Half a century ago car buyers were able to buy a station wagon or a sedan. The word sedan has its origins, in the wheeled automotive sense, in 1912. It goes back further than that with a form of human transport called a litter. Think Cleopatra being carried around in a box covered in cloth, with poles at either end lifted by humans.
The sedan market worldwide has contracted severely over the last decade or so, thanks to the rise of the SUV machines. It’s therefore fair to presume that the sedan as a body shape, and for the sake of convenience in a way, we’ll include the liftback style, virtually extinct.
Or is it....
Alfa Romeo offers the Giulia, a development of the 159 available at the end of the noughties. In 2021 the Giulia can be found with a 206kW turbo four and is priced at circa $78,000.
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Kia’s Stinger polarises opinion in some circles, yet its brawny 3.3L twin-turbo six delivers a thumping 570Nm of torque and a verifiable 4.9 second 0-100 time. Opt for the turbo four and 182kW and pricing starts around $53,000.
For those that like, as a certain TV host might say, “ze Chermans”, Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz have an extensive range of sedans.
Audi has the A3, A4, A6, and luxury A8 plus the sporting S and RS variants. The petite A3 packs a 1.4L TSFI engine and starts from just over $42K plus on-roads. Go to the other end and the A8 in 4.0L S8 guise starts at a considerable $260,000 plus ORC.
BMW have a bewildering range of offerings. There is the new i4 EV, the famous 3 Series sedan, their 5 Series in diesel, petrol, and hybrid, and uber-luxury 7 Series. There is even an 8 Series Gran Coupe, a four door coupe style offering. With the 4.4L V8 and M8 Competition package and pumping 390kW/750Nm, the list price in March 2021 was $354,900. Plus on-roads. A more reasonable price of $77,900 plus on-roads can be found for the 3 Series 330i.
Hyundai and Kia have sedans. Hyundai recently dropped the Lantra/Elantra name and added in the i30 sedan. Their Genesis luxury arm has the G70 and G80 sedans, with the entry G70 starting from $59,300 plus ORC. The i30 in Active trims sees a RRP of $24,790 plus ORC, and there is a 2.0L petrol engine for motorvation.
Kia’s entry level Cerato sedan starts even lower, from $21,690 plus ORC, with the punch 1.6L turbo GT kicking off from $33,690 plus ORC.
Japanese competitor Mazda offers sedans too. There is the Mazda3 sedan, with the G20 Pure starting the range at $25,590 plus ORC. Pick the standard 2.0L engine and get 114kW. There is the Mazda6 with a four model range between $34,590 to just over $50K plus ORC.
Back to Germany and there is the Volkswagen Passat sedan, and a new model coming. The current 2.0L 140TSI Business starts from $46,590 whilst VW owned Skoda has the Superb and Octavia. There’s a sub-$50K start price for the Octavia RS with the entry Superb kicking off at $40,690 plus ORC. It packs a 2.0L engine in all versions.
Got some $$$ the bank? Head to Rolls-Royce or Bentley. A “Roller” is available in Ghost, Ghost Long Wheelbase, or Phantom, all with a lumpy 6.8L engine, with the range topper seeing a starting price, plus ORC, of “just $902,000”.
Bentley have the Mulsanne and Flying Spur, with the cheapest Bentley, if those words fit in the same sentence, $541,000 plus ORC. Go to the W12 Flying Spur Mulliner and it’s a relative steal at $448,820 plus ORC.
Of course there is Toyota. The Corolla has a sedan variant alongside the hatch whilst Camry is sedan only. The 2.0L Ascent Sport sedan starts the three model range at $23,895 plus ORC, and Camry starts at $28,990 plus ORC for the 2.5L Ascent. There is also the hybrid version, with the SL starting from $42,790.
Subaru has sedans; the Impreza, and WRX which is Impreza based. The beginning of the Impreza range comes with the familiar flat four boxer. Price? $23,990 plus ORC.
Honda offers up the Accord sedan too, and that has a 1.5L petrol or 2.0L Hybrid choice. $50,490 plus ORC is the asking price.
Driving into France and Peugeot’s stunning 508 Liftback runs a 1.6L turbo four. It’s an immaculate drive, thrifty on the highway, and hits the wallet for $57,490 plus ORC.
Over the Channel and Jaguar can sell you an XE sedan, and an XF sedan, and the coupe four door XJ. The XE is all-wheel drive, has a 2.0L petrol, and starts from $67,460 plus ORC for the R-Dynamic SE. The XF is down to a solitary offering and that’s the R-Dynamic HSE AWD at $102,500 plus ORC for the 2.0L turbo-petrol. Power is 221kW and torque a very handy 400Nm from 1,500rpm to 4,500rpm.
We’ll round out the sedan list with Lexus for no other reason than L is right in the middle of the alphabet. The IS300 is petrol and hybrid, there is IS350 and ES300, plus the GS and LS sedans. The IS300 2.0L Luxury starts from $61,500 plus ORC, while the LS500 Hybrid with 3.5L V6 starts from just under $201,100 plus ORC.
There are sedans we haven’t listed but rest assured, there are still plenty of sedans available for the Aussie market,