From today’s perspective, the supremacy of the coupe in decades past is somewhat of a surprise, but look around during your typical drive and it makes a bit more sense–most cars have a single occupant. The rise of the multi-car household enabled more compact replacements to become the “personal” vehicle of choice as the ’80s wore on and the Honda pictured here was among the smallest of these. So despite being such wildly different cars, the sight of this CRX and this Galaxie by pbell5600 begs the same question: do cars like these make more sense today than when either was in production?
The popularity of cars like this CRX and other smaller coupes was possible in part because of the decreasing need for a single car to fulfill all its owners’ needs. This trend only intensified over the past twenty years, and while the death of the large two-door sedan makes sense in such a context, the handful of volume two-doors left on the market today remains perplexing.
These days, GTIs are more popular as five-doors and Ford hasn’t bothered bringing over the three-door version of its Fiesta. Compare that to the days when five-door versions of popular cars were often kept overseas (Toyota only gave us the three-door Corolla FX, same was true for the first and second gen Civic as well as the Festiva).
Some argue that coupes have never made sense because three-box packaging is inefficient and though that’s certainly true, four-door sedans have mostly remained popular while even three-door SUVs have declined in popularity. Meanwhile, the downward trend in vehicle occupancy rates largely continues, so wouldn’t it make sense for customer preference to favor vehicles optimized for fewer passengers?
As somebody who owned 5 of them prior to starting a family, I don’t understand the drastic drop in popularity. I do understand that in today’s world of mandatory rear-facing car seats, 2-doors make no sense for anybody that has kids. But when did 4-doors become cool? Kids these days have no taste.
Thing is, none of my 2-doors were more practical than their 4-door equivalent. They looked a lot better though. Especially in red. Or black. I must be getting old.
Most kids have to shop for used cars, and have to pick from what is available – mostly four doors. They make the best of what they can get.
I know a number of kids that get access to new cars. Small SUVs or crossovers are the top choice. They want the space to take things to college, etc., and the parents that buy them are looking for some heft and safety ratings. The trunk space of a Corolla just doesn’t cut it. From what I can tell, the last gen and current gen Ford Escape is to kids what the ’70’s Cutlass Supreme was to my generation.
If you are offended by the large truck trend, you will find your local high school parking lot to be a place of horror.
I’m not offended by large trucks, I drive a crew cab pickup myself. But if I were still single, it wouldn’t be a crew cab.
My distaste has nothing to do with efficiency or practicality, everybody knows 4 doors are more practical. It’s about style, performance, and fun. The Corolla is one of the cars I loathe most. I rented one for a week once, it was like driving a refrigerator.
That is an interesting point about the used car market, one I had not considered before.
I have twins in car seats, and another in a booster. Then I get other kids the same age to shuttle around daily.
You know what the last thing I need is?
A two door car.
All the dads in my neighborhood have little ones and the only two door car is a New Beetle driven by a super nice lady down the street who has cats.
When babies are born, the hospital won’t let you take them home until they’ve had a staffer ensure the hospital that you would be driving them home in a fixed, rear-positioned infant car seat. Since I got a two-for-one deal, I had to drop money on two infant car seats. They have to be new ones too. Not used. The car seats have to be new.
Then when they outgrow those fixed rear-positioned infant car seats, you have to get child car seats that lock into the passenger seats and have their own seat belts. You get them until your children are either 4 or 40 pounds, whichever comes first.
Then you buy booster seats. Those aren’t permanently affixed to the passenger seat and use your car’s seat belt. Kids have to use them until they are either 8 years old, or eighty pounds.
Then, you have to keep the kids in the back seats until 12. Now there are laws preventing you from smoking in your car if you have a child in it, not that I smoke.
You want a two door car with these laws? Cops can’t stop you fast enough to write you up if you have a cell phone, a smoke or a kid who looks to be too young riding in an inappropriate way.
Additionally, these car seats are HUGE. They aren’t just bigger than your infant or toddler. They are as big as YOU. So, a wee bitty compact car won’t work. They are too narrow! As some of you know, I have a Crown Victoria that lets me put the kids across the rear seat. Our minivan didn’t work until our oldest was able to fasten her own seat belt, (about 4 years of age), meaning we had to buckle her up in the way-back third seat by opening the REAR DOOR and reaching over the seat. The permanently fixed infant seats lock the middle row buckets preventing them from folding forward! AND the platforms which mount those infant car seats are latched onto the seat – so even if you don’t have the twins taking up the middle row, the platforms prevent the middle row buckets from folding forward.
