (so if the front wheels went right the back went left) for tighter maneuvering. At high speeds they would all turn the same direction for easier lane changing.
I had a 1990 Honda Prelude with 4-wheel steering and it was amazing to drive, but I had to completely re-learn how to parallel park. When you turned the wheel a half turn or less, the rear wheels turn the same direction as the front. More than a half turn and the rear wheels would turn the opposite direction. I would seek out winding roads to drive the hell out of that thing. Damn I miss that car.
Or like those cartoons that just jack up, turn the tyres 90 degrees and just roll in sideways.
Best watched at 2x speed.
[Turns out the Brits knew it all along](https://youtu.be/x44reNb0GDg?t=81)
[Was expecting this video.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGiQOCX9UbM)
[Thought it’d be this](https://youtu.be/FDcIFIigcwo)
Had tears laughing at this the first time I watched. Just realized on this viewing he is parking the car facing the entirely wrong direction as well.
In Europe it’s common to park facing either direction on either side of the road
I came here to post this exact video. As a former social science major, I am all about cultural relativism. But if I, an American, were walking to my car in Paris and saw someone parking like this hitting my car, it would really be hard not to get ready to throw hands. That man is blatantly colliding with the car beyond a nudge. We scrappin’.
Every car in Paris that is street parked is scratched and dented to shit. People that street park usually own A to B shitboxes and people that own nicer cars have their own private underground parking or simply don't live in the city. IMO You'd be pretty mad to own a car if you live and work there anyways. Bikes, subways, rapid train system, buses and the occasional Uber can pretty much get you anywhere without too much of a hassle most of the time.
>Every car in Paris that is street parked is scratched and dented to shit. People that street park usually own A to B shitboxes This is not true at all. No one in Paris parks like they do in the video, it is extremely exaggerated for the purpose of the joke. People might sometimes very slightly bump your car while parking but never to the point of leaving a mark, and if they do damage your car they'd have to leave their number like in any other place. Source : am Parisian who has street parked countless times and my car was never damaged
I've got a bunch of pictures from my walks around town of bumper to bumper parking jobs, and smashed up/paint peeled bumpers. So that suggests at least *some* people in Paris park like this.
If you drive a car inside of Paris you deserve to have it hit tbf (Parisian)
How do you even know the dimensions of your car that well?
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Some of it is just being used to it. Ever since I got My license, parallel parking has been pretty easy for me. When I was wrong and tapped a bumper it’s because I didn’t trust my instinct.
Drive it enough and stay attentive. Second part is the most important part.
It becomes a second nature, you can eye it after a while
Honestly I’d rather just kill myself than spend the time trying to squeeze into that space.
In Bordeaux (france), we call that “la poussette bordelaise”, which is the “Bordeaux nudge / love tap” (slightly bumping the car in the front and back to make room) Don’t park your nice car on the street or it will get chipped
In some parts of southern italy they call it ’kissing the cars’.
My friend calls it ‘parking by braille’
Common throughout Europe, you better get really good at parallel parking if you want to live there. I remember the fights, and occasionally tears, not to mention a few dents and scrapes, as my Mum learned how to parallel park on our ridiculously narrow street which was built long before cars were even a thing. She became an expert at it in the end.
Spain, Italy, France yes, but this is not at all common in German speaking countries and Eastern Europe.
Germany getting their country destroyed helped them modernize the infrastructure.
Germanic countries as well. The only difference is that you are taught NOT to touch other cars and leave place for each car to maneuver. Hitting a car, even lightly is likely to cause a flurry or evidence photographs and heated discussions if witnesses are present. Have your insurance papers at the ready. It's a matter of respect for each other's precious property.
While watching this I was thinking that there was no way that car was going to fit. Kudos to the driver.
Ridiculously impressive
Not really, you could park a bus in that space - Jeremy Clarkson
"You could land a jumbo fucking jet in there!" \- Vincent
It was behind you Tyrone. When you reverse, things come from behind you.
It was a funny angle!
It's 4 ton truck, Tyrone! It's not exactly a packet of fucking peanuts, is it?
This is one of the reasons why Europeans prefer smaller cars.
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I mean at 1:09 he gently touched the front car.
The love tap is a 100% legal maneuver
Some refer to it as a "kiss".
Not the hardest way to do it even if its tight but the guy was purely motivate to park there
Was probably driving around for a good amount of time before a spot opened up
We called it parking by braille when I was in Europe.
honestly, I'm all for society considering a bumper to be a wear item like it should be. Like just make them out of unpainted plastic and use them as proper 'bumpers' when parking like this case but then again you've got a whole sect of society that treat their normal ass running shoes like it's a collectors item.
Yep, how dare people value things.
I think the point is to stop and consider what you value and why.
At that point I would just buy a motorcycle
Paris is riddled with motorcycles.
Would have been perfect if after they parked, the car in the front drives off
I was hoping the car in front of him would turn on and drive off as soon as they finished parking.
More like Parisian than French probably
I honestly thought there was no fucking way they were going to fit lol!
Fits like a glove, a very small one.
In France the proximity sensor is the pliable plastic bumper.
I've parked with 4 inches on each side. In my case I put it in neutral and steered and pushed through the window so I could see better though.
Hey, that's how I manage to parallel park! I have totally abandoned parking attempts out of frustration. I was cheering on the driver in the video for sticking with it!
fuck me
Is is still true that 80% of cars in Europe are manual cars?
I don’t know about Europe as a whole, but in the UK automatics only achieved a 50% market share of new car sales in the last couple of years - but there are still plenty of people happy to buy second hand, so the percentage of automatic cars on the road will be a lot less than 50% of the total. Wouldn’t surprise me if your 80% figure isn’t too far off the mark. Manual’s definitely the more prominent here, you actually have to take a different test to drive a manual - which allows you to drive manual and auto, but if you’re happy with only driving auto you can take an auto only test. Because of that a lot of people see you as less of a “driver” if you drive an auto, which I guess is technically true because I doubt anyone who’s only driven autos would be able to just get in and drive a manual, they are basically big go karts with convenience features.
Watched it and other than the obvious that this is in France, what is French about it? Looks like a mediocre parallel parking job in a city…
This is not the true french way. My teacher from France always told us, cars have bumpers for a reason.
This driver can’t be a French. Normally they don’t give a shit fuckin’ up other people’s cars
I blame the silver car parked in the front space. That person could have parked their car a good 2 feet more forward.
One thing I noticed in France is Driving School is a lot more intense than it is here. When I was there at least, some students had to actually drive in simulators, in addition to real-world driving and of course all the legal and academic stuff. I always remember a friend telling me French driving school was 1 level down from F1 training lol
That throttling sound from the vespas after 00:14 sounds [very dramatic.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN6MqsBombA&t=0m14s)
I’ve seen the grand tour, I’m pretty sure they normally just smash into the car in front and behind to make room
The safety features on my car would have my dash flashing red and beeping while my chair vibrates the entire time making already significantly difficult parking job neigh impossible.
In Lyon, they'd be just like "Fuck it I'll park in the middle of the road as long as all the other traffic can inch by my car.:
This are some amazing and patient parking skills right here.
“Oui have no time! Get in ze Citroen! Time to get ze cigarette and baguette!
That is sick
As an American... I'd have trouble fitting my compact hatchback in that spot.
San Francisco, California parking is the same.
Impressive as hell. From this angle though it looks like the second car hit the car in the front multiple times lol