New car dilemma: Hatch v Sedan v SUV

New car dilemma: Hatch v Sedan v SUV

Faced with the exciting prospect of buying a new car, and with more choice than ever, where do you start? With over 50 manufacturers all offering a variety of shapes and styles, it’s little wonder purchasing a new car is so confusing.

To help you out, we’ve lined up an SUV, hatch and sedan from a single manufacturer to help you compare the three body styles and work out which size and shape is right for your needs.

For years, drivers have had the pick of sedan or hatch body shapes, with 4x4 and off-road vehicles reserved predominantly for more agricultural, work-horse type scenarios. Then came SUVs – and times changed.

SUVs are on track to outsell conventional passenger vehicles for the first time in 2017, indicating they are now the country’s favourite body-shape. And the offerings are not limited to families looking for some weekend adventure – enthusiasts are on the band-wagon too. The compact Porsche Macan for example, is set to be the performance marque’s best-selling vehicle for the second year running.

It’s hardly a surprise that there’s now an SUV available for every size and budget, and if you’re in the market for a new vehicle then there’s likely to be one or two on your list too. They offer features that a hatch or sedan simply cannot match. Or can they? Is an SUV necessarily the best buy for your lifestyle?

For this exercise we’ve gathered three vehicles covering three popular body-shapes from Kia’s growing stable of vehicles. Our hatch and sedan offerings come from the Kia Cerato small-car line-up. The Cerato is available in both hatch and sedan body-styles with no price difference between the two – $19,990.

The SUV in our comparison is represented by the Kia Sportage which is just one of a staggering 26 different medium-SUV models that you can choose from in Australia.

The price differential however is nearly $10,000. The 2WD Sportage will set you back $28,990. It’s $33,990 should you want power to all four wheels.  So you could say that from the outset, the much-loved SUV has some ground to cover.

Dimensionally, there’s not much separating these three. But there’s rarely a one-size-fits-all answer when it comes to buying a car, and each of these body styles has its pros and cons.

On the face of it, the Sportage does look like it would offer more accommodation and interior space yet many of its key dimensions are on a par with both the Cerato hatch and sedan.

At just over 4.5m, the Cerato sedan is actually the longest of our vehicles on test, the Sportage measuring up at 4.4m and the Cerato hatch, 4.35m. Width-wise, the Sportage is the bulkiest, measuring around 7cm wider than both the hatch and sedan. Naturally it’s also the tallest at 1.64m against the hatch at 1.45m and sedan at 1.43m. The Sportage’s slightly increased ride height (172mm v 140mm) boasts offroad potential that the others do not.

The key differences emerge when we look at load space, ride height and ground clearance. It’s all about flexible packaging.

The classic sedan is the go-to for many buyers, offering a traditional body shape and the security that comes with a conventional boot – your gear is locked away, and out of sight.

And in this instance, it’s actually the sedan that offers the largest boot space at 482 litres, with over 20 litres more capacity than the Sportage, and 97 more than our hatch.

We tried three bulky items in each boot with mixed results. A large cardboard box for a 55-inch TV was swallowed up by the Sportage and the hatch with rear seats folded down, yet was unable to be carried in the sedan. Despite a 60:40 split-fold arrangement, the size of the extended opening is compromised.

On the other hand, the sedan did a much better job at carrying our surfboard – its overall length made quite the difference over the Sportage that required some Tetris-like action to wedge it in the vehicle without impacting on the front seats.

But the sedan shape has its limitations, which is when the hatch becomes your hero.
A key benefit of the hatch body style is its flexibility. It offers the same seating configuration as our sedan, but the large boot aperture makes it more versatile – lending itself to a broader set of tasks. The only downside to packing the hatch full of gear is that, unlike a sedan, your gear is on show, and potentially less secure as a result.

Rearward visibility is also typically better than in its sedan and SUV rivals, too.

The SUV body style as demonstrated by our Sportage not only presents a versatile load arrangement, but musters off-road potential too.  The truth is, many modern SUVs will never experience the challenges of a real offroad adventure, many of them restricted to two-wheel-drive handling. So be sure to figure out what you’re asking of your SUV before jumping in.

A major benefit for city-based SUVs is the elevated ride height, which offers drivers improved forward vision and a dramatically different line of sight, unmatched by a sedan or hatch. Again, like a hatch, your gear is less secure than the lockable boot of a sedan.

Easy. Everyday.
No matter what body shape you choose, there are some everyday things that need to work, easily and seamlessly, every time.

The ease of entry and exit is often underestimated. Your height, age, lifestyle needs (kids?) and possibly your flexibility (Ferrari owners), will sway your preferences. If you’re short, a high-riding large SUV can be a chore to get in and out – are you loading children, too? Sure, there are side steps and pull handles to help, but be sure to give it a good test run first.

Lockable boots are great, but a hatch or SUV relies on a cargo cover to conceal your gear – do you want hard or the soft, retractable type? And most importantly, how easy is it to get said cover in and out – and is there a dedicated spot to stow it when it’s not in use?

All of our three vehicles feature 60:40 split-fold seats, but not all are created equal. How easy are they to fold and can that be done from the rear as well as the cabin? If you’re looking at a seven-seat SUV, there is a variety of folding mechanisms that allow access to the third row seating – good and bad.

A 40:20:40 split-folding seat is another popular feature, as is through-load functionality that offers similar flexibility – like carrying two second-row passengers and a set of skis for example.

As is always the case however, the devil is in the detail.

Take the tape measure to all three boots and you’ll find that the Sportage puts its extra width to use, offering an aperture 107cm wide, 11cm more than the hatch and sedan, each of which measure a width of 96cm.

While the Sportage rides a fair bit higher than the hatch and sedan, its boot opening is not that much higher than those of the two Cerato models. The Cerato’s load height for both the sedan and hatch models is 70cm with the Sportage a little higher off the ground at 74cm. That means, in this instance, you’re not really going to notice the difference when loading heavier items into the rear.

Safety is another area where the sedan body shape shines. In the event of a rear-end collision, there’s more crumple zone to absorb the impact in a traditional sedan, providing better protection than for second-row occupants in a hatch or third-row occupants in an SUV.  Always look for a five-star crash rating – as is the case with all three vehicles from Kia.

Arguably, the good, all-round visibility offered by the hatch is best, while many drivers prefer the elevated line of sight that only a jacked-up SUV can deliver.

As you can see, much of your decision on which body shape is right for you will be based on your lifestyle and how you use your car – not only every day, but on your occasional weekend adventures, too.  It’s never clear cut however, so as a starting point we’d suggest you test the load capacity (don’t just trust the litres quoted), figure out what seating configuration and flexibility you need, and be sure that it meets your security and safety concerns. That should narrow it down!

Cars on test:
Kia Cerato S Hatch – priced from $19,990
Kia Cerato S Sedan – priced from $19,990
Kia Sportage Si – priced from $28,990