2008 Mitsubishi Lancer GTS and 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX STI: Luggage Follow-Up

wait, didn't you fold down the back seat of the sti?
 
So the end result is the same..
 
I never made the claim the hatch wouldn't make it easier. just that its overall 'utility' isnt much great until you start blocking rear visiability.
 
and this is coming from a guy whos next car has nothing but hatchbacks on the list.

From what I'm reading, the Evo's trunk is smaller than in regular Lancer's because of space-robbing all-wheel-drive components, but the rear seat still seems to fold.

I don't think this comes as a big surprise. Do the seats in the rear of the STI go perfectly flat when they fold down, or are they "VW Golf" flat, that is, not really at all?

hatchback > sedan

I'd say the true utility of a hatchback vs. sedan w/ fold-down rear seats comes into play with large bulky items. My Saab 9-2x Aero (Previous car) could fit 2 boxes of about 3'x3' nature inside like a glove. I had a dock worker at Pottery Barn tell me that the same boxes had problems fitting in a small SUV (I found it hard to believe, but I was beaming with Pride at my Saabaru).
 
That being said, I think the gist of this blog post is as follows: Loading up a hatchback with those 7 items equals a piece of cake with plenty of room to spare. Loading a sedan means packing it is, being rough on the car shoving stuff around, and not a good solution if you have delicate items.
 
For me, the difference between sedan/hatchback comes down to this: I like to put my bike(s) IN the car. In a sedan, fitting 2 bikes is possible but they are usually jammed up against each other leading to scratches, popped chains, and other (potentially more serious) problems. In a hatchback, it's a piece of cake and usually something can be laid between the two.
 
Joe

Dan, the EVO's rear seats don't fold. In fact the EVO's trunk is half the size of of the Lancer's, maybe even smaller. The reason being they've moved the battery and a whole bunch of other stuff back there to achieve a 50/50 weight distribution.
 
All that sits directly over the rear axle. So all that forward space in the Lancer's trunk is lost. The EVO's trunk can hold a couple of golf bags, but that's about it.

Evo seats do not fold, you can look at any detailed pictures or look up videos of engineers talking about the car. A video I watched with an engineer presenting the car, stated that the seats do not fold and from what I could tell there does seem to be less trunk space then in a normal Lancer. I believe I heard they do not fold for increased structural rigidity or like previously mentioned for AWD equipment

Sure, I wanted to use an EVO for this, but we're fresh out at the moment. Thanks for the heads-up. Last time one was here, I was too busy flogging the hell out of it during the limited amount of time I had with the car to check trunk space.
 
So, with the junk (battery, etc.) in the fixed-wall trunk, then only 3 of my items (perhaps just 2 if the trunk is significantly smaller) will fit. Clearly STI beats EVO this go-around on the utility front. If you care. Which I do.

Clearly STI beats EVO this go-around on the utility front. If you care. Which I do.
 
Me too. In fact I'll go on record saying that once you've owned a hatch (or wagon), and have come to appreciate the day-in and day-out usefulness they offer, it's really hard to even consider anything else; at least for me it is.
 
That's why I like the STI (and my '06 WRX Limited wagon). You can have your cake and eat it too. :)

Just went to the Mitsubishi web site to get cargo specs.
 
Lancer: 12.3 cu.ft. (11.8 w/subwoofer)
 
EVO: 6.9 cu. ft.
 
So you can see the EVO took a big hit in cargo capacity.
 
In checking the Subie web site, the STI's cargo space is as follows:
 
Seat up: 19.0 cu.ft
 
Seat down: 44.4 cu. ft.

The only downside I can see with hatchbacks is that in an accident, without a sturdy cargo cover, there is nothing between your head and the free-flying cargo.
 
Have said that, I prefer hatchbacks over sedans because of their utiliy. Sure, you can fold the rear seats on most sedans, but it just doesn't give you as much versatility as a hatchback.

the problem with hatchs I have is they overstate the cargo capacity.
 
the imperza 4 dr
11.3 cu. ft.
5dr
19.0 cu. ft
 
(thats with seats up)
 
that lead you to belive that the 5dr has 7.7 cu. ft. MORE then the 4dr. And thats only true if you fill the area up to the roof.
 
I hope that when you do that you secure all the cargo, or it will fly all over the place.
 
and are ready to drive around without a rear view mirror, since all you'll see is your stuff.
 
Theres a point to both a hatch and a trunk. They both have pluses and minus. I'm just tired of hearing HATCH rules. When its more like Hatch is different.

Agreed. I don't like to block vision with cargo. Cargo capacity numbers that include the space above the rear seatbacks are misleading. That's why neither car was loaded that way in this comparison.

One other thing to consider is the visibility of cargo from preying eyes that want to steal your stuff. I don't really like how rental car co's are renting Chevy HHR's and other wagon-ish vehicles but then NOT providing the roll-out cargo covers. It leaves all your stuff exposed and I was in Vancouver, BC, Canada, which has a huge auto theft rate.

Is anyone else lusting after that new Legacy STI wagon, like me?? OMG.

Link for the news item referenced above:
 
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/News/articleId=126356

not for 51k. :-p

That is a pretty big difference in luggage capacity in the STI's favor.
  
It may have come at the expense of chassis stiffness. During the Evo vs STI comparison test, the Evo's chassis felt anvil-solid whereas you could detect little quivers in the STI.
  
That's pure speculation on my part, though. I have no hard numbers to back it up. Just my subjective impressions. And yes, the Evo's trunk is laughably small.

As to blocking rear visibility, yeah, it's not a good idea. Having said that, it's nice to have that ability to load to the roof—if you have to.
 
Sometimes that's the case. If you go Best Buy, and get something that comes in a big box (computer, TV, etc.), you might not have much choice.

"As to blocking rear visibility, yeah, it's not a good idea. Having said that, it's nice to have that ability to load to the roof—if you have to. "
 
Completely right.

^ i would agree with the last too.
 
on the flip side, its nice to have a trunk where you want to be sure to keep things out of sight.

Ditto the Best Buy big-screen scenario.
 
And the out-of-sight part can be accomplished with the included roll-out window-shade cargo cover you can draw over the hatch area when the seats are up. It DOES work, and it lines up with the top of the rear seats, so the space available is still decent.

Someone mentioned 3D Tetris, so I thought I'd offer this:
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbIUy-Qfm1E