I live with my 83 year old mother and driver her around a lot. My car is a Toyota pickup. Her old car was a Chevy Cavalier, which was just neat. I could nip into any little parking spot, and take tight corners. But as time took it’s toll on the little darling, we got a new car for her. It is a '94 Dodge Intrepid. I know they use them for police cars, but I feel like I am captaining the HMS Queen Elizabeth, or driving around on the living room couch. I could play Nintendo in this car, but parking it in a tight spot is another matter. Can anyone give me advice on how to guide this monsterous behemouth? (Sure, I know you will sneer and say it’s not big, but I like little, itty bitty cars. They don’t bump into trees or your car door as I back out and turn…)
Are you talking about pull in parking spots or parallel parking?
In both cases I suggest you may want to park in an area where there are fewer other cars, like at the back of the lot or on the next street over.
There is only one thing you can do. Practice, practice, practice.
As you acclimate yourself to the larger vehicle it will become “normal” and you will have less and less trouble maneuvering and parking it.
You will never fit a large vehicle in a small space, so you have to start looking for larger parking spaces, but you will get used to it if you pay attention and give yourself some time.
Find an empty parking lot and set up 4 cones with broom handles in them to represent a “car” in front of and a “car” behind an open parking spot. Do this along a curb. Then practice pulling up parallel to the “car” in front of you and backing into the open spot without hitting the brooms behind you. Repeat many many times until the procedure becomes second nature.
Don’t drive it like a police car. The Michigan State Police, in their annual testing, found that during the braking tests, every Intrepid they tested had their front brakes catch on fire.
But to drive a big car, you need to give yourself lots of space. Practice makes perfect. I regularly drive a 2002 Hyundai Accent and a 97 Crown Victoria. Just know where the car is on the road, and what it’s abilities and limitations are, and you’ll be fine. To find those out, well, get some practice.