what classifies a car as a coupe

[Smurf]

Mercedes is advertising this car as the worlds first 4door coupe

looks like a sedan to me

[flaarnsturgen]

Yeah, I think the ION QC is about as far as you can stretch the definition of "coupe" and not have a sedan. Once you add handles to the back... uh... "panels that swing open to let you get in", you're done.

f.

[navymitch12]

that is deffently a sedan i just think that they are going for the sucker approach where non car people are like "wow its a coupe so that means its faster than a 4 door but it still has 4doors, cool" haha or that is just what i think, its just a marketing ploy

[Sp00ner]

I'm not sure what the difference is between that, and every other Mercedes 4-door 'sport' sedan. The back is sloped a bit flatter, but if that's a 4-door sport coupe, then so is the GrandPrix, the older Mercedes C-classes, Maximas, etc...

[bbrazil]

I always used the definition "a two-door car"...

However, my father's definition is "a car without a post between the front and rear seats"

By his definition, then, my SC1 is a two-door sedan (is has a steel beam just behind the front windows) and the ION Coupe is a 4-door coupe as it lacks said beam.

From the looks of it, then, that Mercedes is a sedan...

[Sp00ner]

Originally Posted by bbrazil

I always used the definition "a two-door car"...

However, my father's definition is "a car without a post between the front and rear seats"

By his definition, then, my SC1 is a two-door sedan (is has a steel beam just behind the front windows) and the ION Coupe is a 4-door coupe as it lacks said beam.

From the looks of it, then, that Mercedes is a sedan...

Yea, I've always went with a 2-door, 4 (2+2) seater as a coupe.
Here's the definition that I found:

A coupe (or coupé) is a two or four-seater car with a fixed roof and two doors. The style is generally used for sportier models in a manufacturer's range. In the 19th century, a coupé was a carriage with two doors enclosing seating for two with an exposed area on the front for a driver.

In recent times it has become very common for a coupe's roof to slope down at the back in a shallow 'streamlined' fashion. This is sometimes called a 'fastback' design.

[Hawflake]

Originally Posted by Smurf

Mercedes is advertising this car as the worlds first 4door coupe

looks like a sedan to me

The definition has nothing to do with how many doors, it has to do with the total volume ratio in front of and behind the center beam, i.e., the room front passenger and driver have versus the room back passengers have. Can't remember the specific number/ratio though. Anyhow, a four door sedan can certainly be classified as a coupe.

[Sp00ner]

I looked through about 20 dictionary entires online for it, and there was nothing that said anything about front/rear ratios. They were all pretty specific about a coupe having 2 doors. You can call it a coupe if you want to, but there's nothing about that, that will make me call it a coupe. If that's a coupe, then so are 1/2 the other luxury 4-doors that are tooling around town. Where did you find the info about a coupe/sedan space allocation? Since this is supposedly the 'first 4 door coupe' I would imagine that there would be little to compare it with.

Edited:
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

Coup'e \Cou`p['e]"\ (k[=oo]`p[asl]"), n. [F., fr. coup['e], p.
p. of couper to cut. See Coppice.]
1. The front compartment of a French diligence; also, the
front compartment (usually for three persons) of a car or
carriage on British railways.
[1913 Webster]

2. A four-wheeled enclosed carriage for two persons inside,
with an outside seat for the driver; -- so called because
giving the appearance of a larger carriage cut off.
[1913 Webster]

3. a two-door automobile with front seats and a luggage
compartment.

[dipolley]

I'm going to have to agree with spooner on this one. We get away with haveing a coup because it is a Quad Coupe. Are doors are just split, they don't have to be. It isn't two seperate door openings (no beam remember).

[Sp00ner]

Yea, I'm not really arguing with anyone, just the definitions I found. Seems pretty cut and dry to me. If it has four doors, it's not a coupe.