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What do you like about hatchbacks?
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Comments
carlady/host
- Great for a pet or two.
- Great for spending the night in a jam.
- Looks better than a late model Mercedes, whose
driver obviously just came from the home
improvement center with a couple of long 4x4s
sticking out of the sunroof like a boat's sail.
- Just stuff it in there.
Pam
hauling a** it is great for hauling fertilizer too. I recently put 8 bags of compost ( you know the big ugly white cubes) which was twice as many as my wife could put in her neon even with the pass through. I could probably haul more stuff in my integra than one could in an explorer or blazer. But of course I cant really go off road but who does in an SUV ( Stupid non Utility Vehicles)
Thanks for joining us. IMHO, you've got a cream puff on your hands! :-)
carlady/host
Looking over the early posts, I gotta agree with "Guitarzan." I have a Fender Quad-Reverb amp (same shape as his Super, but with 4-12"s in the cabinet). It barely fits in my Legend coupe's trunk, so I usually use our minivan. Except for its high liftover, our long-departed Integra would have the Legend beat in this category.
One funny thing, though. A number of women, whom I generally regard as "practical," have told me that they prefer coupes with separate trunks. I guess that cargo covers aren't good enough. Also, one used her coupe to haul 50-lb. bags of feed for her horses - the hatch would have been infinitely better with fold-down rear seats.
many times over its 179K journey.
Just this summer, I was able to help a friend
move a twin bed (mattress, box spring, frame,
and headboard). I needed about 6 more inches
to close the hatch. I guess I could have moved
the driver's seat up but I didn't want to
sacrifice my driving position. 5 ft. of rope
did the trick.
One more example of hatchback utility.
carlady/host
Never even had to adjust a belt.
Pulled everything from a motorcycle trailer to a full sized Helicopter with it.
Growing family caused me to part with it.....
Thank You Mr S. Honda for what you started.
carlady/host
I've read (or at least skimmed) every post here, but no one has mentioned the infamous Plymouth Horizon! I've had an '88 since it was new <$6000 and still going.
Four doors, comfortable back seat, cavernous storage, and a 2.2l FI engine! I live in Minnesota and it has NEVER not started.
I have a web page tributed to it here (<A HREF="http://www.tc.umn.edu/~grant026">http://www.tc.umn.edu/~grant026 ) - I've exaggerated some problems for comedic value.
Although rusting profusely (my fault for parking it on the street for 3 years in addition to not having mud guards) it has been great. I can fit 2 mountain bikes along with camping gear in the back. It was my first car and has been driven VERY hard over the past 11 years. It has accepted challenge pretty well.
Anyone else?
Want a bigger garage? Trade in your SUV for a Hatchback.
You're absolutely right, ydnaydna!! Now all we have to do is get that tip into one of the many "how-to declutter" books that sell so well in January! :-)
carlady/host
hatchback restored
Why don't they make stuff like that anymore????
carlady/host
"...hatchback owners are the red-headed stepchildren of the auto world. All we want is something sporty, zippy, & with great storage capacity. And they do make it, BTW, they just make it available in Europe only. :-("
I agree that its a cultural difference between the USA and Europe in particular: the hatch is a wonderfully _practical_ vehicle, particularly when combined onto a fun, good handling, platform.
Europeans have high gas prices which foster a "small is beautiful" attitude and they of course prefer much tighter suspensions than the land yachts of the USA.
Unfortunately, the USA's initial exposure to hatchbacks was often in the inexpensive, low-end imports, so they got the stigma of "hatchback=cheap", whereas the real message was one of _frugality_.
IMO, I think that hatchbacks will continue to be an increasingly rare breed for at least the next 10 years, partly because of design cycle lag. A hatchback can be the vehicle of for the "<30 and no kids" demographic. Unfortunately for those of us >30, this also means "and doesn't have a ton of money to spend", which is why the "NICE" hatch is even a rarer breed (the BMW was dropped for 1999). Unless gas prices shoot up this week to kill off the SUV craze, the current age<30 demographic group (...aka the baby-boomette population bubble...) is going to pass by and they'l be out having familes and be doomed to a minivan, so there won't be enough demand to spark interest among the manufacturers.
For the older age>50 customer, this is the baby boomer who's kids have left the nest. If Dad still remembers what it was like to be an enthusiest after 15 years of driving a minivan, he's going to be buying a highly masculine SUV (which he'll never go offroading in) or a "real sports car" such as a Miata, Z3 or a Corvette. He's unlikely to buy a hatchback because he's not going to tolerate a cheap entry level car and he doesn't ski or bike or scuba or have some other type of athetic life that promotes the utility of a hatchback...so long as it can him to & from the office and carry groceries, he's fine.
The bottom line is that all vehicles are design comprimizes of one sort or another: hatchbacks are just in a very hard segment to build for and if you ignore the market, they will eventually settle on buying something else.
...but I still _miss_ my Scirocco. I called it my UAUV, which stood for "Urban Assault Utility Vehicle" :-)
carlady/host
If there's any justice in this world, just yesterday I wrote: "Unless gas prices shoot up this week to kill off the SUV craze..." and the TV news last night reported that OPEC is getting their act together and the price of gas is starting to head back up. Maybe there's still a little bit of hope on the horizon...
