Sidepipes for pure practicality
Exhaust pipes emerging in front of the rear wheels are not always just for the sake of a racing look and acoustic pleasure. Sometimes they also have a purely practical use. Especially on post-war commercial vehicles, you can often see the side muzzle. Of course, less pipe makes the car cheaper to produce. However, this has not stopped manufacturers from extending the exhaust pipes to the rear of saloon cars.
The reason for the difference lies in the vehicle's area of application. Limousines as family and representative vehicles rarely had a trunk full to the brim. Estate cars and vans, however, were usually loaded and unloaded up to the roof several times a day. And since the starter-protecting and time-pressure-plagued worker likes to keep the engine running, he would smoke himself into unconsciousness with the car exhausting from the rear.
This is why even such an unsportsmanlike work vehicle as the Renault Domaine emits its exhaust fumes to the side - with a not so unsportsmanlike sound.