THERE – now you know why I am not driving a two door!
I was able to get 2 child seats and one booster across the back of my 68 Newport, but that was in the dark ages of the mid 1990s when we didn’t care about children and the child seats sucked. We didn’t know that then, we thought they were wonderful and only the ones from the late 70s sucked, but that’s another thing. We belted the seats in with the car’s seat belts. When I moved to the 84 Olds 98, enough width had been removed in the downsizing that I could only do 2 kids in back, not 3.
Oh, I know, I have three kids myself today, just got to the point last month where they are all front facing.
But that’s no excuse for a 16 year old trying to impress the ladies. And if that kind of future planning does impress a girl at that age, well, you might be in trouble!
Great post, Vanilla Dude. So if you own a vehicle that is big and uses a lot of fuel, you are wasteful and bad. So if you own a smaller vehicle that uses less fuel and are found with children in the incorrect size or positioned seat, you are a careless and bad person. So basically heads the critics win tails you lose. We are supposed to conserve resources but are not allowed to.
Or you could buy a Mazda 3 or Golf 5 door and have easy access and decent fuel economy.
Or you could just not have kids. That’s my choice. 🙂
Killing time for the prework coffee to kick in, but I would like to think you for your posts through the years. I used to read that other sight…like it here better.
I’m a single guy that would LOVE to see some choice in two door vehicles. Never have been a Honda fan so no Civic or Accord coupe, and the now-dead Toyota Solara had a serious white-haired old lady vibe to it. Mustangs, Camaros, and Challengers just don’t cut it as daily drivers to me.
I live in South Florida, took a while to learn there was a B pillared fixed roof version of the Solara, thought they were all convertables…& here a Solara ain’t geriatric. Lucerne with chariot roof is.
I am of the tail end of the baby boom generation. When I was a kid, a 4 door was for your grandparents. My parents and most other parents up and down the street had 2 door cars, mainly because it prevented we little darlings from fooling around with the doors and falling out.
Most cars didn’t even have seatbelts in the back seats before the mid 60s, and the idea of tying kids down in safety seats was completely foreign. 4 doors didn’t come into my family until the kids became teens and it was a huge PITA for a bunch of hulking 15 year old boys to load/unload from the 2 door hardtop.
But when I was in my early 20s, the safety seat laws were coming into vogue. By the time I had my own kids in the 90s, ownership of a 2 door car was a huge PITA. I tried – had an 84 Olds 98, about as big of a 2 door as you could get by then, and I still remember the contortions I went through trying to move car seats in or out of the back.
So, if you need 4 doors when the kids are small and 4 doors when the kids are big and 4 doors when you and your friends are no longer limber enough to get in or out of the back of a coupe, there is really not much reason for a 2 door anymore.
The only demographic where it makes sense is for the young single who does not have kids on the horizon. And even then, because selection is so limited (and resale also, most likely), having a 2 door has sort of become like having a stick shift. Lots of people would like it, but few really have the choice to follow through.
+1
I’m almost at a point where I have no more hulking young men who need to climb in and out of the back seat. I’d love to have a 2-door car again. It’s been since 1998 since I had one. I’m ready.
I mostly agree with everything you mentioned here. Same age, sounds like the same experiences with kids, older parents and cars.
I had a two door car up until about a year ago, it was great for me as I mostly commuted to work in it. I could even stuff my 5 piece Ludwig drum kit in it, but that’s the beauty of folding passenger seats and fold-down rear seat. But even if the parts I would have needed to fix it after it’s last incident, I probably would have sold it off anyway. Even though I’m in pretty decent condition for a 51 year-old guy, due to injuries sustained in previous accidents, I noticed getting in and out of the car was becoming increasingly difficult. That, and my left ankle has been injured a couple of times, which was making driving a stick more of an issue, too.
Now I have my choice between a Pontiac G6 with four doors and a Pontiac Aztek with four doors, both offer a good seating position with small doors for parking lot accessibility. One of my favorite cars was my 1987 Dodge Lancer ES Turbo, a five door hatch, that looked coupe sporty but had all the functionality of a hatchback car. I guess actually that car was a liftback to use the discussion from the other day.
