Switched from a sedan to a hatchback and wish I did it sooner

I always thought sedans looked better and had more trunk space. But last year I moved to Portland and needed to haul a bunch of stuff from IKEA. My old sedan could barely fit a 6 foot shelf kit. I rented a hatchback for a weekend trip and realized the back seats fold flat. I was able to carry furniture, camping gear, even a small kayak. So I sold my sedan and bought a used hatchback three months ago. It's way more useful for my life now. Has anyone else found a car type that they totally misjudged?

3 comments

3 Comments

miles_hall1mo ago

Yeah @michaeld48, you hit on exactly what I noticed too. The numbers on paper don't tell the real story when you're trying to load something bulky. I ended up in a similar spot with my old sedan versus my current hatchback, and the difference in usable space was honestly way bigger than I expected.

michaeld481mo ago

Wait, are you sure about the trunk space thing though? Because most sedans actually have bigger trunks on paper, the problem is that they're shaped weird so you can't fit awkward stuff like furniture or kayaks. I remember when I test drove a Honda Civic sedan and a hatchback back to back, the numbers said the sedan had more cubic feet but I could barely get my dog's crate in there without it hitting the ceiling. The hatchback has that tall open area that just makes everything easier to load, and folding the seats down is a game changer for sure.

william_garcia1mo ago

Yeah dude you're totally right about that. I had the same thing with my friend's Subaru Impreza, the sedan had like 12 cubic feet or whatever but his big hiking backpack just wouldn't lay flat in there. Then we swapped to his hatchback Impreza and that same bag fit no problem with room to spare. The numbers can be misleading because they measure it with seats up and without accounting for weird angles. I also moved a small bookshelf in my old Mazda3 hatchback, just folded the seats and slid it in. No way that would have fit in the trunk of the sedan version, even though the specs said the sedans had more space.