It's strange, but every time I see a coupe, I think about the owner: "Dude, you're cool!" Even if we are talking about something awkward and shapeless, acid-colored and made in China. After all, the very fact that a person dared to buy such an unpractical, controversial and attention-grabbing car deserves respect. Here it is, the magic of the coupe - only the most indifferent citizen does not undertake to judge the owner of a coupe car, and it is precisely for the opportunity to attract the eyes of the public that its owners love this body. Which, by the way, are ready to put up with a whole range of shortcomings of such foppish cars:
Small cabin capacity;
Often the trunk capacity is small;
Wide, heavy door, difficult to use in parking lots;
As a rule, the process of boarding a low cabin is inconvenient;
Often there are problems with spare parts.
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Pictured: Aston Martin DB5
What is a coupe anyway?
Speaking strictly in automotive science, a coupe is a car with a two-door body, with two full-sized adult seats and a trunk separated from the passenger compartment. That is, in other words, a coupe is a two-door, two-seater sedan or, as an option, a fastback. A full-fledged coupe can also have an additional pair of passenger seats - less often full-size, more often children's (passenger formula 2+2). But in life everything is much brighter and more interesting.
Miracles of folk classification
It is interesting that in the automotive world, several concepts of a coupe exist on their own. Firstly, the “folk” classification is the most comprehensive and broad. Here, a coupe means almost any body with two passenger doors and a low silhouette. With this approach, even the cheapest version of the sedan is easily included in such a noble caste - the Tudor, a two-door version with a basic engine and minimal equipment (for example, like the two-door Opel Ascona C 1981-1988 with a 1.3 liter engine and a 4-speed manual transmission). .
The only thing that can confuse “folk” classifiers is “Zaporozhets” - it’s hard to classify this Tudor, ridiculed in hundreds of jokes, as a coupe caste. And not only the idle public is to blame for such a simplified approach, but also automakers, who sometimes boldly give the name coupe to other types of cars.
Most often, wanting to increase the prestige of the model and emphasize its sportiness, brand marketers can assign the Coupe index to the real three-door hatchback (for example, Renault Megane Coupe or Lada 112 Coupe). Or completely upside down: they award a full-blown four-door sedan the title of “four-door coupe” or sedan-coupe.
In the photo: Lada 112 Coupe
There are few examples, but they are bright and memorable, such as, say, Mercedes CLS and CLA, Volkswagen Passat CC. Of course, the low roofline hints at expanded sporting capabilities, but this is not yet a reason to break the canons of classification.
In fact, the range of coupe cars is much narrower. The bulk of this community consists of, so to speak, image cars, in contrast to sports cars, which will be discussed below. A mass-produced coupe, one way or another, is a car that with its entire appearance should show: “My owner is an extraordinary person. He is an advanced guy, do you understand?”
Anatomy of a real coupe
But to be honest, such cars most often differ from a serial mass product only in price and appearance, while the technical content is similar to the most ordinary family models. At the same time, coupes, built on the basis of sedans and hatchbacks of a lower class, usually have a sporty - or rather pseudo-sporty - appearance.
And yet, such cars drive and handle a little brighter than “family” prototypes, with which they share the same technical platform. Such pseudo-sports cars have a back seat, but it is not very comfortable for adult riders. For example, such are the still widespread Opel Calibra, based on the Vectra A chassis (1988) or the most common representative of this class on the roads of the CIS - the Hyundai Tiburon/Coupe, related to the Lantra/Elantra sedan.
Pictured: Hyundai Tiburon
Another subclass is less common - executive coupes. They are designed on the platform of high-class cars and almost always retain the architecture of a roomy and comfortable sedan, differing only in the length of the cabin superstructure and the number of doors. These are real coupes with a three-volume body, a completely comfortable rear seat and even a spacious trunk.
Compared to basic executive sedans, such “two-door” sedans are equipped as richly as possible, equipped with the most powerful engines and, by retuning the suspension for active drive, still leave it with a considerable amount of comfort. Vivid examples are the Mercedes-Benz coupe on the chassis of top S-class sedans (CL-Class and S-Class Coupe), as well as Cadillac Eldorado, Buick Riviera...
