The Death of the Station Wagon...

http://money.cnn.com/2011/02/15/autos/death_station_wagon.fortune/

Volvo, the company most associated with station wagons for the last 20 years, will stop selling wagons in the U.S. The market is drying up.

The Volvo wagon had been on life support for months. After dropping the larger V70 Volvo in 2010, Doug Speck, CEO of Volvo Cars of North America, told Automotive News he was giving the V50 another year because there "is a bit more energy in the small wagon segment."

(snip)

Other makers have been quietly dropping wagons for years as their customers flee to more utilitarian vehicles.

Edmunds.com, the online-car buying site, lists 115 kinds of SUVs and 92 types of crossovers but only 31 varieties of station wagon. Even that count is suspect. It includes a Ford Flex, which is a minivan in disguise, and the bizarre Dodge Caliber.

The Chevy wagon & the Ford Crown Vic wagon

We had two Olds wagons & 2 Toyota Corolla wagons

The 1972 Vista Cruiser was our favorite

Ah, the Vista Cruiser ...

That was a great episode... Now I need to watch That 70s show. Good thing it's always on somewhere.

:)

Driving home from work today. The old guy behind the wheel was soooooo sloooooow.... :eyes:

My mom had one of those, no a/c but that thing went forever and a day.

I love the old wagons and always wished they'd come back. But with crossover/suv vehicles that are easy to enter and exit, the old time wagon is going, going, gone.

We test drove a Chevy Traverse and liked it a lot. But $41,000.? No thanks. :(

What a great car it is, 7.5 years old and still carrying me to wherever I wish to go. Lots of cargo room, particularly with the back seat folded down. I understand Ford is bringing back the Focus wagon--smart move, as it sold well. SUVs can't replace it with me, because the price of an SUV is much higher than a small wagon. The Volvo wagon was/is pricey enough that an SUV is comparable.

plan to drive it into the ground........

with about 140,000 on it. Now it's my college son's commuter car. Great vehicle, no major issues and yearly taxes of $17. Also had a Toyota SR5 and drove that thing to death only to be replaced by a Ford Windstar when the family needed more car space. Three kids, too many cats and dogs to count equals SUV. Now that college son almost through and out of the house, we can and will go back to smaller cars/hybrids. Wish they made a Prius wagon.

Those things could swallow a 4x8 sheet of plywood

My Ford Escort wagon is hardly a fair compromise to that dream!

That thing was ENORMOUS..and comfy as hell.. Our boys loved it.

I was thinking a subaru though, idk.

is too big.
I think Subaru still makes some nice looking, dependable, economical wagons.
Don't forget all those monster wagons were gas guzzling, pollution spewing monstrosities.
dc

The Caliber is a great-looking little ride! Bizarre my ass! :mad:

looks just like mine. Gets 30 mpg and seats 5 and their groceries comfortably.

Sadly even the 2007 models are just a hair out of my price range.

Probably going to pick up a used Sebring later this week.

Rather like Dodge trucks do. It's the huge front to it, I think.

I'm salivating for the eventual release of this little beauty, but most people are going to throw up in their mouths a little when they see it.



GMC Granite

but i drive an element.

:)

wrong spot

For me it was the tight turning radius and all the little touches like a big bright dashboard display and lighted cup holders. We bought a 2007 Caliber used a couple of years ago and it has been fun to drive when it was on the road. We also bought an extended warranty and I will go to my grave thanking my lucky stars that we paid a little extra for that additional coverage.

In the 2 and a half years we have owned that car, we have had to replace the heater fan motor, the gear shift cable, replace a burned valve and a blown piston, and replace a ball joint in the suspension. The last trip to the garage was over $2500, and the car was there for three weeks. I've researched it and have come to realize that the ball joint is a huge problem for a lot of the Dodge cars.

I'm not unhappy with our dealer--they have done all they can to help us maximize the warranty coverage--but for a car that new it seems like an awful lot of really bad shit to have to face. As I said, I love the dealer, but I think this will be the last Dodge I ever buy. Certainly, I'll never buy another without a comprehensive extended warranty.



Laura

I've owned two Chrysler products and will
never own another.

Tesha

My father had two Dodge vehicles when I was small, and they were both junkheaps, even new. He cussed 'em so much when they broke down, I was almost sure that they were made by the DamnDodge company! :-)

In the past twenty years, I have owned three Chevy Impalas and a Pontiac Bonneville, and put nearly half a million miles total on them. Outside of regular maintenance (oil changes, etc.), I doubt I have had $2000 in repairs on all four combined. I'm a GM man for life!

