Car Body Styles

Sedan

A sedan is any car with a separate compartment for the engine, passengers, and cargo. However, over time, it’s come to typically mean a four-door vehicle with an enclosed trunk. Some Mazda3 models and all Mazda6 models (pictured) are sedans.

Coupe

A coupe is typically a two-door car with a focus on a sporty design and roofline. Some four-door models have recently been labeled a coupe, but the connotation heavily implies that a coupe is a two-door car.

Hatchback

A hatchback is much like a sedan in its stance and passenger space, but instead of having an enclosed cargo compartment (a trunk), it has an open cargo compartment, much like an SUV.

Hatchbacks with two passenger doors are often called three-door hatchbacks, while those with four passenger doors are known as five-door hatchbacks. The Mazda3 5-door (pictured) is a hatchback version of the popular sedan.

Convertible

Sometimes known as a “cabriolet,” a convertible is any vehicle with a removable or folding roof. One example is the legendary MX-5 Miata (pictured), which comes with your choice of a folding soft top or retractable hard top.

Smaller, sporty convertibles fall under the “roadster” category these days, though originally that meant a car with no usable roof at all. The term has come to be more interchangeable.

SUV / Crossover

SUV, short for Sports Utility Vehicle, typically means any vehicle with an open cargo compartment and off-road features, and it also tends to define the stance of the vehicle. The Mazda CX-9 fits this definition perfectly! Meanwhile, a Crossover, also known as a “CUV,” is very similar. However, CUVs typically tend to be a bit smaller.

While many SUVs use a truck frame or a unique chassis, many CUVs share a frame or chassis from a sedan. Mazda CX-3 models are crossovers, while the Mazda CX-5 is a crossover SUV, as it’s somewhere in between.