But, changing priorities change your decisions. If cost were no object, I’d pony up for a new two door, either a Camaro ZL1 or a Challenger Hellcat. Most likely a used two door may be in the future. I’m just not sure which one, yet…
Having been through the kid thing, I agree with most of your points.
Except, maybe that 4 door cars were for old people. In the ’70s the Cadillac coupe outsold the sedan, with a lot of empty nesters buying them. My grandfather bought his first coupe at the age of ’64 when he got a new ’67 Caprice. My dad admired two door cars throughout my childhood, and pined for a return. Eventually, he got an ’84 Grand Prix.
I think the biggest thing that killed two doors is the lack of utility caused by the fact that all cars today are small, which also ties into the child safety seat thing. If you think climbing into the typical sedan today is a bit tight, it would be much harder dealing with the same car as a two door. Our ’89 Thunderbird was considered a big car for its time, but was nowhere near as accommodating as my Grandfather’s ’67 Caprice.
Ingress and egress is one problem. Front seatbacks are bigger and thicker than they used to be. Front shoulder belts get in the way. Side impact and rollover standards probably limit the size of the door opening. Tricky slide-forward passenger seats sound great on paper but are a pain in practice, especially when the mechanisms start to wear out and springs lose their tension.
Adults never were very happy about riding in the back of a two-door (and crawling back there). Kids didn’t mind, but if you need to be a contortionist to install a car seat, then child passengers in the rear are a non-starter.
I spend almost a dozen years driving a two-door FWD Cougar. It worked fine when I was the only person in the car, but when I did carry passengers, they invariably cursed me when trying to extract themselves from the back seat.
When she was five to 10 years old, by daughter was very happy to clamber back into the car seat of my 2-door car, just to be get to ride around in a groovy Green New Beetle. I kind of liked it myself, but once she was nearing five feet tall, that wasn’t an option anymore.
I know I am old school but I miss large 2dr cars. My wife & I are empty nesters. We have a Surburban but spend most of our riding around time in a 2009 Pontiac G5. I like the visibility out of a 2dr with my seat all the was back in a 4dr the B pillar is right in my line of sight. I wish they would bring back the Personal Luxury Coupes, Buick Riviera, Lincoln Mark, Cadillac Eldorado. I don’t care for the lines of the Cadillac CTS coupe the ATS looks better.
One problem with the older two-door cars was that the doors were so long and heavy, not good in tight city parking spaces, etc. That situation got worse with the addition of all the power and safety equipment. And to reiterate what JPC says, as the population ages, folks cannot as easily contort themselves into backseats. Also, it is much easier to stow and retrieve packages, etc. through a back door.
My personal favorite is a small, well-designed four-door sedan that seats four and my G37 fits the bill very well. I hate to see the “size creep” again impacting this range of cars – 3-Series, new versions of C-Class and A4, etc. and the Accord and others in its class. Hard to believe but the very well designed W124 Mercedes E-Class was almost exactly the size of the G37 sedan.
Amen to that. The only thing i don’t like about my 1999 Firebird is that the doors are so long. I mean, I could park nicely between the lines of a given parking space that is next to an empty space and still bump the door of the firebird against a car 2 spaces down(well maybe I exaggerate a bit but getting out of it is a bit of a pain in the ass in an area that both has small parking spaces and curbs that are slightly too high for the car so that opening the door causes it to scrape.
Getting in and out of narrow parking spots is a real problem with the longer doors in a 2 door. But having the larger side glass and the B pillar farther back with the resulting better vision and seat belt fit is a real plus. If the back seat is rarely used, a 2 door often looks better and can have a slight weight and structural advantage and because of that could be a good choice.. 4 door is far more practical for most folks these days, and it’s cheaper and easier for the car makers to only have one style. If you only own one car and have a family, a four door is almost a requirement. That said, a Scion Coupe is really starting to look appealing to me, since the rear seat would rarely be used in my case. I can use the 4 door truck I also have when rear seat passengers are a requirement.