I have owned two new cars in my life--one was a Camaro, and the other was a Ford Mustang. I drove them both for ten plus years and NEVER had the level of problems that I have had with this Dodge--not even in those 20 plus years combined!!! I suppose you could argue that those were both "performance" cars that were engineered to drive hard, but I honestly think it was just better design and manufacturing. Shoot, I bought an elderly Ford Escort Wagon as a beater and ended up driving it for a few years with fewer issues than I've had with this Dodge...

I remember back when Dodge made some damn fine cars and it breaks my heart to see how far they have fallen. I know the Ram trucks do seem to rate fairly well on reliability and power, but I feel like my Dodge car has been less than satisfactory.


:shrug:



Laura

And even that is a memory that has to be from 1995 at the latest.

My wife loves her Passat wagon. She can schlep all she needs and gets between 25-30mpg. Also a lot easier to park and manuever. We were at the dealer having her car serviced recently and saw several models on display. Sorry to see Volvo dropping the wagon...must mean the SUV'ing of Europe has occured...

For the front seat passengers, it's a comfortable car, for rear passengers, there's plenty of leg room, though the seat backs are angled a bit too much for my taste. With the back seat up, there's decent space available, with it folded down, the car swallows whatever you throw at it (though not the 4x8 sheets of plywood the big GM wagons used to hold).

I borrowed it to take a trip down to Florida, and it was the perfect car for the trip.

The mail carriers I know have been using Subaru right hand drive SWs for years and they love them.

That's one reason I'm puzzled by their popularity in the northwest. They might be decent vehicles, but their smaller on the inside and more expensive than comparable Hondas and Toyotas even. I don't get it.

Never seen more Subaru vehicles in my life until my last trip to Tahoe.

Mostly due to their horizonally opposed engine, which is much shorter and lowers the cars center of gravity when compared to other cars. Most cars have inline or V engines that are fairly tall, while the Subie's still use the "pancake engine" which keeps most of the engine weight fairly even with the cars axle plane. A lower center of gravity means less body roll in the corners, which helps to maintain traction. Subarus have the lowest center of gravity, as compared against the wheel hubs, of any non-sports car on the market.

Yes, I'm one of the many people you see driving a Subaru in the Sierras. I traded in my Dodge Durango for it, and wouldn't go back for anything in the world. This thing can literally run circles around my old Dodge in the snow.

Not an SUV wannabe. I think they must have been the Legacy model, from the pictures I see on the internet.

Oh well, I realized that it has been a while since I have talked to them so I guess they have moved on.

http://www.cadillac.com/vehicles/2011/ctsSportWagon/overview.do?seo=goo_|_2008_Cadillac_Retention_|_IMG_Cadillac_CTS_Sport_Wagon_|_CTS_Sport_Wagon_|_cadillac_wagon&gclid=CMqIwb_EjacCFYSK4AodoBKbeA

The market for the station wagon has been dying since the introduction of the mini-van which is slowly being replaced by the SUV.

The Rondo is more of a mini-van/wagon hybrid, but it's based on a car frame so it's not like a bulky SUV. The stereotypical station wagon is a rare beast indeed in my neck of the woods. The only other option was a used Subaru, but good luck finding one of those without insane amounts of mileage on them.

Love that vehicle! Lots of cargo space, plenty of horsepower even with the 4-cylinder, good safety and reliability reviews, fairly inexpensive, and I can break the 30-mpg mark on the highway!

Not one like yours, but the best car we have ever had..even better than our Honda Accord EX:)

2004 Amanti..<40K miles on it so far

We're looking closely at Hyundai and Kia right now. They've got some nice vehicles.

Thanks!

:hi:

I'll probably hit 100,000 miles by the end of this year and would have bought another one just like it - but Kia changed the design and ruined it. Very poor visibility in the rear of the car with huge blind spots. Too bad.

I also like the Honda Element - but the gas mileage projections haven't improved since they introduced it and I found out yesterday Honda will end production of the Element in April.

Signed, -Subaru driver

those SUV's get horrific gas mileage and bug the shit outta me on the road.

Not useful if you really want to drive off road. I need a truck chassis, which is what I get with my Suburban. The old Chevy Blazer used to be built on a small truck chassis, but so many of the SUVs are built on light weight, low slung car chassis that would break if they drove up my driveway every day.

SUV = Stupid Useless Vehicle.

Lots of space, yet low in profile. My wife and I attended a wedding this summer. A lot of people needed rides to the reception, since it was quite a distance from the hotel the out-of-towners were staying in. I went up to a group of five and said I had room. We walked over to the Volvo. I popped the rear door, unfolded the rear-facing seats in the back of the car, everyone got in and off we went. Whee!

both with seven seater options.
The '93 has 326k on it and never a worry.
The '85 is sitting at 262k and is just a spare now.
Both get 29 mpg on the highway.
Best series of auto's ever made.