Pictured: S-Class Coupe
Perhaps, another group of 100% coupes can be included in the same “executive” category - Gran Turismo cars. They are less comfortable and more sporty, since they are “tailored” primarily for fast driving, and over long distances on highways. The boundaries of the classification of this class are traditionally blurred, but the most common models in it are Aston Martin, Alfa Romeo, Jaguar, and Maserati.
And the most energetic in the “coupe” (or is it still a coupe?) world are powerful sports models of elite brands Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini and a few others. In essence, they are natural coupes, but the paradox is that these road cars are the ones least often associated with the body type. They earned their good name for their substance (driving performance), not for their form (body style).
But they really only have two doors, a salon designed for two adults and a maximum of two children. At the same time, the trunk is reliably separated from the passenger compartment: thanks to the mid- or rear-engine layout, it is often located in the front, and if at the rear, then it can be shared with people by no more or less than the engine compartment, like in the mid-engine Porsche Cayman.
Pictured: Porsche Cayman
"Compartment" geography
Much of the above should have been written in the past tense; alas, the golden era of the coupe is already behind us. Together with convertibles, roadsters and other romantic bodies, they give way to practical crossovers, versatile vans and intimidating SUVs in the sales rankings. But, despite the quantitative reduction, coupe apologist companies continue to maintain a high quality bar. Which, by the way, varied depending on the “regional” school.
Europe
In Europe, initially a coupe car was an indispensable attribute of a young aristocrat. In the pre-war period, a whole galaxy of fashion studios dressed powerful chassis of different brands in stylish two-door custom-made bodies.
The masterpieces of French, Italian and other stylists were magnificent, but their names will mean little to the modern motorist. Those exclusive models, large, roomy and well equipped, were available only to a select few. However, a quarter of a century later, the Old World, which was rebuilt after World War II, received many democratic “two-door” cars.
Perhaps the leader in this issue in 1960-1970. there was an Italian Fiat. Almost every of its models in all classes then had a coupe version. Like the less numerous “two-door” cars of other brands, they were not particularly distinguished by driving performance, but were interesting in appearance.
Such mass popularity in the elite clan of “cars for selfish people” did not last very long: in 1993, the same Fiat released a small model proudly called Fiat Coupe, without any indexes, since at that time it was its only coupe.
Pictured: Fiat Coupe
It is not the popular brands that produce expensive cars that have remained more stable: BMW, Mercedes-Benz and the like have not abandoned their coupes - right up to the present day. From time to time, mid-range automakers fired something bright: Ford Capri, Opel GT, Renault Alpine, etc., but these shots, as a rule, remained “single”.
America
America's path, as usual, was special - its coupes, with rare exceptions, were large and, as a rule, had little to do with sports. Officially, the main specific features are: two doors, a separate trunk and a volume of the rear compartment limited by SAE standards (no more than 0.93 cubic meters).
Cars of this type were very suitable for individualistic Americans, because they rarely drive with a full interior. In the 1950s, several coupes with different rear roof architecture and interior layout options appeared in the production program of each local brand.
Pictured: Plymouth Fury
The 1960s brought the era of muscle cars, many of which were coupes, although Americans more often called them fastbacks in their own way. Their power and dynamic performance were truly impressive, but with handling, things were worse. The oil crisis, environmental restrictions and general negative trends in the American auto industry have significantly reduced the number of coupes in the New World.
Inexpensive, emotional “two-doors” disappeared as a class; large luxury coupes like the Buick Riviera (until 1999) and Cadillac Eldorado (until 2002) did not remain in the production programs of overseas corporations.
Pictured: Cadillac Eldorado
Currently, only one “American branch” is more or less noticeably represented - two-seater sports cars such as the Chevrolet Corvette and Dodge Viper, which, due to their exclusivity, are not very common. There are also new generation muscle cars: , and .
Japan
The Japanese, with their thorough approach, if not “fanaticism,” left a bright mark on the history of coupe cars. By the early 1970s, as soon as the auto industry in the Land of the Rising Sun was strong enough, it got involved in an exciting and profitable marketing game called “Coupes are cool!”
Pictured: Toyota Carina 1974
In 1980-90 The production programs of only Mitsubishi (Exlipse, 3000GT), Nissan (100 NX, 200SX, 300ZX) and Toyota (MR2, Сelica, Supra) simultaneously included several sports coupes of different classes. Moreover, most of the cars were sporty not only in appearance, but could actually provide driving pleasure.