I grew up crawling into the back seat of my father’s Fiat 600, and the VW beetle after that. So I would never buy a 2 door car, regardless of the type and model. Give me 5 door or at least 4 door sedan. Luckily this days almost all car models are available in a 5 door configuration, except the Smart and some other minuscule cars like Aygo, C1 etc. And some super-duper-ultra-turbo-sporty coupes that I really don’t care about.
I drove mostly 2-door coupes since I began driving in 1968…from Corvair Monza to CRX to Probe to Futura to Mustang to so many more I won’t bore you all with here. But then one day I had to ride in the backseat of someone else’s Eclipse and nearly lost it in a claustrophobic fit! That’s when i realized I always wanted my own door, front or back seat and wanted all my riders to have the same comfort. So now I have a 4-door “coupe”!
Two door cars have always looked better than four door cars. But they aren’t very practical for families. And station wagons are even more practical for families than sedans even though I never liked them. Even with five brats, I mean youngins, I have always had some kind of two door car along with the station wagon. If ya want to see a hassle try putting five kids in the back of a two door car.
I am tall (6’4″) so I’ve ALWAYS preferred two door cars, as no one could sit behind me w/ the seat as far back as it would go. Currently, I have a 2012 Honda FIt Sport as a DD; I would absolutely LOVE to have a two door Accord 6 speed coupe (I’m also into MANUALS!), but for some weird reasoning, I CANNOT get the car/color combo I want w/ a manual transmission!! My color choice is limited to BLACK & BLACK!! Since blue is my favorite color, no Accord coupe for me! And YES, two cars make perfect sense!
Well I would like to buy a 1st gen Honda Insight one of these days so yes.
Though I am loathe to admit it, maybe time has passed the 2 door by. You have to keep kids in car seats for many years, and what a pain that would be in a coupe. And I guess if you’re young and single, the SUV makes more of a contemporary image statement than a coupe. For guys, any coupe is stigmatized as a “chick car”, a view I strongly disagree with. I’d like a new Mini or Beetle, and if I could afford one I’d buy it, image be d@mn&d, but tell me there isn’t a stigma attached to a guy who owns one of those.
The ‘new’ New Beetle is aimed right at guys. The original was clearly a ladys car. A mini could go either way: pale yellow ragtop, chick car. Dark blue Cooper S….guy car. White Mustang V6, automatic: chick car. Black GT…guy car.
If youre referencing 2 doors with no performance or performance aspirations such as a Toyota paseo for example, then youre right. Especially if its in convertible form. To me a small or midsize sedan leans more towards ‘chick car’ since they cater towards comfort and practicality…not car people. Car lust is generally a guy thing if you polled a larger group of men and women. Women who are ‘car girls’ wont generally go for the ‘chick car’ either, they want the Camaro SS or VW GTI over a Toyota solara. And I would call most CUVs as chick cars too. Theres nothing ‘macho’ about a Honda CRV or Kia Sportage. Those are nothing like a ’77 Ramcharger or a Wrangler Rubicon.
See, this is the thing. For me, why does a car have to be stereotyped? My point here is it’s too bad that cars such as coupes are overlooked because of a certain image rather than on merit.
I guess that’s what I liked about the original Beetle. Almost everyone drove one, there was no stigma attached to it.
As for the new Beetle, it’s trying too hard to not look feminine. It looks like a chop top Super Beetle to me and just as contrived as the New Beetle. But I’d still look at buying a new one.
Believe me, I got teased for my Lexus SC300 for being an alimony car. Could care less- 2jz on a Soarer/last Mk Supra stretched body. I would gladly drive a SC430 if had a better sorted suspension and fixed roof.
Mandatory car seat laws killed 2-door vehicles, and popularized three-row seating.
In the pre-car-seat era, 2-doors were supposed to be safer for kids, since they can’t open the rear doors by accident. But it’s difficult to strap toddlers to car seats with a 2-door car.
