A sedan is a three-volume car body type with four doors, two rows of seats, and a trunk structurally separated from the interior. The rear windshield in the sedan is always rigidly fixed in the frame and doesn’t move with the trunk lid, although the back side of the rear seat row can either be equipped with a hatch or fold down to carry long objects.
How the Word “Sedan” Appeared
The article from Wikipedia states that the term “sedan” probably comes from the name of the French town of Sedan, which specialized in the production of road carriages in the 19th century. Interestingly, the word has spread all over the world, except for France itself!
In other Romance-speaking countries of Europe, particularly in Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Romania, the 4-door body type is called “berline” or “berlina.” Germany refers to sedans with the word “limousine,” while English has the original word “saloon.” However, the last one is mostly used in England or Ireland.
In this publication, we decided to pay some attention to this most traditional and recognizable type of body, talking about five objective advantages of sedans compared with other cars. Read about it further.
Benefit #1: Appearance and Style
Automobiles with a three-volume body have always had the highest level of aesthetics. In addition to sedans, this category includes coupes, as well as convertibles and roadsters.
A three-volume body is one where the hood space, interior, and luggage compartment are clearly defined as three separate planes and dimensions, which form divided parts of the car body. It’s not surprising that cars of the sedan, coupe, convertible, or roadster class are a kind of classic. These are traditional body types in which cars are manufactured from the very origins of the automotive industry.
At the same time, a sedan is about style, elegance, speed, prestige… Such automobiles are organic in any context, whether it is a trip to a club or restaurant, a family outing in nature, or a business meeting in the capital. Sedans have more status and balance in their appearance than other vehicles. This thesis has accompanied the automotive industry and culture in all countries of the world for decades. They are the most numerous type of cars in car auctions online as well.
Benefit #2: Comfort and Privacy
Because the luggage compartment in a sedan is separated from the interior, passengers can enjoy the silence and not experience sound discomfort. After all, those things that are stored in the trunk, including tools and baggage, will make noise when moving and maneuvering.
In contrast, hatchbacks, station wagons, minivans, and SUVs are two-volume. It means that the passengers are in the same space as the luggage. Thus, they can hear everything that happens in the trunk. In addition, sedans maintain a higher level of privacy for their owners. It’s not for nothing that almost all executive-class vehicles are sedans.
Benefit #3: Practicality
The aerodynamics of the three-volume body works in such a way that air flows bypass the rear windshield, not providing favorable conditions for the swirling and accumulating of dust, dirt, and water on it.
In addition to direct observations, this fact is confirmed by the absence of a rear windshield wiper in sedans. In contrast, most hatchbacks, station wagons, SUVs, or minivans have it, but since it cleans a very limited area, the entire back of the car is always dusty, including the rear windshield.
Benefit #4: Easier Warming Up in Winter
A less obvious, but still interesting point to mention is the time it takes to warm up a car in winter. Sedans have some advantages here.
Due to the fact that the interior and trunk of a sedan are separated, the heater in the 4-door body warms up a smaller volume of air only for passengers. As a result, the appliance does it faster. This difference in warm-up time varies from negligible to quite noticeable when it comes to SUVs and minivans.
Benefit #5: Better Economy and Safety
One more sedan advantage to note is that such vehicles usually have slightly lower fuel consumption indices due to better flow and aerodynamics.
A few words can also be added about security. The presence of an additional transverse stiffening rib behind the rear seat of sedans makes their passengers more protected in the event of impacts to the rear of the body. When overturned, the smaller area of the sedan’s roof in some cases contributes to its higher strength.
Wrap Up
The sedan is the most classic and time-tested of the car body types. They went through the development eras of the modern automotive industry. Despite the fact that we have a lot of different innovative solutions when it comes to vehicle type, sedans are still retaining their benefits. We alo recommend checking out the opportunity to buy a car through an insurance car auction with a huge selection of cars of this type.
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