Call me crazy but I have always loved a nice station wagon. Particularly sporty ones. I do like sport utility vehicles and crossovers for their own reasons but nothing about them would drive me from buying a wagon over them. Where did the station wagon go wrong here? Was it National Lampoon’s Family Vacation? Did too many wholesome families have the big Ford and GM wagons of the eighties? Did kids picking their nose in the rear facing seats of Volvos and Tauruses bother too many people?
Well, first it was the minivan. For a decent price you could have more interior room in a Caravan to haul the kids than a Country Squire. The sport utility vehicle gained popularity quickly in the 90’s from the minivan stigma. They became cool because it was like trying to show that though you had a family, you still had a vehicle you could have some fun with. Nobody actually took SUVs off road though so the crossover came along a few years later. While it makes sense in theory, I have yet to really see a good execution of the thing. The BMW Gran Turismo is hideous in person. The Toyota Venza looks like a Camry that needs to be on The Biggest Loser.
I guess that people still think of the wagon as Dad’s boring family hauler. I think what we need are more sport wagons. BMW needs to stop listening to marketers and bring more real wagons back over here. Volvo’s designers should ignore their new owners and continue building wagons for generations to come. We need a Ford Taurus wagon in SHO trim. They should have done it then with the old one and should do it now. Saab has been making wagons and will continue to do to so for time to come (and with a real manual transmission! AND Turbo!) How about a good shooting brake? I would love to bring things back from Home Depot in the back of Ferrari with a 3rd Door , though it could get messy. Oh wait, you can! If Ferrari can do it with the new FF, whats to stop anyone else? The more I go on the more I like where this is going. Even Acura is releasing a TSX wagon! (God, please let them see the front grill kills their otherwise nice cars). Please no more PTs or HHRs though. Retro wagons just don’t work. Especially when built on old Neons. Maybe there is some hope for the new sportier wagons. The European’s still love wagons, they understand something I think most of us don’t.
So what do you say? I say lets go for it! We can haul the kids to the water park one day and the next have a fun track day! Break the old wagon stigma! go out and buy something good and fun with a big butt for you the family and the dog. Those of us with no families, the shooting brake is always an option!
