What is a sedan? Type of cars, photo

The very first and most common body type of a passenger car so far is a sedan.

Its main difference from all other types is the presence of a trunk, structurally separated from the passenger compartment. And if we take those cars that were produced at the dawn of the automotive industry, until the 30s and 40s of the last century, we can see that the trunk looked like a small box installed immediately behind the passenger compartment. And in some cars there was no trunk at all.

Currently, all sedans have a three-volume body. Three-volume means that visually it can be divided into three main parts: hood, interior and trunk.

Usually a sedan has 4 doors, but if it has six doors, then this type of car is called a limousine. Modern sedans have a trunk that is smaller than the hood, but back in the 50s and 80s, the hood and trunk were the same size.

The classic sedan today has one central pillar that divides the interior into two parts. These cars are usually designed for four or five people, including the driver's seat. Sedans are classified both in the compact class “B”, and in the medium and full-size classes “C”, “D” and “E”.

In class “A”, there cannot be sedans in principle, since with an average body length of up to three and a half meters, there is no room for a separate trunk. Although, if we take a car like the ZAZ 965, we will see that, despite its size - 3330 mm body length - it was a subcompact sedan, since the trunk was separated from the passenger compartment. True, the trunk was in the front, because this car had a rear-engine layout.

Types of sedans

Throughout the history of the automotive industry, engineers have managed to come up with many subspecies of the sedan body.

classic sedan - This is a three-volume body with a central pillar and four doors. All our cars - GAZ-24, VAZ 2101, Moskvich 412 - are classic models with a hood, trunk and four-door interior.

were very common at the time two-door sedans. Take, for example, a model such as the second generation Opel Rekord A. Not only is it almost exactly like our Volga (or rather, the Volga looks like it), it is also a very popular example of a two-door sedan.

The latest two-door sedan still on the road is the Opel Ascona C.

These two-door sedans were cheaper, which greatly attracted buyers from the lower strata of society.

Two-door sedans are also called compartment.

But here you need to understand that a coupe can be both four-seater and two-seater cars. For example, the manufacturer himself calls the BMW X6 a sports coupe, although we have an SUV with a fastback body type, which we will consider below. The Mercedes-Benz CLS is another four-door coupe-style sedan.

The main differences between a two-door sedan and a coupe are that the coupe is usually installed on a shortened base, and the rear seat is either completely absent or has limited comfort - the so-called "baby seat". Well, usually coupes are cars with good dynamic characteristics for sports driving modes.

In America, sedans with a body type were very popular. hardtop. Hardtops were characterized by the absence of a central pillar. If we look at those huge American sedans, like the Crysler Newport or the Cadillac Eldorado, which were almost 6 meters long, we understand what a hardtop is.

Particularly indicative in this sense will be the seventh generation Cadillac Eldorado.

Hardtops were gradually forced out of production, due to the fact that they had a number of shortcomings: the almost complete lack of sound insulation, a large amount of extraneous noise, it is much easier to get into them and they became objects of theft, they could only be driven on roads with high quality pavement.

Another body type fastback.

Fastbacks, depending on the device of the trunk, can refer to both sedans and hatchbacks, which we have already written about. The famous Soviet car “Victory” is a great example of a fastback. All of them have a teardrop shape, as the roof of the cabin flows smoothly into the trunk. This shape is very well displayed on the dynamics, take at least the Audi A7 Sportback or BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo - excellent premium cars with pronounced sporting qualities.

Liftback just like a fastback, it can apply to both a sedan and a hatchback. Skoda Superb and Skoda Octavia are prime examples of this.

In appearance, they are sedans, since the trunk is structurally separated from the passenger compartment. But the way the trunk opens puts these models at an intermediate level between a hatchback and a sedan.

In a word, any manufacturer tries to come up with some kind of zest so that his car attracts the attention of buyers.

Benefits of a sedan

The most important advantage of a sedan is, of course, presentability. Take the cheap Daewoo Nexia, which is a C class sedan, a mid-size car that looks really nice. Whereas an ordinary hatchback, especially a female one, such as the Hyundai Getz, although it is a practical car, does not have that presentability.

Also, do not forget that it is easier to warm up the interior of a sedan, smells from the trunk will not penetrate into the cabin, good sound insulation - for a station wagon, soundproofing the trunk is a painful topic.

By the way, here you can find out what a crossover is.

Loading…