Of course there are singles and empty nesters, but cutting out the family demographic reduced the customer base enough to kill the genre. Empty nesters sometimes want to bring friends or family along. While singles may consider starting a family in the future, and people now own cars for a decade or more …
As for multi-car families with “special purpose” vehicles … Current per-car, not per-driver registration and insurance schemes discourage having more cars than drivers. And having cars “locked” to a driver reduces flexibility and “fault tolerance” (If the minivan dies, it’s hard to cram the kids into a 2-door)
Im a Gen Xer so all my life, Ive lusted after open top 4x4s, muscle cars, hot rods, sports cars, etc. 5 doors are a decent compromise between day to day practicality, swiss army knife utility and a sporty appearance and driving dynamic. Wagons never were cool until those Audi Avants started coming out. The Magnum was a muscle car wrapped in wagon form. Ive always liked hot-rodded surf woodies, panel trucks and now the trend is to rub some muscle car stank on late 60s/early 70s wagons so a wagon as being ‘cool’ isn’t a bridge too far.
However 4 door sedans always carried a few stigmas: wallowy gaudy luxo barges for old people at the top end, in the middle you have plain jane frumpy family sedans for shirt and tie dad types, and at the bottom of the barrel are lumpy 4 door econoboxes for people who either hate cars entirely or just cant afford something better. In other words, even at 40 years old I still have my rebellious youthful side and a desire to feel cool so I wouldn’t touch something with 4 doors, a trunk, and a fixed rear window with a 100 foot pole.
Coupes are the pinnacle of automotive design from my perspective. Ill happily sacrifice a little practicality in the name of style, however opinions on what looks ‘good’ are subjective. Whats can be nailed down to more hard facts (allowing for variance in models of course) is that a coupe is generally of tighter proportions, less weight and a much stiffer body structure than any sedan with its 4 door openings, 4 doors and all the clunky junk to make them work. None of that is desireable to a hot rodder or enthusiast, style aside. 2 door hardtops are the most stylish body of course, and still a great platform for a dream car build. 2 door pillared sedans tend to be the best choice to set up a race car or a platform for upgrades. They aren’t as highly regarded/desired from a collectors item standpoint so they tend to be cheaper when both options exist. The pillars make for a stiffer body which is what you want. And they tend to be less well equipped, and luxury gingerbread usually gets ripped out of a race car anyway.
Bring on the coupes! Theyre profitable as hell for the automakers and even more so for the dealerships. Sure, you can crank out camaccords like bic cigarette lighters and sell every one. BUT, a sedan will never be the ‘hot item’ that has buyers paying above sticker. PT Cruiser? ’05 Mustang? ’08 Camaro, anyone? Just wait till the Hellcat cars actually drop. The Charger is a bit of an anomaly…Im not a fan, but I can see the appeal for some.
Sedans only sell because people ‘need’ them. Ive never seen a guy wearing a black satin jacket with red piping and ‘Camry’ or ‘Taurus’ on the sleeves. Never seen an Elantra hotwheels car. And just like in that Challenger commercial “no kid ever grew up with a poster of a Passat on his wall”.
I used to drive examples of Mopar coupes including a Cuda and a Scamp. They had the structural rigidity of wet noodles. Pillared 4-door sedans of the time had much better structures. Very few sedan derived coupes have comparable rigidity if the B-pillar has been eliminated. The only thing worse you can do for a chassis’ performance is cut a hole for a hatchback.
A friend of mine drives a Mercedes-Benz CLS. It’s the first generation one that people say is “good looking.” While it takes up more space on the road than an equivalent E-class, and it weighs more than an equivalent E-class, the interior is about as roomy as that of a ’60s era 2+2 GT. The front seats are cramped relative to any other car I’ve been in of late. The rear seats? Better hope the person in front of you is considerate and that you’re as flexible as a teen-age gymnast. Why am I mentioning this? Because the thing has 4-doors. They make it look bigger than it is, which is pretty big. They’re as sexy as hipsters. They’re also tiny, meaning that the front passengers are inconvenienced for the rear seat passengers who would be better off staying where they are. Naturally, a car conceived to be as ridiculous as this one has been mimicked by all the other car makers of reunified Germany.
I like sedans. I like coupes. I don’t like 4-door coupes.
I feel similarly; although the Rover P5 coupe was gorgeous.
Amen Perry… when London in 1976 these were all over the place (with V8). Loved them then and now. In terms of overall proportion the Chrysler 300 reminds me of them.
Sexy as hipsters. Great analogy, but I have to disagree on the BMW 6 Gran Coupe, which I think looks better than any of their conventional sedans.
It does, but it also poses the difficult question, “Why is this simply not the 5-Series?” Obviously, I know the answer (“So we can justify charging a substantial premium for it”), but it would have been a welcome apology for the E60, which I count among the most ghastly-looking of all BMW cars.
