What is the difference between an estate car and a hatchback?

Answer 1

An estate car is a station wagon.

The American Heritage Dictionary defines a station wagon as "an automobile with one or more rows of folding or removable seats behind the driver and no luggage compartment but an area behind the seats into which suitcases, parcels, etc., can be loaded through a tailgate." The dictionary also calls the term an "Americanism."

A hatchback, in contrast, has a proper boot that constitutes the rear of the vehicle and opens in an outward and upward fashion. Hatchbacks are usually smaller than estates.