Pictured: Nissan 300zx
The Nissan Silvia and Skyline coupes of several generations, built on the chassis of ordinary cars, have become iconic. Toyota even managed to produce a “charged” version of the GT-Four with all-wheel drive, a special suspension and turbocharging for several generations for the mass-produced mid-size Celica.
The introduction of the body as a load-bearing part of a passenger car made it possible to significantly expand the number of body types. But among all the variety of body types, there are the most popular among car enthusiasts. The leader among the types of load-bearing part is the sedan, but lately the hatchback body has been a good competitor to it. Each of them has its own differences, as well as positive and negative sides. Let's try to figure out what the features of sedan and hatchback bodies are, as well as what their advantages and disadvantages are.
Sedan
Classic hatchback and sedan
The main difference between the sedan is the three-volume layout, in which the structure is divided into three parts - the engine compartment, the passenger compartment and the luggage compartment. These parts are separated from each other by partitions, which makes each volume of the body separate from the other. As for the number of doorways, this type of body can have either two or four doors.
As the automotive industry developed, different versions of sedans were produced, with certain features in the body design. The main types of sedan bodies are:
- classical;
- hardtop;
Video: Which is better, a sedan or a hatchback?
The difference between a classic sedan is that the overall dimensions of the engine and luggage compartments are approximately the same. Over time, in order to reduce the parameters of the car, which were usually significant for the “classics,” the length of the luggage compartment began to be reduced, while increasing its height to compensate for the useful volume. Ultimately, this led to the formation of the wedge-shaped body shape that all modern sedans now have. There are a lot of representatives of classic sedans, since this body type is the most popular. Examples in the domestic automotive industry are all “classic” VAZ models (except for the VAZ-2102 and 2104 station wagons), VAZ-21099, 2110, 2115, and all Volga models.
Among foreign cars, representatives of sedans are Toyota Corolla, Mitsubishi Lancer, BMW 5th, 7th series. In general, sedan cars are produced by almost all automakers.
Mercedes-Benz CL-class hardtop
A feature of the hardtop body was the absence of central pillars in the interior compartment. If in the classic version the front and rear doors were separated by a pillar stretching from the floor to the roof, then it was removed from the hardtop. In this case, usually the doors did not have glass frames, or they were retractable along with the glass in the door. Cars with sedan-hardtop bodies have not found particular popularity, and now they are practically not produced. Prominent representatives of cars in this body are the Chevrolet Impala and Cadillac de Ville Hardtop.
It is noteworthy that two-door versions of “hardtops” are still found, but most of them are classified as “coupes”.
The “fastback” body differed from the “classic” and “hardtop” in that the third compartment, the trunk, was very weakly expressed in the silhouette of the car. This was achieved thanks to a very smooth transition from the roof of the car to the rear. At the same time, the luggage compartment, although it was separate, was externally integrated into the cabin. The representative of the car with this body is GAZ Pobeda.
In the modern automotive industry there is another type of body – “liftback”, which is a transitional model between a sedan and a hatchback. Its main difference is hidden in the fact that externally there is a pronounced luggage compartment, but the body itself is two-volume and the luggage compartment is located inside the cabin. Among modern cars produced in a liftback body, the Skoda Superb can be noted.
Among the positive qualities of sedan cars, the following are noted:
- more presentable and respectable appearance of the car;
- the presence of a separate trunk;
- faster heating of the interior in winter due to the small volume;
- better safety for passengers in a rear impact (the trunk acts as a buffer).
But there are also disadvantages, of which the most obvious are:
- worse vehicle maneuverability due to large dimensions;
- complicated parking due to a worse feeling of the car’s dimensions;
- limited luggage compartment volume;
- less body strength due to large rear overhang.
Video: Lesson 2 - types of cars, hatchback, sedan, station wagon, body types, SUV, crossover, SUV
Hatchback
Let's move on to hatchbacks. Its main distinguishing feature comes down to a two-volume layout, that is, there is only an engine compartment and an interior. Moreover, the latter combines both space for passengers and luggage compartment. While the sedan uses a special lid to access the trunk, the hatchback is equipped with an additional rear door. At the same time, it is generally accepted that hatchbacks include only cars with a sloping rear door. But there are also versions with a vertical rear door (VAZ Oka, Daewoo Matiz). Due to the presence of an additional door in the design, the total number of doors in hatchback cars is unpaired (3 or 5 doors).
