Think of the following as a sort of Car Construction for Dummies guide to some of the automotive patter a sales rep might employ while giving a glossy verbal polish to a vehicle you’re considering buying.
VEHICLE TYPES
Vehicles come in a variety of body styles and size categories to suit individual and family needs.
You’ll sometimes find variations on the theme, but sedan refers to a four-door, usually five-passenger vehicle with a trunk and coupes have two doors and usually room for four.
Sports sedan and sports coupe are often used to describe high performance variants of these body types. Hatchback refers to a car with a rear cargo area accessed by lifting a hatch, convertible and the European cabriolet describe cars with open tops and sports car or roadster means an open-top two-seater.
We’re all familiar with what a sport utility vehicle is, or at least were until the term crossover utility vehicle came long, which describes a vehicle with SUV-like attributes but passenger car based handling. Both types come sized from compact to - in the SUV’s case - excessive.
SIZE COULD MATTER
Sub-compacts offer very low entry prices and operating economy, but not a lot of room or creature comforts. Compacts are Canadian favourites as they’re roomier but still good value. Mid-size models offer even more room for families, and full-size means just that, although they’re not as big as they used to be. Station wagons are still offered but nobody likes to call them that.
These classes are based in part on interior volume which shouldn’t be mistaken for cargo volume. The first refers to total interior space, while the latter just to that devoted to cargo.
HOW THEY'RE MADE
In the past a vehicle was constructed by mounting bodywork on a separate steel chassis or frame made up of long side members linked by cross pieces. This is still employed in pickup trucks and some SUVs designed for rugged use.
But used exclusively in cars and crossovers these days is the monocoque, also known as unit-construction or uni-body approach in which sheet-metal stampings create a floorpan or platform. To this is welded the bodywork creating a one-piece structure that’s very rigid, but incorporates crush zones designed to absorb energy in a crash. All types must meet minimum North American crash safety standards.
SUSPENDED ANIMATION
To this monocoque is attached the suspension, a system of springs and shock absorbers, or more correctly dampers, which control the springs’ action as they absorb bumps, so you don’t pogo stick down a bumpy road. Many vehicle suspensions use MacPherson struts incorporating both springs and dampers.
Independent suspensions allow each wheel to react separately for improved control and variations are found on virtually all passenger vehicles. Pickups and some SUVs use a tough solid or live axle at the rear.
How soft or stiff the springs are, how well they are controlled by the dampers and the type of tires fitted affects the handling and ride quality. A good handling car will respond as the driver expects it too in a given situation, not requiring of him or her any extraordinary level of input to correct something it’s not doing properly.
Suspension setup or "tuning" is always a compromise between firm-enough-for-control and soft-enough-for-comfort. Some base versions of low-cost cars are still somewhat deficient in handling terms (often down to cheap wimpy tires) and some models handle better than others, but no modern vehicle sold here has deficiencies in this area that make them unsafe.
Active suspension and electronic air suspension systems employ electronics that “read” road conditions and adjust the suspension to suit, for control and comfort. Sport tuned suspensions are more stiffly sprung and damped and often combined with larger diameter than standard wheels equipped with high-performance and low-profile tires that look like rubber bands wrapped around the rims.
