Mar
13
Vehicle Types Clarified
Filed Under Selecting a Vehicle
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Loading ...Since so many styles of transportation are available, I’d like to define the various types from which a Canadian woman will commonly be choosing her next vehicle.
If you want to read in-depth about these or other less-common types, this Wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_classification has some more detailed information.
Cars are available in literally every price range from every manufacturer. Often the same car model is available as a coupe (two door) or sedan (four door). Coupes or sedans may be available in hatchback versions (which feature an integrated cargo area with a lift gate) and are sometimes referred to as three door or five door models. Coupes often are styled to subscribe to a younger, sportier aesthetic, while sedans are usually geared more to families.
Sports cars are also engineered primarily with performance in mind. Being less practical (not usually used as a primary vehicle) and more about grabbing attention, usually they have only two seats and lots of sporty styling choices. The sky is the limit when it comes to price, but there are affordable options out there too.
Full-size vans are usually only used for commercial purposes nowadays. But nothing seems to be able to beat a minivan when it comes to practicality and value. Minivans are very versatile, boasting plenty of cargo room and passenger room and (best of all) the ability to reconfigure how much space you want to allow for each of these as your daily needs change. Minivans may seat seven or eight people, or by removing or collapsing the seats that passenger space can be regained for cargo room. Of late, minivans are not as widely produced as they used to be.
SUVs (Sport Utility Vehicles) seem to have become the “cooler” choice. These vehicles combine the passenger/cargo space with off-road and towing abilities. Large and mid-size SUVs have loads of interior space, offering three rows of seating. But for most people, using a large vehicle to runabout town is overkill and so there’s the compact SUV, which usually has five seats.
Pickup trucks may be two door (with space for two or three passengers) or four door (to seat five). Often pickups are available from the manufacturer with different engines, suspension, axle choices and so on, intended for different practical purposes. Pickups can range from the most basic to totally luxurious, but they always have that one definable feature – the open cargo box on the back.
Crossover vehicles are much talked about but hard to define. Essentially, they are vehicles which combine the elements from two or more vehicle types. The term “crossover” typically refers to a vehicle which grabs the styling and cargo space of an SUV but is based on a car’s proportions, making the vehicle lighter, lower to the ground and more fuel-efficient.
But which one is the best for you ? We’ll talk about that in a future post.