This body layout made it possible to reduce the rear overhang and, as a result, the dimensions of the car itself. Moreover, it is the overhang that allows you to visually determine what type of body it is. For example, one of the main differences between a hatchback and a station wagon is the size of the rear overhang.
A type of hatchback is a liftback. The main difference between a liftback and a hatchback is the same length of the overhang; in the former it is slightly longer. Additionally, on some liftbacks the luggage compartment may be slightly pronounced, which visually gives such a car the appearance of a sedan, but with a shortened trunk. And here the main difference from the sedan is the rear door. For liftbacks it is solid and includes the rear window. An example of such a liftback is the ZAZ Slavuta, in which the rear of the car visually has a trunk, but it is closed by a stepped rear door. The already mentioned Skoda Superb on some generations uses a two-section rear door - you can open only the part of the door that covers the trunk, or you can completely lift the door, along with the glass.
The advantages of hatchbacks are:
- the presence of sporty notes in appearance;
- easy access to the trunk due to the large dimensions of the rear door;
- the ability to transport large cargo (after folding the rear row of seats, which allows you to use part of the cabin as a luggage compartment);
- improved vehicle maneuverability due to smaller overall dimensions.
But this type of body also has quite a few disadvantages:
- increased noise in the cabin (can be caused by a shelf separating the luggage compartment from the cabin, a massive rear door, the cargo itself, since it is essentially located in the cabin and is separated only by the back of the rear seat and the shelf);
- when opening the rear door to the cargo compartment, air from outside enters the cabin (this disadvantage is especially evident in winter);
- the need for more time to warm up the interior due to its increased size).
Representatives of hatchbacks are Toyota Yaris, Seat Leon, Nissan Micra, etc.
As you can see, each of the considered types of passenger car body has its own positive qualities and negative properties. When purchasing a car, everyone decides for themselves which car suits them best.
The importance of a car body can hardly be overestimated - it carries a lot of both practical and aesthetic functions. Modern industry pleases us with a wide variety of bodies for every taste.
One of the most popular is the sedan, but the coupe is also popular with many drivers. At the same time, it is important to understand how a coupe differs from a sedan, because a car is an expensive purchase that will remain with its owner for many years.
Definition
Coupe– a closed passenger body type with two doors and one row of seats (or there is a rear row of limited capacity).
Audi TT coupe
Sedan– the most popular body type with two (three) rows of full-size seats, the back door is always absent.
Mercedes-Benz S600 sedan Comparison
First of all, in character, if you can say so about the body type. Coupes most often have a sporty, sometimes even aggressive, predatory look. The second important difference is the number of doors. The coupe has only two of them, while the sedan has all four. Two-door sedans are rare. But the compartment doors are larger and more massive.
A sedan always has two rows of full-size seats, while a coupe often has only one. Even if the coupe has a back seat, it is small in size and comfortable only for children. But the trunk volume of a coupe is usually slightly larger than that of a sedan.
Getting into the rear seats in a coupe is difficult and inconvenient - the driver and the person to his right will have to get out to let passengers into the cabin. There will be no such problems with a sedan. In the compartment, everything is thought out for the maximum comfort of two people - the driver and one passenger sitting next to him.
The design features of the coupe are such that this body type is stronger and stiffer than the sedan.
Conclusions website
- Coupe - a body type with two doors, most often of a sporty look; The back row of seats is either missing or insufficiently spacious for an adult.
- The sedan is the most popular body type with four doors and full-size seats.
- Getting rear passengers into the compartment is inconvenient and requires people to first disembark from the front seats.
- The coupe is as comfortable as possible for the driver and front passenger.
- The trunk of a coupe is usually larger in volume than the trunk of a sedan.
- The coupe body is stronger than the sedan due to its design features.
Now let’s talk about body types, because not only the cost and prestige of the car, but also comfort and even safety depend on this important parameter.
The most popular car body types:
- sedan
- hatchback
- SUV
- station wagon
- minivan
There are also body types such as liftback, limousine, pickup, van, convertible, roadster.
Let's look at the presented types in more detail.
Sedan
Such a car has a protruding hood and trunk, separated from the passenger compartment and with a separate door.
The sedan may have an extended wheelbase - in this case the sedan belongs to the premium class cars and its name has the letter L, from long- long.
