[Closed] Saloon cars, why?

That butt ugly Merc A Class Saloon that looks like it’s melted, is a vile thing. Sooner they’re all in some scrap yard for crushing the better.

So it’s good to see the new version corrects all the butt ugly mistakes.

This isn't a saloon though is it?

Though yeah this one is nice.

The others... No.

That a class is gopping. Anything that starts off as a medium sized hatch generally has big overhangs at the front and rear when in saloon guise..  not easy on the eyes!

Our 3 series saloon is plenty practical mind - split folding seats for long stuff, towbar and rack for 3 (+1 if required) bikes, big enough boot for 4 lots of bike gear and seats 4 big blokes in comfort for bike trips.

I had a Rover 75 saloon for a while, only car I ever owned that made me laugh everytime I drove it...loved that car. I didnt vote UKip though.

Saloon car = drug dealer

only car I ever owned that made me laugh everytime I drove it

In a good way, or a bad way?  I imagine a Rover 75 could do both.

This got me thinking, I’ve never owned a saloon car. I’ve owned coupés, convertibles, estates, MPV’s and hatchbacks and SUV’s. Never a saloon.

In a good way, or a bad way?

Kind of both!!

This got me thinking, I’ve never owned a saloon car. I’ve owned coupés, convertibles, estates, MPV’s and hatchbacks and SUV’s. Never a saloon.

Why yo I started the thread, car shopping and wondered what the attraction was...

I have had a few saloons and I loved them.

Triumph Dolomite Sprint, Rover P6, Mercedes 190  (realise you have to be a bit older to know what they are)

I always thought the Audi A3 saloon was another awkward looking, and pointless, shape.

I can't see how the current W205 saloon can be much quieter than the estate body. For me, I prefer the proportions of an estate/ shooting brake over a saloon.

 Whenever I see a saloon, my immediate thought is along the lines of “God, what a boring life you must lead to never need a big boot.

Do you still think this when getting overtaken by a Caterham R500 or Ducati 996?

Going back to the 70s/ early-mid80s after my mum finally rid herself of her Imp, and then a Mk1 Escort there was a series of Renault 4s, Escort Mk3s, Peugeot 309s. My dad had previously been a fan of his A40 Farina Countryman before drifting into a couple of Austin 1100s via a pair of Renault Dauphines and a sideways step into a Mk3 Cortina and a Renault 9... When I start to list them out I can't believe how many cars he's been through.

bike goes on a rack these days. if i didn't have a dog i could live with a saloon quite happily.

Do you still think this when getting overtaken by a Caterham R500 or Ducati 996?

VERY unlikely to be their only mode of transport though, and as a frequent owner of a fun vehicle, I’d put good money down that their other vehicle isn’t a saloon. Even the name is dull. Also, a saloon had four doors. Some of those examples above are very definitely coupes, which are a different kettle of fish.

Never seen the attraction for practical purposes but always liked the look of the last gen Honda Accord. Now I have a bingo bus for bike moving I could see my way to a saloon. As a fun car I always liked the US EM1 Civic coupé which was the third different car at that time to wear a Civic badge and pretty rare. EM2 replacement looks more like a Focus and is goppin'.

Security point is a good one, if I was carrying guns about for example I'd want them as secure as possible.

Vauhall Belmont was almost as bad as the Nova saloon.

Almost, what do you mean almost, the Belmont totally trumps the Nova not only the worst saloon from a hatchback but it just has to be the worst name ever bestowed on a car.

it just has to be the worst name ever bestowed on a car

You're not familiar with the Nissan Gloria and Cedric then, or the Mitsubishi Starion? But my winner is the Geely PU Rural Nanny

The Orion 1.6I Ghia was a thing of beauty.

And the Saab 9000...

I feel very well qualified to answer this. 18 years ago I needed a cheap and very reliable car to commute 120 miles per day. We bought a VW Vento 1.9 TDI. Golf with a boot. We. Already had a Mk 3 Golf so we were able to make easy comparisons.

The Vento was vastly more practical, could carry a buggy end on# with a travel cot next to it and still have room for a young family and all their luggage since ours were the first of the new generation, we were always traveling with a lot of kiddy stuff.

The Vento was 3k cheaper than the equivalent Golf, handled better, carried more stuff and was just fantastic  I drove 120k faultless miles in that car. It was basically an estate sized car with the top corner chopped off. Ok bike travel may have been a little less practical, but I could still put one in the boot!

#the famous TiRed buggy test  go to garage  look at shiny new car with salesman  walk to back, insert buggy end on. If boot doea not close, walk away. Used this test on a few cars  not many pass. But a young family needs to carry stuff and transverse pushchairs take a LOT of space!

EDIT. Obvious point. If you go to the us and hire a small car you will want a focus with a boot. Much more storage than a hatchback, great handling in the mountains, and much more secure when you lock your stuff to go out for the day.  How I laughed when I locked the keys in the boot of mine at the kite shop in San Diego two hours before my flight was due to leave. Made that flight too. Just.

RS6 Avant = Drug dealer with kids, a dog and enjoys gardening and transporting bodies.

That Saab 9000 above looks like the hatch (it came in hatch and saloon versions, didn’t see many of the saloons).

I've always thought the wheels look too close together on the Orion, check out the overhang at the back!