Volvos will run forever, with regular oil changes, etc. Their wagons were one of the most useful designs ever.

What impresses me most is how well they handle Minnesota winters, despite being rear-wheel drive vehicles. That and their amazingly small turning radius. My 740 wagon is the only car I've ever owned that will do a U-turn on my narrow residential street without backing. It shocks the crap out of people.

Now, I can't say that it's not a noisy, rattly sort of vehicle, but I don't give a crap about that. It starts every time, cruises at 75 where that is the speed limit, and doesn't cost me a fortune to keep it on the road. I'm still under 200k on my 740, so it's just about broken in now. :rofl:

although it did have 150k plus when I got it for free.
She had clogged up the flametrap and blew oil out
everywhere. I fixed it and gave to to a friend a few weeks
later. I have owned Volvo's since the early '70's, a few VW's
along the way. I like simple and efficient, things that last.

on leave between assignments in the USAF. I immediately put all my stuff in it and drove it from California to Ft. George Meade in Maryland, my next assignment. I kept that wonderful car for five more years, and fell in love with Volvos because of it. Since then, I've owned many Volvos, and always try to have one in the driveway. They've always served me well, and some were remarkable in their longevity.

I did overhaul the engine on a 544, once, in my father's auto shop. He would not work on anything but US-made cars, but he kindly allowed me to use his shop for the job. One of the things I did was replace the main bearings and seals. When I removed the first main bearing, my dad walked over to look at it. "Damn!" he said, "That's a huge bearing for such a small engine." And so it was. Volvos were, and are, overengineered, and that's part of why they're so durable. He was impressed, and allowed as how he might just start working on Volvos in his shop. He did, too.

Here's that 1959 544, complete with racing stripe. :rofl:

I bought it a year ago when we thought tot 2.0 was on the way.

I love it. I understand the SUV pretension of the thing but it was awesome in the snow. (Traction control!) Leather seats are nice. Plus lots of room in the back for the golf clubs.

My other car is a 15 year old Accord - which is fantastic but is looking beat up after so many years on the streets of Chicago. The thing is the Volvo is the fancy car and I would not be ashamed to be seen at it. It is kinda embarrassing to give the valet the keys to the Honda, but the embarrassment is quickly overtaken by my cheapness.

Volvos are a touch expensive to maintain, tho.

I'm a big fan of wagons, also had the V40 and the Saab Hatchback. They are a tad more expensive to maintain but no more than any other European car, trust me, I had the BMW 325i wagon and it was a real wallet grabber.

has become more of a cross-over vehicle - it was certainly stationwagonish a few years ago.

The very first car I ever owned was a used 1972 Buick Skylark Wagon (with a V8 350).

I was living in a ski resort in Colorado and this thing was my mobile ski locker.

I pretty much put it through hell, and even hit a deer with it once but it kept on running.

It eventually was replaced with a 1973 Mustang (with a 351CL).


Everyone remembers their first car and mine was a station wagon.


Oh and... blah blah blah SUV, blah blah blah....

And had I the money, that new Cadillac CTS-V wagon would be in my driveway tomorrow. I don't know what I'd do without my wagon.

That thing took us on many a trip!

in the same sentence. Lots of style, nice lines, and gobs of power.

Took place in my father's 1977 Dodge Aspen station wagon. I loved that car...brick red, with the fake wood panels, chrome everywhere, red vinyl seats, and an AM radio. That car took us on many trips, moved us to Florida and back, survived a bad accident (which I still bear a few scars from, but fortunately the car and I were both fixable!), took us to the pool, the bowling alley, holiday dinners, school, you name it. I remember the day the engine locked up, and my parents had to get rid of it. It was like a little piece of my childhood was gone. Those were the days when you put the seats down, and rode around in the very back, and did whatever you felt like doing, as long as it didn't distract your parents from the road. I owned a Saturn wagon a few years ago, and loved it, but alas, it's gone now, too. This is a little piece of Americana slipping away, and it's kind of sad to see it happen.

Cool commercial (2:32)...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OA2Cb7AkxRk

Then they bitch and moan about gas prices.

Gutless and handles like a shopping cart, but still gets about 40 mpg on the highway at 220,000 miles. Easy to fix, and hard to kill.

mikey_the_rat

A true, big American station wagon.

But... won't anybody think of the VOLARE???

We didn't want to get a mini van or an SUV. The wagon is versatile -- the seat folds down -- good for hauling. It also has two backward-facing seats, just like the good old days of giant station wagon boats.

VW makes small wagons, the Passat and the Jetta TDI.