Theyāre sort of on the ugly side, but Iād prefer driving one to an SUV. Many SUVās donāt handle very well, seem top heavy. Feels like you are riding in a boat.
Sports car, yes.
Sedan, yes.
Stationwagon, no.
Isnāt a Subaru Forester a station wagon marketed under an assumed name: mini SUV?
My son has a new Audi station wagon. The all wheel drive model.
The Audi website even refers to it as a station wagon.
I agree. Others Iām sure will feel differently.
I donāt see anything new and/or significant in that article
It seems all the station wagons they mentioned were high-end brands. Itās been like that for years now. Whenās the last time there was a non-loaded Chevy or Ford station wagon. There hasnāt been a Camry station wagon in 20 years, I think. Remember the Chevy Celebrity station, wasnāt that 30 years ago?
So to sum it up, I donāt see any āreturn of the station wagonā at all
Perhaps others will read the article and see it differently
As weāve mentioned on this website countless times, station wagons were replaced by minivans and suvs
Good observation. When I was a kid in the '50s and '60s, station wagons were affordable family utility cars. Iām unaware of any modern station wagon designed/priced for average working families.
Useless article. A ācomebackā at the same time sales have dropped 50%? Donāt think so. 0.1% of the market isnāt going to affect anything.
Dunnoā¦Iāve seen Caprice-bodied SWs done up niceā¦pinstriping, rims, engine mods. At heart, youāre dealing with a SBC, easily customizable, and the same ālarge sedanā body that has been ārodded the world over. You get to have your āfun toy,ā and yet you also get to carry 8 passengers, or a 4āX8ā sheet of plywood, when the situation requires it.
Seems like a whole lot less emasculating way of approaching middle age than the inevitable minivanā¦
I look at small SUVs like the Forester as the equivalent of station wagons built with a passenger compartment with more head space and a higher seating arrangement.
So station wagons have never really gone away (mu opinion). The need for that type of auto was always there. In fact I went from a Passat wagon to a Forester. Same storage space, about same size, but you sit a bit higher.
The article makes a brief mention of the Subaru Outback, even though it fails to mention that it has been the best-selling station wagon for many years. Even Consumer Reports classifies the Outback as a station wagon, rather than as an SUV, or even a cross-over.
I believe the term āstation wagonā goes back to horse drawn carriages designed to shuttle passengers and luggage to and from train depots.
Limousines and sedans also were originally types of horse drawn carriages.
Todayās crossover SUVās are really station wagons even if we donāt call them that. My Yaris liftback is really a small station wagon come to think of it.
Whatever happened to panel trucks?
Panel trucks turned in to vans.
Is the Venza close enough to call a Camry station wagon?
Perhaps, but that model was discontinued ~2 years ago. If it had sold in sufficient numbers, it would likely still be in production.
You guys mention Subarus
But they are considered high tech and fancy cars, not comparable with the simple family station wagons of years past
Which further reinforces my earlier comment, that no plain jane station wagons are being sold in the US, and havenāt been, for a long time
I wouldnāt consider Subarus as more high tech and fancy than the general run of cars on the market these days, except for the AWD systems they use.
A simpler present-day stand-in for the station wagon would be a base Dodge Caravan.
Weāll just have to disagree about Subaru, in that case
But I do see your point about the base Dodge Caravan . . . it serves the same purpose, in any case
It seems that the original station wagons were the result of car makers streaching the roofs of their sedans rearward and replacing the trunk lid with a tailgate. How close do Crossovers come to that description?
disagree. The bottom of the line Forester, for example, sells for about $22k