What is a car's standard turning circle?

What is the standard turning circle of a car in Australia?

The standard turning circle of a car in Australia is 12m.

That figure comes from averaging the turning circles of popular vehicle types spanning the Australian new car market.

That figure is also a pretty good indication of the ever-increasing popularity of utes in this country because between 12m and 13m is about the norm for the turning circles of utes available here, excepting the US-style pick-ups which hang around the 14m to 15m mark.

For reference, a definition of a car turning circle is the minimum arc that a vehicle will turn through with the steering wheel at full lock.

So, the smaller a car’s turning circle, the easier that vehicle will be to park, execute a U-turn, and to manoeuvre in and out of your driveway – one would assume*.

* Although we know that if you ever ‘assume’ anything, you’re making an ‘ass’ out of ‘u’ and ‘me’.

The smaller a car’s turning circle, the easier that vehicle will be to park. (Image: Justin Hilliard)

Generally, if a car is small in stature, short in length, and has a short wheelbase, the more efficient it will be in terms of its turning circle.

A 4WD wagon or ute will have a much larger turning circle (in the vicinity of 12m and up) than a Suzuki Ignis (9.4m), so it’s easy to see which vehicle is engineered for ease of use in a city, and which vehicle is designed to be used in the wide open spaces of the bush.

What is the turning circle of a car and why is it an important factor to consider when buying a car?

Read on.

A 4WD wagon or ute will have a much larger turning circle (in the vicinity of 12m and up). (Image: Glen Sullivan)

How and why does the turning circle of a car differ? 

The turning circle of cars within the same realm – hatchbacks, sedans, wagons, SUVs, utes, pick-ups etc – will not differ as greatly as something like length may.

How much do they differ by? Not much. Unmodified models in the same part of the market will likely be within 30cm of each other’s turning circle. Reckon I’m way off? Great. Comment to your heart’s content in the comments section.

A small urban-focussed car – well suited to a young upwardly-mobile couple or a young upwardly-mobile couple with a pug called Winchester – will need more city-friendly manoeuvrability than a bush-based behemoth that regularly carries five people, three dogs, four compound bows, and an 80-litre car fridge-freezer.

But generally speaking, cars within the same realm – hatchbacks, sedans, wagons, SUVs, utes, pick-ups – will have similar measurements.

Unmodified models in the same part of the market will likely be within 30cm of each other’s turning circle. (Image: Tom White)

What are the advantages of having a good turning circle? 

There are a few, but most of them relate to a vehicle’s ease of use in an urban setting.

The main advantage of having a car with a good turning circle is that it will be a breeze to park in, and manoeuvre through, a traffic-congested area – and it'll be a cinch to do a (legal) U-turn in a busy street. 

It will invariably be a small vehicle, though, so you’ll be sacrificing interior room and cargo space, meaning it will have less capacity to carry people- and/or cargo in relative comfort than a bigger vehicle that by design has a larger turning circle.

The main advantage of having a car with a good turning circle is that it will be a breeze to manoeuvre through a traffic-congested area. (Image: Tom White)

The average turning circles for different types of cars

In Australia we use the metric system of measurement, as in metres, not feet. So, in this feature, we’ll continue to refer to a car’s turning circles in metres.

The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) defines* selected vehicle types on their footprint (defined as a vehicle’s length [in millimetres] x width [in millimetres], rounded).

This is a better way of considering how much space a vehicle actually occupies, rather than just taking its length alone into account.

* But even the FCAI qualifies its category definition with a “Note: These parameters are indicative only; exceptions do occur based on market focus and other subjective criteria. They are largely based on the specifications listed and are reflective of the volume-selling variant where cross over occurs.”

The average turning circle of a small SUV (with a length [mm] x width [mm] less than 8100mm) is about 11m. (Image: Tom White)

First up, small cars – like the Kia Picanto, Suzuki Ignis, Toyota Yaris, etc.

The average turning circle of a small car (with a length [mm] x width [mm] between 7501-8300mm) in this part of the vehicular market falls somewhere around the 9.6m mark.

The average turning circle of a small SUV (with a length [mm] x width [mm] less than 8100mm) is about 11m. 

You might think you know better – have your say in the comments section at the bottom of this page.

Next, medium SUVs – (with a FCAI-defined footprint of 8101mm-8800mm) – which includes vehicles such as Kia Sportage, Mazda CX-5, Mitsubishi Outlander, Nissan X-Trail, Toyota RAV4, Volkswagen Tiguan, etc. These vehicles are referred to as “medium” or “mid-size” and may have five or seven seats.

The average turning circle of a medium SUV is about 11m.

Large SUVs can carry up to seven people; upper large SUVs are able to carry up to eight passengers.

The average turning circle of a medium SUV is about 11m.(Image: Sam Rawlings)

The average turning circle of a large SUV (with a footprint of between 8801mm and 9800mm) such as Toyota Prado and Land Rover Discovery, is near the 12m mark.

Upper large SUVs have a FCAI-defined footprint bigger than 9801mm – think 300 Series LandCruiser (almost 5.0m long) and Land Rover Defender 130 (almost 5.4m long) – and the average turning circle in this market is also 12m, or so.

Utes are classified as light trucks, which are “Vehicles designed principally for commercial but may include designs intended for non-commercial applications”.

They’re available as two-wheel drive (4x2) or four-wheel drive (4x4) vehicles, and as a cab chassis or with a tub at the rear.

These vehicles can legally carry up to five people in the cabin, depending on the body type, and have a FCAI-defined footprint of between 9001mm and 9501mm.

The average turning circle of a ute available in Australia is about 12m.

The average turning circle of a large SUV (with a footprint of between 8801mm and 9800mm) is near the 12m mark.

Again, let us know in the comments section below if you think you know better. We’d really love to hear from you. No, really...

US pick-ups – we’re talking the likes of the Ram 1500, the Ram 2500, the Chevrolet Silverado, the Ford F-150 – and their turning circles are somewhere between 14m and 15m.

What cars have the best and worst turning circles? 

The best turning circles are executed by small cars, so you’d be looking at something like a Suzuki Ignis or Kia Picanto (both with listed turning circles of 9.4m).

The worst turning circles, in terms of mainstream-available cars, are those exhibited by US pick-ups, such as the Ram 3500, which has a listed 14.6m turning circle.

The Kia Picanto has a listed turning circle of 9.4m. (Image: Byron Mathioudakis)

How to find out the turning circle of a particular vehicle?

If you’re reading this yarn at carsguide.com.au – and not on some dodgy website that has 'curated' (read: stolen) our content – then congratulations! 

Now look up at the menu bar at the top of this page and give ‘Pricing and Specs’ a click. That will take you to the oh-so-impressive ‘Pricing and Specs’ section. 

Also, feel free to visit the relevant carmaker’s website and download any and all specification sheets that include details about your particular choice of vehicle. Make sure you look at the correct make-model-variant information.