The sedan is the most common and popular body type around the world. This is a classic and prestigious body that does not lose its popularity in Belarus.
Hatchback
The second most popular body style is occupied by hatchback cars. Their main difference from the sedan is the absence of a protruding trunk. This role in the “truncated” rear part of the car is played by a luggage compartment closed by a massive rear door.
The reason for the popularity of hatchbacks in Europe is their compact dimensions and maneuverability. There is also a special type of this type of body - liftbacks. Liftbacks have a trunk lid, but it opens together with the rear window.
Coupe
Typically, a coupe (from the French “couper” - to cut off) is created by companies that produce powerful sports cars. A prominent representative of this type of body is the Porsche 911. As a rule, a coupe car is designed for two passengers, has two doors and a structurally separated trunk. The roof of the coupe at the rear has a sloping shape, and the body itself is “pressed” to the ground, which allows you to achieve a sporty style.
A separate type of coupe is cabriolet- instead of a hard roof, the convertible has a “soft” folding roof-awning that rises and folds as needed.
A convertible designed exclusively for two people - driver and passenger - is called roadster.
Station wagon
A station wagon is a compromise between a car and a truck. These are cars created on the basis of hatchbacks with an elongated body and a large amount of luggage space. Passenger seats in station wagons fold and stow away, significantly increasing vehicle space and cargo capacity. A station wagon can have 3 or 5 doors.
SUV
SUV or SUV - Sport Utility Vehicle- a type of car with increased cross-country ability and increased ground clearance. The SUV (jeep) is distinguished by its impressive dimensions, all-wheel drive and reduction gear. Essentially, an SUV is a station wagon suitable for off-road use. Often an SUV has a frame body.
Separately, we can highlight crossovers, or “SUVs” - this is how cars are often called whose driving properties do not allow them to be classified as “real” SUVs. The crossover combines the properties of a jeep and a station wagon (hatchback); it is more modest in size compared to an SUV, and its ground clearance is lower. Recently, the popularity of crossovers has been growing rapidly.
Minivan
The main difference between the minivan is the presence of a third row of seats, as well as its impressive length. Minivans are often equipped with sliding doors. Minivans are designed to carry passengers. The minivan seats seven people.
Minivans based on vans received a separate name - minibuses. They accommodate up to 16 people.
Volkswagen Touran
Pickup
A pickup truck is a light-weight truck with an open cargo area at the rear. Pickup trucks are especially popular in the USA.
The number of car body types has almost doubled over the past 15 years. Manufacturers are increasingly trying to combine several body types in one car. It is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish one option from another, but we will still do it.
To begin with, we will divide all body types into 3 groups: three-volume, two-volume and single-volume.
Conservatives
The three-volume body has a protruding hood and trunk. Three-volume vehicles are among the least versatile bodies due to the limited possibility of transforming the interior and trunk. This group includes sedans, coupes, convertibles and pickups.
Sedan, coupe
The most striking representative of the three-volume body is the sedan, which is present in the model range of almost all manufacturers. The sedan is considered the most conservative (classic) and prestigious body type. The sedan is extremely popular on our roads, where “prestige is everything,” and cars are divided into sedans and non-sedans.
A convertible is a coupe with a “soft” tent roof that folds behind the rear seats and raises when necessary.
But the soft top did not allow the car to be used all year round, so in the late 90s a new version of the open body began to gain popularity - the coupe-convertible. At first glance, it looks like a regular coupe, but when you press the right button, the hard metal roof lifts up and neatly folds into the trunk, turning the coupe into a convertible.
A two-seater convertible (without a second row of seats) is called a roadster (for example).
Pickup
A pickup truck is a body with an open cargo area separated from the interior by a rigid partition. Simply put, it is a smaller copy of a regular truck. Most pickup trucks are built on the same platform as SUVs and have good cross-country ability. Both here and throughout Europe, pickup trucks are not particularly popular, but in the USA they are crazy about them.
Liberals
The two-volume body does not have a protruding trunk, and its lid opens only with the glass and is considered another door.
Two-volume bodies include hatchbacks, station wagons, as well as crossovers and SUVs created on their basis. Two-volume bodies are distinguished by the most spacious luggage compartments (station wagons) and compact dimensions (hatchbacks).
Hatchback, station wagon