I've been able to get a bike in the boot of the last two saloon cars I've owned, wheels off obvs.

hols2 they are at least mildly amusing or just bizarre. Belmont could only have come from  all the worlds supercomputers working for a month to calculate the dullest most god awful dreariest word they could. It's a name for one of those diseases you get that doesn't  seem to do anything and is only fatal to others when you bore them to death talking about it. Christ I bet everyone of those bloody cars came with a free pair of driving gloves.

2 of the last 3 cars have been saloons (over 20 years)  Current one I've had 16 years. Our other cars have been hatchbacks. Main reason for my current one was it was the only one in the car supermarket, went in to buy the previous model, but they had the new model in for a cracking price. It's also not as ugly as the hatch.

No real disadvantages as if we've needed to move something big and boxy, that went in the hatch. The boot is massive though, takes all kit for a week away, and 4 bikes on roof.

carried more stuff

I know I can be a bit slow on the uptake, but HTF does a saloon version of a car carry, more than the same car that has a hatchback?

The storage space in a hatchback is bigger than the storage space in a saloon.

Am I missing something?

For a given car the quoted boot capacity is almost always greater for the saloon than the hatch version (the volume will be calculated under the parcel shelf for the hatch).  For something like a golf vs Jetta, the difference is obvious, less so for a mondeo hatch vs saloon.

Hatches have a bigger opening, and you can obviously remove the parcel shelf, which is why they are more practical.

Just noticed that the above is the most patronising thing ever, sorry

the quoted boot capacity

Which is pretty irrelevant if it only includes the space under the removable parcel shelf?

Some saloons just worked, though; if you needed more space, buy the state version:

Then there’s the Opel Manta Series-A, a really lovely looking car that could only work as a saloon coupé. I had one for a while, the steel ‘parcel shelf’ under the rear window was ideal for mounting big stereo speakers to the underside with a cloth cover, making them more or less invisible from the outside.

I’d love another one.

Yep, but it explains why the quoted capacities for the saloons are larger.  Largely irrelevant in practice.

Step aside Nova, I give you Clio:

https://flic.kr/p/27sB3aU

Feel free to imbed

The Sweeny used a big saloon, so there you go…thankfully BL never made a Maestro saloon, that would have trumped the Nova.

They did - ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Austin Montego.

My Uncle had one as a company car. Just as black trim was getting trendy. Austin just painted the chrome trims black (I kid you not). Funnily enough that flaked off pretty quickly.

Saloons are notmaly quieter at speed becsuse of the bulkhead between the passenger compartment and the boot.

That Clio saloon.... words fail me.

That Clio saloon…. words fail me.

Then you'll love the Chevrolet Corsa sedan:

Brazilians lap that shit up. For reasons that elude me.

I know IA!

I spotted it in Poland, I'd never seen one before .

Whilst looking for pictures of aestheticallypleasing saloons I found this. https://www.classiccarsforsale.co.uk/lotus/carlton/241020 How much?! Nice though

I alos like this.

I had not one but 2 orions I loved mine especially when you put the foot down the back end dipped !! Felt sporty to a young lad

The only saloon cars in the BTCC are Audi A4’s and they’re in the bottom 10% of the race.

Which for an Audi is odd, because you’d expect it to be superglued to the outside lane and the driver on the phone whilst holding everyone up

But no, it’s slow.

All the vehicles are hatchbacks or estates, the surprising vehicle is a Prius which came 3rd in the last race from back of the grid.

So.. evidence suggests hatchbacks and hybrids are quickerer

So.. evidence suggests hatchbacks and hybrids are quickerer

No, it suggests manufacturers competing in BTCC want to sell hatchback hybrids.  Go back 25 years and they were all saloons, with the exception of Volvo who decided to bring a brick-shaped estate to the party.

I wouldn't be surprised if in a few years they're competing with SUVs.

The only saloon cars in the BTCC are Audi A4’s and they’re in the bottom 10% of the race.

There are only racing cars in BTCC which have saloon, estate and hatchback shaped body shells on them. Pretty much like a Tamiya.

No, it suggests manufacturers competing in BTCC want to sell hatchback hybrids.

There are only racing cars in BTCC which have saloon, estate and hatchback shaped body shells on them.

Some of you are not great at picking up on humour and frippery. I 'suspect' he knew exactly that already - it's not rocket science.

Saloons - hit and miss aesthetically. That Alpha posted on the first page is grim to my eyes and the Lotus Carlton in the link a few posts up is daft money but also grim (because it looked like a Carlton, obvs). The nicest cars posted here have failed my 'what is a saloon car' test - i.e. 4 doors and crossed over into coupe territory.  A BMW 240i for example might have a second row of seats, a picnic bench out the back and a static parcel shelf and rear window but BMW call it a coupe. Because it is.

I'm struggling to think of a model that looks better as an estate than it's saloon sibling mind. BMW 5 series saloon to my mind looks worse than the 240i I mentioned previously but a lot better than the estate version which (again, to me) looks awful.

I’m struggling to think of a model that looks better as an estate than it’s saloon sibling

merc w205

just gopping as a saloon. Just about works as an estate.

Some of you are not great at picking up on humour and frippery. I ‘suspect’ he knew exactly that already – it’s not rocket science.

Phew

Saved me from having to type some wildly expressive deep and meaningful reply.

Thank you.

Bensales - you forgot the Civic tourer from a few seasons ago, heavier than the hatchbacks. So logically the heavier the car the faster it is.

@TiRed, I was a Vento owner too (petrol) so I can second that, boot was cavernous had done 64k miles when I bought it and 220k when I sold it. Could comfortably get a bike in with the seats down.