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Tuesday, February 28, 2006
The last sedan?
A month ago I ordered a new car, which I'll get in about 2 months. First time in my life I buy a "new" car, so for the first time I could really choose things like color and form. The car I'm buying is a Toyota Corolla sedan, which will look like this:
Just that mine will be in electric blue, as the silver look is a bit too boring for me. :)So with a newly acquired awareness for cars I looked around me in the last month, and found that there aren't all that many sedan style cars left in Europe. Basically only the high end cars like Audi, BMW or Mercedes still have mainly sedan models. Everybody else is driving hatchbacks. The middle class cars like the Toyota Corolla are available in both shapes, the hatchback looking like this:
With the hatchback model definitely being more popular. But I didn't even make a conscious decision about this, I just went for the sedan by instinct. For me "a car" has sedan shape, with a trunk clearly separated from the passenger cabin. If the trunk is just an extension of the passenger cabin, and when you open the trunk you actually swivel the whole back side of the car, including the window, it feels more like a utility vehicle to me.I guess that makes me old-fashioned. Or I'm too much influenced by American culture, where nearly all the cars are sedan shaped, and hatchbacks are rare, unless you count SUVs as hatchbacks. It seems obvious that at equal car lenght, the hatchback has more space in the back than the sedan, which explains it's attraction to Europeans. Europeans don't buy SUVs, because we pay $7 per gallon for petrol over here, which makes buying a gas guzzler a really bad idea.
I just wonder if there is any reason, besides aesthetics, to buy a sedan. I still hope to find a web site explaining how sedans are more aerodynamic and thus use less fuel. :) Or something like that.
Until then I'll just have the memory of a Lada advertisement for comfort, for which I was unable to find a photo on the web. It just showed three bricks, one flat on top of the other two so it had the basic shape of a sedan, with a slogan saying: "Lada. There are shapes you can't improve upon."
- posted by Tobold @ 9:59 AM Permanent Link
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BAH!!
Move to the States and get yourself one of THESE BABIES!!
http://www.se7ensamurai.com/533.jpg
Move to the States and get yourself one of THESE BABIES!!
http://www.se7ensamurai.com/533.jpg
# posted by 
: 28/2/06 13:50
: 28/2/06 13:50
Looking great, Stormgaard. But how many miles per gallon do you get out of that one?
If it is something like 20 miles per gallon, with me driving 500 km per week (thats 1250 miles per month) and paying $7 per gallon, I'd end up with over $400 per month in fuel cost.
The Toyota, in spite of me having chosen an automatic gear which consumes more fuel, and the more powerful motor option, has a fuel economy of over 30 miles per hour in mixed city/highway traffic, and over 40 miles per hour when driving mainly on highways (which I do).
If it is something like 20 miles per gallon, with me driving 500 km per week (thats 1250 miles per month) and paying $7 per gallon, I'd end up with over $400 per month in fuel cost.
The Toyota, in spite of me having chosen an automatic gear which consumes more fuel, and the more powerful motor option, has a fuel economy of over 30 miles per hour in mixed city/highway traffic, and over 40 miles per hour when driving mainly on highways (which I do).
Grats on the new car! (In 2 months)
I haven't had a new car yet. My current one is an 8-year-old hand-me-down from my grandfather (his last car). It's nice but just not me. I'm thinking of buying (leasing) a new car next year. I've got my eye on the Ford GT500 Shelby Cobra (not on sale yet, barely in production if that). Seeing as I don't know much about cars, I'm goin' for style (looks) over much else. :) 'Course I'm stateside so gas prices aren't so atrocious.
I haven't had a new car yet. My current one is an 8-year-old hand-me-down from my grandfather (his last car). It's nice but just not me. I'm thinking of buying (leasing) a new car next year. I've got my eye on the Ford GT500 Shelby Cobra (not on sale yet, barely in production if that). Seeing as I don't know much about cars, I'm goin' for style (looks) over much else. :) 'Course I'm stateside so gas prices aren't so atrocious.
# posted by : 28/2/06 14:22
: 28/2/06 14:22
Hot car, the Ford GT500 Shelby Cobra. Although being stateside with that one is kind of a disadvantage. What would you need 450+ horsepower for if your highways have a speed limit of 65 mph?
Come over and take a ride on the German Autobahn, where there are still lots of places without *any* speed limit.
In Belgium, where I drive most of the time, the speed limit is 75 miles per hour on the highways. Thus the 110 horsepower of the Toyota are quite sufficient.
Come over and take a ride on the German Autobahn, where there are still lots of places without *any* speed limit.
In Belgium, where I drive most of the time, the speed limit is 75 miles per hour on the highways. Thus the 110 horsepower of the Toyota are quite sufficient.
You can store your golf clubs in the trunk of a sedan and not worry about having them stolen. In a hatchback, the contents are visible to anyone passing by...
Hey, I said I was thinking of getting one based on looks, not practicality. ;) I'm sure it's entirely impractical stateside, not the least of which the 450+ hp is actually a detriment in the snowy/icey winter season (I live in the Northeast). Then again, I'd likely keep my current car exclusively for winter driving.
My ultimate goal, though I'm doubtful about achieving it, would be to get a Ferrari and drive it on the autobahn. This is an entirely fictionalized goal that I dreamed up about 7-8 years ago.
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My ultimate goal, though I'm doubtful about achieving it, would be to get a Ferrari and drive it on the autobahn. This is an entirely fictionalized goal that I dreamed up about 7-8 years ago.
# posted by : 28/2/06 18:58
: 28/2/06 18:58<< Home
