I went to Georgian! Great school, great auto show. The auto students just went nuts that weekend, t'was a good time.

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I went to school there as well before going to Seneca in Toronto. Great people in Barrie, and that school is one of the best when it comes to automotive careers.

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You know that Mazda 2 and Fiesta share the same Mazda chassis.... which Ford, in the EU Fiesta, manage to screw up somehow because Mazda 2 handles bettter.

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I agree, Hatchbacks are way more practical. I've helped a few people move with my 07 rabbit and they are amazed how much stuff i can fit in the car with the seats folded. Including large items.

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There are two valid arguments I've heard. First, sedans are quieter, because they isolate rear-tire noise in the trunk area. Second, sedans hide your cargo from thieves. If you live in a city, this is a valid concern. You can get one of those cargo area covers, but they usually reduce the usable area to trunk equivalence anyways, so you don't end up winning.

That said, I drive a wagon, so I completely agree with you. But it's louder than our sedan, and I don't live in the city.

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A trunk is not useless. A trunk adds a level of privacy and security for your belongings when you are not in the car.

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Sedans are great in extreme hot or extreme cold climate: When opening the hatch of a hatchback and loading the car, the air inside gets exchanged. In extreme climates the heating or the AC has to work several minutes until the air inside is comfotable again. That's why you do not see many hatchbacks in Russia (where the winters are really cold) or in the Persian Gulf region.

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yeah but most hatchbacks come with a cargo cover, many of them automatically folding down to hide what's in the back as you close the hatch. So the privacy thing in my opinion is moot.

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Well it's complicated and I don't really have time to write formally so I'm just gunna list the reasons.

1.Lets remember that most american's don't buy cars the size of the mazda 2 in general. When I do see honda fits, toyota yaris', and chevy aveo's they are usually in hatchback form for the simple reason that the trunk is useless in these cars, but for our compacts(civic,corolla,Cobalt etc) the trunk size works. If you need more space you can fold the rear seats down. When you get to midsized cars the trunks become enormous and the issue of practicality is nonexistant.

2.It's a cultural thing. Most americans don't like the way hatchbacks look on non-suvs or minivans. Due to the way our roads and cities are set up hatches aren't as necessary. Honestly I personally prefer the way a sedan/coupe look over the wagon and 3 door almost every time(the rare exception are on cars in this segment the trunk is just so tiny it looks ridiculous). You think hatches look nice, a lot of americans thing they look like small cheeseboxes.

3.As already stated you have privacy and isolation in the trunk. This is good for high crime areas like cities or if you want to keep an extra passenger/dead body in the trunk without the police catching on(although you'll need to break those pesky trunk release switches).

4.We do buy hatches. In fact we buy quite a few hatchbacks but they are usually big vehicles. If an american buys a hatchback the chances are it's going to be a minivan or an SUV. Many american households have one of these or a pickup truck as well as their standard commuter car(or it might very well be a standard commuter car). We don't have to worry about fitting our new couch into the trunk of our honda civic or ford focus, we can throw it in the back of a caravan or suburban and be done with it.

In terms of practicality is actually seems kinda pointless to buy a car that has a bigger trunk opening that doesn't look as good when you already have a much bigger car that can do a better job.

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I do like hatches that look like trunks though(like those in the older f-bodies I can't imagine why GM didn't do that with the current camaros).

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jv2K, I'm guessing you live in the country...either that or Canadian buying habits are drastically different than those of Americans. I see a lot of midsize sedans, wagons and crossovers, some SUV's but usually small ones like an Escape or Rav4, and pickups aren't typically a 'commuter car'.

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Totally agree.

Hatches and wagons are vastly more practical. I think Americans just go for SUVs when they want practicality and most that buy sedans probably have them as second or third cars with a SUV around somewhere.

I only have one car and when I replace it, only hatches and wagons are in the running.

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I've seen tons of suv commuters but my point was more that they could get their useless trunk for looks alone and use their suv if they ever need to haul anything big.

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I haven't seen it in person, but in pictures it seems a bit too overwrought. What ever happened to that time-honored adage of K.I.S.S. ? Mazda needs to lay off the sauce for a bit.

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