+1 on the E60.
Frankly, some BMWs leave me speechless.
I’m surprised at the hate for the looks of the X6. I can understand not liking the silly concept but few vehicles bring together badass and beautiful as successfully as this one does. A future classic.
To me, It looks like a porky sedan on borderline clown shoes that got a swift kick to the ass. However, Don also described it well-boring silver jelly bean Bimmer suv and hunchback of Notre Dame.
It is the best looking of this kind of vehicle though that is not saying much. The styling of the x6 is slightly better than the Honda Crosstour.
Ah, stance and proportions must not matter to you. I supposed if you ignore those two things the designs have quite a bit in common like the four doors and hatch.
I remember the first time I saw one on the road, on PCH in Malibu. I will grant that it’s less eye-avertingly hideous than the E60 sedan (not hard to be, really), but a baffingly point-free exercise nonetheless.
Yes; what a waste of such a novel construction technique.
Someone mentioned how difficult it was to get in and out of the backseat of a modern two-door, and that probably sums it all up, right there. Back in the day, it wasn’t all that hard to get in or out of the rear seat of a mammoth full-size, intermediate, or even compact two-door.
But in today’s fuel conscious, lightweight, Kei-car world, it would be a struggle, particularly with a child car-seat. So, it’s four-door sedans for all.
Personally, I’ve always liked the four dour flagship model over the sportier/personal luxury type coupe, and I’m all of 30 now. Eldos are nice, but I’d rather have a Fleetwood Brougham. Same with any other make/model. Its not because I haul around that many people or insist on riding in the back and being driven, I just like the maximum length low slung look it gives a car like that. I do, however, appreciate the fact that I can pile in 6 people in a traditional sedan if I need/want to. Even though I probably ride alone or with only one other person 90% of them time, I still would rather have the traditional sedan.
My experience with coupe type vehicles has been mostly with modern ones, and yes, they all seemed like a huge PITA to actually use the back seat for people of even average height, let alone for actual tall people like me.
Well because doing things the old way will most certainly result in swift and gruesome death of little Billy unless he sits in a car seat until the age of.. what, 13? 14 now? The two door is pretty much done for. Couple in the fact that modern people, who are normally oblivious to manual labor, now inexplicably demand “space efficiency” so they can sto and go oil drum sized goods if the opportunity presents itself, there’s not much hope for attractive cars in the near future.
Luckly with the savings of not having to make two doors though, they are able to have at least 3 selections of bitch boxes ..err, CUVs to choose from. Because there’s soooo much “choice” in the marketplace for us, or so they say.
I almost always would choose a 2 door over a 4. Just like I would almost always choose a manual over an auto.
99 % of the time the coupe version just looks better. Modern cars mostly leave me cold, too much technology, too many doors and almost always an automatic. I remember my dad explaining why he bought a stripper Dodge Shadow, one, it was literally the cheapest car he could find, and two it had less crap that could break.
We grew up riding in 2 door cars in my family. Grand Am, Nova, a two door Impala and the Shadow of course. We did have a four door LTD and a 4 door Granada too though.
The front end of that Galaxie XL is a knock-out. Hard to believe it was one year only and that the Big 3 studios had to repeat this effort year after year, on nearly every model in the line-up. What pressure! No wonder they delved into the hidden headlamp trend with such zeal, it was a new and wonderful look.
I think of Steve McQueen, long sideburns and turtlenecks when I see late 60s Fords with hidden lamps. They were like a pair of cool shades for the car.
Last two door I owned was when my daughter was a baby a Mazda 323 rwd Panelvan with wagon rear seat getting her in and out of the child seat was a PITA I havent seen the need for repeat.
I love my SC 300, but try to pick up just one couple from the airport by yourself. The luggage and/or the robustness of size of said couple can be the source of secret amusement. Though, I do love a coupe’s personal feel.
Basically had to buy a large sedan due to elderly parents, even got them heated rear seats- as they are always cold and I run the a/c at 70. Got a used LS430 for less than new base Camry money. The SC is getting old, owned since 05, just can’t bear to sell… too many adventures BC to Key West. Papa entropy doesn’t sleep either.
