Saloon or Sedan?

[Martin B]

Do people in the UK really refer to 2 and 4 door sedans as saloons, or is that term archaic? 

[Southpole]

A 2 door or 4 door car. But more likely to be a hatchback

[Martin B]

3 minutes ago, Southpole said:

A 2 door or 4 door car. But more likely to be a hatchback

Working on a few photos of an old Hillman Minx 4 door sedan, but when I looked it up it was listed as a saloon. 

[Avpics]

We refer to a basic shape four door car as a saloon. Bonnet/cabin/boot design.

[losdemas]

3 hours ago, Martin B said:

Do people in the UK really refer to 2 and 4 door sedans as saloons, or is that term archaic? 

 

Not archaic, in the least. In fact, sedan is rarely, if ever used (that I've heard). As has been stated, in the UK, we use the term saloon to refer to a car having three distinct compartments for engine (under the bonnet) driver & passengers and cargo (in the boot).

Very straightforward graphic explanation at Wikipedia.

 

(a station wagon is an estate car, in the UK, BTW!) 

[Martin B]

1 hour ago, losdemas said:

 

or engine (under the bonnet) driver & passengers and cargo (in the boot).

 

 

 

I knew boot for trunk, because I watch British gangster movies. Bonnet for hood? Never would have guessed that. Where the driver and passengers sit is called a passenger compartment on a car, a cab on a truck, and a cabin on a boat or plane. I can't recall hearing anyone refer to that area on an automobile as a cabin. What is the glove compartment called in the UK? 

[AlbertSnapper]

18 minutes ago, Martin B said:

 What is the glove compartment called in the UK? 

 

The glove compartment in the UK is also called a glove compartment.

 

Also, the truck/lorry motor cab that pulls a trailer/semi-trailer is a 'tractor unit' (could be worth including that in keywords).

 

 

[Gorilla Dave]

36 minutes ago, Martin B said:

What is the glove compartment called in the UK? 

 

'Glovebox' is common for glove compartment.

 

I reckon this is what a 'sedan' looks like...   https://englishhistoryauthors.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/a-short-history-of-sedan-chair.html

[Martin B]

2 minutes ago, Gorilla Dave said:

 

'Glovebox' is common for glove compartment.

 

Yeah, we use glovebox too. Just thought it might be called something like a scarf or a coat to go with the boot and the bonnet. 

[Martin B]

Thanks you all. That was helpful. 

[Matt Ashmore]

Include both as tags. Just because we might use 'saloon' in the UK doesn't mean that people won't search for 'sedan'.

[spacecadet]

4 hours ago, Martin B said:

Yeah, we use glovebox too. Just thought it might be called something like a scarf or a coat to go with the boot and the bonnet. 

"Boot" is a contraction of the storage locker for footwear on a stagecoach. In most languages the word for the engine cover of a car translates into English as "bonnet" or "cap" rather than "hood" but you may have taken yours by assonance from the German haube, which usually means "cap" but can mean "hood" as in the hood of a cloak. Not so different from bonnet.

Edited April 7, 2018 by spacecadet

[Martin B]

3 hours ago, Matt Ashmore said:

Include both as tags. Just because we might use 'saloon' in the UK doesn't mean that people won't search for 'sedan'.

Not to mention the fact that Alamy is an international company with a global market. 

[Foreign Export]

yes a saloon, sedan normally means the same and is used by americans and australians 

 

so use both

[Inchiquin]

On 4/7/2018 at 09:38, Martin B said:

 

I can't recall hearing anyone refer to that area on an automobile as a cabin.

 

 

No, never a cabin. We would usually call it the interior.

 

Alan

[Robert M Estall]

Having been a Canadian youth growing up with lots of sharp fins on cars, I was totally unprepared for the jungle of competing dialogue when referring to almost anything to do with automobiles and trucks/lorries when I washed up on the UK shore. To this day, I have no idea which side of a vehicle is the near-side and the off-side no matter how many times it is explained. It just wont stick in my brain as perhaps I think just left and right side is so much better. It is utterly pointless trying to suggest which term is right and which is wrong just use as many as come to mind.. The main thing is to take care which side of the road you set off on when exiting a roundabout/traffic circle. Just use all possible terms as tags, or move on to photographing your lunch. Edo and I could probably construct a fairly comprehensive catalogue of terms but by the time we finished we'll all be moving about in driverless cars with little regard to which bits are called what.

Edited April 9, 2018 by Robert M Estall

[Sultanpepa]

Saloon - 4 doors and boot = trunk

Coupe - 2 doors and boot = trunk.  This aids a sleeker lower swept look to the profile (rear seats may fold)

Hatchback - 2 or 4 door with rear opening from bumper to roof and removable rear parcel shelf and folding rear seats

Nearside = side of car nearest the kerb when legally parked. (Or left hand side of a right hand drive car)

 

[Robert M Estall]

There ya go: nearside/offside; to anyone but an Englishman with a few miles on the clock, that explanation is probably correct at the same time as being totally bonkers. Fortunately it is hardly ever used except perhaps for describing to a rental car condition report or a scrape being reported to an insurance company. Invariably we just use left side/right side and we all know where we are. Hardly anyone says filling station anymore and boots/trunks is redundant. We just throw it in THE BACK. Most cars to-day are a similar kind of aerodynamic blob so sedan/saloon isn't much in play. Me (and perhaps James West still) drives a VW converted van from the late eighties which is just a box on wheels so much of the terminology doesn't apply. The crazy thing is, it's probably worth more than when new even though it has 150K on the clock. Actually the clock itself is the one bit which doesn't work anymore. I can live without it!

[Steve Tucker]

Also we have the terms Shooting Brake - an outdated term for an Estate Car

An estate car I believe is known as a Station Wagon

[Robert M Estall]

I've always rather liked the term SHOOTING BRAKE but to my mind it was always reserved for the upmarket makers like Jaguar and Rover. I once saw a Bentley shooting brake which was probably one of those custom body jobs and I dare say Daimler might have made a few. But a Station Wagon is a YANK. Not a term of abuse to cars or nation, just a mostly kindly term for those older big bouncy flamboyant American  cars which fetched up in the UK. God knows they drank gas or even petrol. I don't think they ever made one which drank diesel. That has turned out to be a good thing.

Edited April 11, 2018 by Robert M Estall

[Betty LaRue]

Saloon, to me, conjures up a saloon in the wild west of USA where Matt Dillon flirted with Miss Kitty. 

Betty