What to choose - a crossover or a sedan? What type of car is best?

2024 Author: Erin Ralphs | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-19 11:41

Before we outline the advantages and disadvantages of one type of car over another, let's figure out how a sedan differs from a crossover, in general terms.

Sedan is a classic version of a city car. Here we have a familiar five-seat car with a trunk separated from the passenger compartment. If you look at the generalized statistics, then there are noticeably more sedans on the roads than crossovers. Eminent manufacturers also focus on the classic type of car.

Crossovers (SUVs) are a cross between an SUV and a station wagon. This type of car is also called SUV. In theory, a good crossover can more or less passably ride off-road, but in fact it is designed for parquet, or rather asph alt. There are several SUV series in the assortment of almost every popular brand.

So, let's try to figure out what is more comfortable - a sedan or a crossover in one case or another. Considercritical differences between each type of machine, as well as their advantages and disadvantages. All this will influence the choice of the class of the future car. Let's start with crossovers and continue with sedans.

Luggage capacity

One of the main differences between a sedan and a crossover is roominess. SUVs in this case are clearly in a winning position. For example, the luggage compartment of a 2016 Honda Accord sedan is about 500 liters. While the Honda CR-V SUV has this figure of almost 600 liters. And if you fold the rear seats, then we get 1700 liters. At the same time, the dimensions of the "Accord" are slightly larger.

If for you the volume of the luggage compartment is a critical moment, then the choice between a crossover or a sedan is quite obvious. Here we have a clear advantage on the side of SUVs.

Four-wheel drive

A good half of Russian regions are characterized by harsh winters, as well as freezing rain, hail and snow. The latter turn the roadway into a real ice rink or off-road. Of course, high-quality and expensive winter tires save the day, but only partly for sedans. While all-wheel drive good crossovers are in this case in a better position.

In addition, all-wheel drive systems also imply increased ground clearance, which also saves while overcoming snowdrifts and other winter obstacles. If you need a car for winter trips to the country or in the countryside, then the choice between a crossover or a sedan is alsoobvious.

Landing

Another clear advantage of the SUV over conventional cars is a high seating position. That is, with an increase in clearance, the body itself became higher, and with it the driver's seat. And thanks to the high landing, the visibility of crossovers is noticeably increased.

The SUV driver can see several cars ahead, provided that there is a line of sedans in front of him. This adds points to comfort as well as peace of mind.

Off-road

To the question of which sedan is better than a crossover off-road, there is only one answer: none. Ordinary passenger cars are not designed for digging mud in the woods or crossing flooded roads. Their path is only asph alt.

Of course, passenger rally cars can also be found on sale, but they will cost much more. In addition, whatever one may say, crossovers will still be the best solution for off-road.

Trend

This moment is rather dubious from a technical point of view, but still a good half of motorists take it into account. The market share of sedans is slowly declining, and experts in this field unanimously declare that this cannot be avoided, so there is little point in resisting the trend.

All over the world there is a real boom in SUVs, and manufacturers are taking advantage of this, not only making a profit from sold cars, but also improving them technically. The development of SUVs is simply impossible without prejudice to sedans. And manybrands are forced to reduce investment in this class of passenger cars, shifting their interests towards SUVs.

Moreover, the cost of crossovers and sedans is almost equal. And if a couple of years ago the prices for SUVs were clearly higher, now, thanks to the abundance of offers, the difference is beginning to fade.

Let's take a look at the benefits of conventional sedan cars.

Fuel economy

Despite the introduction of innovative technologies in the technical part of the crossovers, they could not overtake sedans in terms of fuel economy. Attempts to hybridize engines also failed. In this regard, the advantage to this day remains with sedans.

The critical difference between a crossover and a sedan at this point lies in the aerodynamic qualities of both cars. The former have greater windage and increased air resistance. This also includes the weight of the vehicle. Crossovers are noticeably heavier than conventional passenger cars, which means they consume more fuel.

Looking at the increase in prices at gas stations, one can understand that the advantage here is clearly on the side of sedans. So in urban realities it is much more practical to turn your gaze in their direction, bypassing heavy SUV-class cars.

Salon

The crossovers have good visibility due to the high seating position, but judging by the surveys of car owners, they consider the familiar interior of sedans to be more comfortable and comfortable. The fact is that the chairs of SUVs are located at a slightly different angle, and there is more rigidity in them.

Whilesedans, the landing of the driver and passengers is more comfortable, which means that such a car can cover a noticeably greater distance along the highway without stopping for a warm-up and other “smoke breaks”. In addition, sedans have more seat adjustment options than crossovers.

Platform

Despite the growing popularity of SUVs, the level of satisfaction of their owners is not growing. And if another brand new sedan from a venerable brand boasts high levels of ergonomics, comfort, reliability and other things, then, alas, this cannot be said about the SUV class.

Many owners often complain about 4WD vehicles and note frequent quality and reliability issues. Almost all modern SUVs are designed on the basis of a passenger platform. It would seem that there should be no delays. But in reality there are problems.

Some, so to speak, not very smart manufacturers in pursuit of profit simply take the sedan platform and increase the body without regard to aerodynamics and other technical nuances. Naturally, with such approaches, miscalculations and shortcomings emerge after the launch of the pipeline.

In such cases, the suspension, which is designed for the passenger class, suffers greatly, and an SUV body was hung on it. Because of this, it wears out faster and becomes unusable. And at the same time, the owner is forced to go broke on expensive repairs much more often than if it were a regular sedan on its usual platform.

Yes, venerable brands do not allowimagine such blunders, but the cost of the lineup is clearly higher here. A striking example would be our "Lada" from the domestic AvtoVAZ of the "Cross" and XRAY series. Yes, we have a typical SUV in front of us: a massive body, a spacious trunk with a passenger compartment and good cross-country ability. But no matter what the manufacturer says and no matter what the manufacturer convinces us, the car is designed on the platform of a sedan and has a number of shortcomings. In the future, AvtoVAZ promises to fix and complete everything, but nevertheless, the fact is obvious.

So, unlike brand new crossovers, ordinary cars are more reliable and time-tested. The platform, which has been used for almost a hundred years, has been repeatedly refined, improved and improved in every way. What can not be said about the backbone of crossovers. Despite being massive, the latter are still at an early stage of development.

Buying a sedan, you can be sure that no, so to speak, extra surprises await you. While it is very difficult to guarantee this with a crossover. In addition, the cost of spare parts for SUV-class cars is much higher.

Visibility

Crossovers have better road visibility, that is, what is in front of the car. But here other sites are, alas, in blind zones. The sedans are fine with that. It was thanks to crossovers that parking sensors and other devices appeared to compensate for the shortcomings of SUV-class cars.

There seems to be nothing wrong with that. And yet there is one thing. On a crossover without electronic assistants, it is noticeably more difficult to park and cruise in a dense stream of cars. And on the usualsedan is easy. So without unnecessary need to buy an SUV for a large city is not worth it. Well, or you need to be ready to properly equip it with all sorts of auxiliary systems.

Exterior

Whatever fans of crossovers say about their appearance, sedans still have noticeably more potential for body design. Well-known brands offer their consumers such "beauties" on a light platform that can turn anyone's head.

Of course, modern SUV-class cars cannot be called ugly, but they are all kind of one-sided and similar to each other like two drops of water. So sedans win here.