I would imagine there would be a considerable cost to compliance a 2-door variant in the US with crash testing etc, so that would be a disincentive in addition to points raised above.
Today I would prefer to drive a 5-door hatch or a wagon or CUV, as much for the shorter doors (carpark egress) as the extra access, unless it is a B-segment car or smaller where the rear seat is less useful so access is less important. I don’t think I would have a coupe as a daily driver.
That’s likely a factor — I don’t know for certain if you have to crash-test each body style, but I assume so. (Incidentally, it’s my understanding that’s a major reason for the demise of non-power windows; you have to recertify for power and non-power versions to demonstrate that the different mechanisms don’t affect occupant crash safety.)
I’ve never owned a vehicle with more than two doors and I wouldn’t say that they are “optimized for fewer passengers”. They are just less terrible for two people than they are for four. The disadvantages of a two door are numerous, the only advantages I can think of are cost and styling. I would take a four door even for just myself or one other person. I use my rear seat primarily for storage and it would be far more convenient if it had its own door.
All of us don’t have children that need to be strapped into car seats or elderly parents who are unable to climb into and out of back seats. In any case that is what SUV’s are for, if we need to carry more than two people or any substantial amount of luggage, we use my wife’s Highlander. In the four years that I’ve owned it no one has ever sat in the backseat of my Mustang, or, to be honest, would want to. Forty years ago there was a wide variety of two door vehicles available, in a variety of sizes, while now nearly all of the remaining two doors are small or smaller. I understand why manufacturers quit making the two door vehicles but just imagine if we had the option to buy a two door Impala or a Taurus sport coupe. I guess in the real world not many would get sold but it is nice to imagine having the choice.
I was drawn to four doors first because I had no money and wanted a big old car. I figured out pretty quickly that coupes commanded higher prices because they were more collectible, but also realized I was more about getting the big car than I was concerned about doors; I probably would’ve bought something that had roof only access to get behind a V8 and art deco hood ornament.
Now, older and more thoughtful/less desperate, I appreciate the design. For example I’m a huge fan of the ’77-’79 Mark V, the ’75-’76 and ’77-’79 Coupes DeVille and Bonneville Coupe, and the ’75-’79 Continental Coupes. (If there’s a New Yorker Coupe I’d be a fan too but have never seen one).
I always enjoy watching 70s movies wherein the family where the man has a good job have the two door for dad and the station wagon for mom/family stuff. To me the idea is to have a second car if you have a Coupe. You take the Coupe to dinner, to work, on vacations for 2. You take the wagon to the dump, on family trips, to the beach, to the store. This allows you to have one car for your “personal luxury” and then equip the wagon as circumstances dictate….maybe the all vinyl interior for the young kids but the loaded Colony Park when everyone’s a bit older to make those trips more comfortable.
Yep, I’d have bought into Ford or GM’s advertising plan for me c. 1975
I’m sure that idea worked great in the days of single income households, where dad rarely had to ferry kids around.
I did a 2000 mile road trip with 2 other full sized guys when I graduated from college. In my Vega GT hatchback. One of them ended up taking the bus home from Canada. The back seat was a contributor. Seriously, here in California for my generation , the first 4 door Accord and Jetta were tipping points (though Jetta was available as a 2 door for first two gens). They offered a classier sedan option to their very popular hatch counterparts. I rememember a young (early 20’s) single colleague who bought one of the first 4 door Accords when I was driving a Foesta or Civic hatch. I thought the 4 door was an old-person’s car but others thought it more upscale. I’ve only owned one 4 door sedan (non-wagon or hatch) in 38 years. Least practical car I’ve owned – E12 BMW 528.
Beyond car seats, I think the overweight American doomed the 2 door. That said, I think
American manufacturers are overlooking a large market for 2 doors. The Challenger continues to grow in sales 5 years after its launch. If Chrysler had only done a 2 door 300 that apes the Bentley Continental the way the sedan copied the Arnage, they would have discovered a large number of buyers without kids waiting to buy one.
I’d add that because people are keeping cars longer, the window that starts with “I can afford a new car” and ends with “I think I’ll get married and have kids” is not big enough, i.e., if you are planning to keep a car more than four or five years, you start to consider the possibilities in the out-years: What if I get married? Have kids? Two-door cars take a hit in these calculations.