FWIW, the Station Wagon market is another one that's suffered over the years. Granted, a lot of times minivans are indeed a better material solution for the customer, but for many years, they were much, much less safe from a crashworthiness standpoint. I'm currently driving a Saab 900s "5 door", but there was a Passat Wagon in the running and if I had to do it again today, an Audi A4Q Avant looks very interesting...call all of these wagons "square end hatchbacks" :-) :-)
The Acura Integra is EVERYTHING anyone could want in a hatchback. Sure does hold a lot of band equipment too.
Here's what I love about my car:
1) the extra space because of the hatchback
2) even though it's old, the v6 engine still makes it zippy/sporty
3) it's not "cute" (ie., I don't want to drive a GOLF)
So now that I've been looking around for cars, I realize there's not much out there in the 2 dr-sporty-hatchback-that's-not-"cute" department
Do I have any options besides a Saab 900? Or am I going to have to accept the high maintenance / high depreciation of the Saab?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated
carlady/host
I've only owned VW Golfs and Jettas since 1985 and my next car will be a 2000 Golf.
My dad had 2 Mazda 323 before. 1 is new and the other one is a demo. The demo was a nightmare. The new one is a perfect car. Even though it's a 2 door small car, I can sit in it comfortablly. I can move a lot of stuffs. I like the rear wiper especially in a heay rainny day. When it is rainning or snowing, I can move to the backseats, put down the seats, and then get all the luggages and umbrella from the trunk.
Some people used the old Civic hatchbacks to move everything in their apartments. I saw a guy
used a 70+ Civic to tow something. He must be crazy !
I hate my Altima. The trunk is high and narrow.
I can't even put a 20" TV into my car (even the back seat because the read door cannot be opened wide) . I had to remove the box to get the TV into the back seat.
hatchback should be stopped !!!
To certain extent, I agree with you. Those small hatbacks like Suzuki Swift and Geo Metro are too small and dangerous. However, Integra, Cougar, and Probe are ok to me. I prefer a hatchback to a car with a trunk because most hatcbacks have a rear wiper (and washer fluid). I like this very much.
As I mentioned before, putting big objects into my sedan's trunk is a nightmare.
r34, I agree that some hatchbacks are lighter than sedans and other body styles, yet much has changed in the development of hatchbacks. All are required to meet the same safety standards as other autos.
My preference of a hatchback (I have a VW Golf) over a truck is that most of the time, I don't need all the storage space. I do need it often enough to want to have a car as versatile as a hatchback. I also like the fact that what I am moving is covered, inside the car, rather than out in the weather and rolling around the pickup truck bed. Of course, you can get tarps and things to cover it but speaking for myself, that's way too much trouble.
carlady/host
I own the Integra for its reliability, fun, and obvious reasons(speed&handling). The Civic for its price, gas mileage, storage capacity, reliability and resale value.
I paid $12,500 for mine with A/C - $800 less than sticker. I 'm a computer consultant so many times I carry computer monitors, 15", 17" and 19".
I can't even fit a 14" monitor box in the trunk of my wife's '98 Galant! Only with 17" monitors and up do I have to put the rear seat down in the Civic or Integra and slide them in a bit. The Civic especially is higher than the Integra and can take a ton of stuff! The Integra on the other hand is longer and can put longer items in it, although ski's in the Civic fit just fine.
I also owned a '90 Geo Storm hatchback for 6.5 yrs. and an '82 Chevy Citation V6 hthbk, which is why I keep buying hatchbacks. I just really like the extra space they offer.
And the best part is that hatchbacks are cheaper than coupes with little tiny trunks that will only take one suitcase and 2 small bags.
The only drawback is that they tend to have a little more road noise than their counterpart coupes/sedans.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
carlady/host
it -- *GREAT* fun to drive, easy on gas, *and*
highly practical when I need to move "stuff"!
I think the problem is that those of us who love
hatchbacks aren't yelling at the car companies
enough -- making our voices heard, as it were.
Honda dropped the "performance" Si version of their Civic HB almost 5 years ago because, they say, "poor sales." I can only say it makes me quite angry to note that the car I'd love to have is being sold in Japan as the Civic SiR, and under varying initials in other countries -- but not in the USA or Canada. (It's quite easy to import a car from Canada, but a nightmare from anywhere else... believe me, I've checked, given the state of the HB market in this country!)
At this point, given that when I sat in the Integra Sport Coupe (i.e., liftback/hatchback) the top of my head was pressed to the roof liner, I think I'll be keeping my '92 Civic, get it a thorough interior cleaning and detailing, a new paint job and so on until the US car market comes to its senses.
Oh, and every time I see a behemoth SUV with one person and no cargo in LA traffic (which is unfortunately frequent), I *pray* for gasoline to go to $5 a gallon and those people will have to decide between driving and *food*.
I can't believe that Ford isn't bring the 5-door Focus to the US. It has been hugely popular in England and I think it would be here as well. They definitely need to hear from us!!!
carlady/host
Good luck!
carlady/host