Despite the growth of the four-door coupe, there’s still a much larger selection of four-door sedans on the market, such as the Nissan Sentra and Altima. Two-door coupes still have rear passenger seats but are much more inaccessible. Sedans also often outperform smaller 2-door hatchbacks when it comes to legroom.

Similar to the seating capacity, the cargo space is much more prominent in the sedan than coupe because of its longer body. Coupes are designed to be sleek and sporty, and this usually comes at the cost of increased practicality. They will still have a secure trunk, but the dimensions are likely to be diminished compared to the sedan. Hatchbacks may outperform sedans in terms of cargo space, but trunk on sedans offer better privacy for locked items.

Most car manufacturers offer a broad range of sedans because of their popularity, which also eventually creates a healthy used car market for this body style. ‘Supply and demand’ means that these sedans are usually better value than coupes and hatchbacks as a result. Of course, one of the selling points of the coupe is the ability to stand out on the road but you’re likely to be paying a premium for that notoriety.

Coupes are built to stand out on the road not only in terms of performance, but also with their exterior looks. The removal of the back doors allows the designers of the coupe to create a long, sleek rear end which is often more pleasant on the eye. Sedans however, including the all-new Nissan Sentra, are increasingly testing the coupe’s monopoly on superior styling as they merge the practicality of a traditional four-door sedan with the beauty of a two-door coupe.

Coupes are designed to offer motorists an exciting performance package with some of the practicality needed for day-to-day driving. The typically shorter wheelbase and smaller body shape of the coupe sharpens the handling. The engine performance is often optimized by car manufacturers too, and this all contributes in making them more fun to drive than a sedan or hatchback.

This is, of course, dependent on many variables including engine size, but it stands to reason that your MPG (Miles per Gallon) can be better in a coupe. The body is even sleeker than a sedan or hatchback, making them more aerodynamically stable. This reduces drag as you’re travelling, so you’ll need less engine power to cover the ground. Coupes also usually weigh less than sedans or hatchbacks which should lead to more infrequent trips to the gas pumps.

Hatchbacks, like the Nissan LEAF, have a shorter body than sedans with a steep, tall trunk area. This creates much more cargo space, especially for taller items which wouldn’t fit underneath the shallower trunk lid of a sedan. This excellent cargo capacity can be further increased by folding down the rear seats, meaning it’s a surprisingly effective moving vehicle, so long as you don’t rely on it to transport furniture and other large items.

The shorter body length of the hatchback also makes it easier to maneuver in narrow spaces. This is particularly helpful if you’re looking for a small city vehicle which must be parked on narrow streets or in multi-storey car parks. Hatchbacks often have increased visibility through the rear window as well, which gives the driver a better view of their surroundings when they’re attempting to reverse into a parking space.

This might not be to the forefront of your mind as you look for a new vehicle, but it could be worth a few thousand dollars to you in the long run. Depreciation is an important consideration with new cars, in particular, and hatchbacks are generally better at holding their value than sedans or coupes. This means that you’re more likely to make back more of what you spent on the vehicle in the first place, when you decide that you need something new in a few years time.