Honestly, wagons are imho usually the best looking modern cars. And they are also the most practical ones: With one short interlude for my second car (Ford Focus Mk 1) (that was killed by a rear ending Fiat Panda) I always did drive wagons and I intend to do so in the future. Ford Scorpio MK 2 - my first car ever. Nicknamed "The Battleship" for its size and for its ship worthy fuel consumption of up to 14L/100 KM. Built in a time where comfortable long range vehicle and gasoline engine was still something to be heard in the same sentence. At least in germany, turbodiesels have almost completely conquered that particular market share. Lasted to 333000 km until rust parted us. 2.0L DOHC with 136 HP.... pretty shortly geared to move its mass (1700 kg) with some emphasis. Ford Focus Mk 1 Wagon. An elegant car from a time before "tanky cars" became the mainstream taste. Imho looks significantly better then its successor. Served me well for 7 years and to date was the most cost effective vehicle I ever had. Only had one major repair in all those years. Died by brake line failure due to rust and general rust issues. Was powered by the 1.6L 100 HP engine like my second car. Had a relative tall gearing for this engine which was really good for fuel economy but made car journalists whine about "lack of torque". Yeah sure, if you drive 500Nm 300 HP turbodiesels every day.... your feelings may betray you. Sadly Ford listened to those journalists and as a result all successors with this engine consume more fuel due to higher average RPM. Really liked this car even if it missed AC. Ford Focus MK 2 Wagon. My current car and by far the most expensive one in both initial price and repairs. Has little of the elegance of its predecessor, poor overview due to the "muscular raised" hood and comes with what some people unflatteringly call the worst engine option of the entire line. The 1.6L Ti-VCT with a rated 115 HP is - not entirely unjustified - considered a hybrid between the regular 1.6 L 100 HP engine and the 1.8L 125 HP engine.... as in having the power output of the regular 1.6L 100 HP engine but the fuel consumption of the 1.8L 125 HP engine. To add insult to injury, the variabe valve timing is somewhat of an reliability issue and while later models seem to have addressed most issues with this, it remains a very costly repair risk without any particular driver benefit being visible. Neither power output nor fuel economy are particularly impressive and as mentioned earlier, you pay an price for the short gearing. I never wanted this particular engine but sadly it came with an otherwise excellent offer. Ironically most of my costly repairs are not on the list of "weaknesses of Mk2 Focus" but instead are outliers like - New windscreen due to crack - 750 Euro - New Dash due to appearant hardware failure - 1250 Euro - having the misfortune of needing new rims in addition to new wheels. - 300 Euro - General wear and tear of the suspension and brakes - 1500 Euro On the bright side, by now almost everything is repaired and I hope that next safety inspection wont be expensive and that my anti rust measures pay off for a long enough life.
Hello. I'm here in the US crying over how wagons are pretty much DEAD and I really want one :'( My dream car is the 2008 BMW M5 Touring with a V10, but their only in Europe *crying intensifies*
I drive a wagon as a daily and my dream wagon would be one of these: HSV VT Series II Senator Wagon, 5L (304ci) Injected V8, 4 Speed Auto (4l60e). Only 35 were made from 1997 - 1999. A very rare car now 20+ years later.
my favorite kind of cars... the chevy impala station wagon --- Post updated --- i hope there were more station wagon in the game i want the bluebuck wagon!
Another thought I had on this is that the reason for wagons' popularity is similar to why SUVs or automatics are less popular - Europeans are just relatively short on cash.
personally, I love the new Volvo V60s and V90s. especially the V60 T6 R-Design. V60 T8 Polestar for refrence:
I drive a hatchback, but my father has and had stations. He has a Renault Clio: And he had a SEAT Ibiza:
I know that feeling..... manufacturers here in Germany sadly have joined the stupid CUV and SUV bandwagon and it is increasingly difficult to find a station wagon. Even more annoying that this trend has also spread to most new EVs with your choices in this area as a result being mostly limited to Smaller city EVs which for both cost and assumed usage profile lack battery capacity for reasonable long range Electric CUVs and SUVs in the mid - high price range that have a very large battery but still only average range because this particular body style is pretty much the worst you can have in terms of energy efficiency, a fact not helped in the slightest by above average weight. If you want a "normal" elegant car you end up in a price and performance segment that is not suitable for most people. There are no station wagons at all. The devs appearantly took note of your photo Generally speaking, most germans are often amazed about how cheap american cars are for their size. You barely get a decent compact for the price tag of a larger american SUV or even pickup. On the other hand, they are often similary amazed about what americans consider "high quality" interior and are downright incredulous about how much "dated low tech" they still seem to use. Things like drum brakes, non fully independent suspension and engines that at least by their cylinders/displacement to power ratio seem to be from the last century. And how can you you use gasoline in a large car? Gasoline is for city cars only..... driving any serious distance or a large car with gasoline is ludicrous expensive... why would you not use a diesel? SUVs are - sadly - gaining a lot of popularity since arround 1 decade. Being pretty much diesel powered only because german fuel prices dont make driving an gasoline SUV very fun. They are one of the more profitable vehicle types as they achieve higher than average market prices compared to cars of similar production cost. Europeans in general and germans in particular arent short on cash..... in fact they usually hand out sums for - in comparsion - small cars that the average american would consider eye watering. One major factor in explaining the difference in taste is average population density. A pickup or large SUV may not be much of an hassle in the wide open american countryside..... but in the densely populated cities of europe...... it isnt very fun.... not to mention the increasing amount of hateful looks you attract. Automatic transmission historically had a hard time in germany for two reasons. Having comparable high fuel prices, the willingness of economic minded buyers to accept the fuel consumption penality wasnt very great.For decades also, getting a driving license was seperated into "manual" and "automatic" with the result that if you only made the "automatic" one, you wouldnt be allowed to drive a manual which would lock you out of 90 % of the car market here. So most young drivers learned on manual to be capable of accessing the majority of the car market here in the first place and to avoid buying an - expensive and very limited offer - automatic car that on top costs more in fuel and maintainance. While the clutch certainly wears, it isnt that expensive compared to the maintanance or even repair of an automatic, DCT or CVT. The gearbox itself usually outlast the car by a significant margin and when properly geared and driven can achieve excellent fuel economy. Having once learned the ropes of how to drive an manual leaves little reason to bother with an automatic. The more wealthy car buyers meanwhile often is more performance than comfort oriented and as such - historically - had little love for a power sapping feeling killing clunky automatic. God forbid you loose an - illegal - acceleration race because of it. Not having a modest speed limit of arround 110 km/h like in the US also creates more demand for more gears than automatics historically offered. So..... outside of people with special needs and the high end luxury segment.... there was little place for automatics in germany. Times have changed.... modern automatics and DCTs are gaining market share and today you no longer need to learn on a manual to be allowed to drive one (the reasoning being more and more automatic transmissions being on the market and the electrification making it moot) The fuel penalty has been greatly reduced and in fact many modern automatics are more fuel efficient in real life driving because so many drivers are piss poor at fuel economy. DCTs dont suffer from any fuel economy penality as any increase in internal friction is likely overcompensated by having more gears and as such lower average RPM and higher load = higher efficieny. CVT - even though almost nonexistant in germany - are technically the most fuel efficient transmission (for ICEs) as the torque converter loss is usually overcompensated by having the ideal RPM and torque value at most speeds and load conditions) The most widely used CVT in germany is probably the Hybrid E-CVT from Toyota which has no torque converter and as such has no such penality.
I gotta say, that the best Wagon for looks, race, drifting, off-roading, rallying, Has to be the one and only... 1999 Subaru Outback!
