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Why You Should Buy a Classic Station Wagon

Most Americans over the age of 40 grew up waging hell in the backseat of a station wagon. Most of those station wagons were Buicks, Fords, Oldsmobiles, Chevys, and Mercurys. Some might have even been Pontiacs.  Here’s why they could turn into the next collector cars.  Those Americans who grew up turning the backseat into a war zone fondly remember them.  That same generation fondly remembers the Smokey and the Bandit Pontiac Firebirds (the one with the “screaming chicken” on the hood), so they buy them.  Station wagons from the 1970s and 1980s are now being bought more.  Prices are going up for these massive beasts.

The collector car market is going crazy right now.  People have more money to spend, and they want to enjoy an older car with their family.  They tend to buy cars that they remember fondly.  That’s why Chevy Blazers, “screaming chicken” Firebirds, and station wagons are starting to creep up in price.  Now is the time to buy them.

For all those people who say that station wagons are dorky and stupid, here’s a response:  station wagons have as much, if not more utility than most modern crossovers, and some SUVs, look better, and are far more fuel efficient.

Some station wagons are already highly sought-after collector cars.  They include the Chevrolet Nomad, antique woodies, and high-performance Pontiacs from the 1960s. However, there are still plenty of station wagons that can be enjoyed.  Here are some classic, and new wagons that you should consider buying.

  • 1991 Audi 200 20V Turbo Quattro Avant:  There is no point in going into the details of the 1986 60 Minutes debacle that came close to killing Audi.  There were some good cars that came out in the company’s darkest days, and one of them is the marvelous 1991 200 20V Turbo Quattro Avant.  This one-year-only package is incredibly rare.  Only 1,000 four-door sedans and about 200 station wagons got this package, and it was standard equipment on the two-door hatchback.  It’s a close cousin to the 1986 sedans that Audi used to dominate SCCA Trans-Am racing.  The twin-cam, 20-valve engine has five cylinders and goes through a five-speed manual to all four BBS wheels.  Maintenance is going to be a wee bit tricky, but enjoying this car won’t.
  • 1950-1991 Ford Country Squire:  This behemoth of a station wagon is what many Americans grew up in.  Early Country Squires are the expensive, sought-after woodies from the early 1950s.  Avoid them unless you have serious money and plans to upgrade just about everything on them.  However, starting in 1960, the Country Squire became the familiar family hauler.  They’ve covered millions of miles, millions of Americans remember them fondly, and they have starred in multiple movies.  They came with a Ford small-block V-8 (usually the 351 Windsor V-8 found in most Fords of the 1970s through the 1990s) and a mushy automatic transmission.  If you get a pre-1976 model in California, you can upgrade it to make the ultimate family hauler.  Just put in a modern Ford Coyote motor (the same engine as the Mustang), a Ford T-5 five-speed manual transmission, and some better suspension pieces and you’ll have the ultimate road trip/family hauler.  They are fairly reliable cars to begin with, and Ford made a lot of them, so finding one isn’t the challenge of the century like the Audi mentioned above.
  • Volvo V60 Polestar:  OK, who wouldn’t want a 345-horsepower station wagon that looks really cool?  Speak now or forever hold your peace.  While a mere 120 cars scheduled to come to the US over this summer isn’t a lot, it’s enough to make it a true collector car.  It’s a fast car, and Volvo has a rich history of deceptively fast station wagons.  It looks really cool with the big wheels, low-profile tires, blue paint, and it’s somewhat-bulbous styling.  Get one while you can, and enjoy it!  This is a car that’s meant to be driven, so drive the wheels off of it.
  • Saab 9-2X:  Why buy a re-badged Subaru WRX because GM said so?  Because it’s a more comfortable, tame early Subaru WRX.  For Saab faithful, it was too Subaru, even though it wasn’t nearly as blasphemous as the 9-7X “Trollbazer” which was just a Chevrolet Trailblazer with different wheels and badges.  For the rest of us automotive folks, it’s a more refined version of the spunky Subaru WRX.  Unlike the WRX, it doesn’t turn the wheels 90 degrees when you floor it.  Unlike other Saabs, you can get same-day service on it by simply going to a Subaru dealer.  It’s a far better car than the sales charts show.  Owners love it, and others snap them up.  They aren’t very big, and are more of a hatchback than a station wagon, but they are fun, reliable little cars that can really take a beating.  That’s something that most other Saabs can’t claim.
  • Morris Minor Traveller:  This cute little station wagon is based off of the popular Morris Minor.  Sir Alec Issigonis started his automotive success career with this car. The Morris Minor coupe and convertible debuted in 1948, and the Traveller station wagon followed suit in 1953.  It came to our shores through 1967. When other station wagons were ditching real wood for fiberglass and vinyl, the Traveller had real ash wood from the tailgate all the way to the B-pillars.  Not only does it look great, but it’s also the superstructure for the back half of the car.  That means you’ll have to sand and re-varnish periodically, but that’s going to be the extent of your automotive woes with this car.  Parts are cheap and easily sourced, and it’s an incredibly reliable car.  Not something you can say about most British cars.
  • Buick Roadmaster/Chevy Caprice:  Yes, they may have been the final gasp of GM’s RWD land barges, but who doesn’t want something that seats eight people, has a (slightly detuned) Corvette engine, and is gigantic?  These behemoths were the final iterations of the big American station wagons that so many Americans grew up in. They are still available and cheap for us to thrash around and haul kids around with.  You don’t need to do much to unlock the true potential of these engines – you just get the Corvette’s ECU, as the engines in these cars were the same as the Corvette’s LT1.
  • Cadillac CTS-V:  OK, most of us would LOVE to own a 556-horsepower station wagon that comes with a six-speed manual.  Look no further than the previous-generation Cadillac CTS-V wagon.  I know that this implies that there is another one coming, which we can only hope for, but this is probably the ultimate family burnout/drift/autocross/trackday/hoonmobile.  Period.  My friend Jonny Lieberman of Motor Trend had one as a long-term car for a year, and I’m still feeling the pangs of jealousy.  It has a detuned Corvette engine, but 556 horsepower is still plenty to rage through the quarter mile.  It would make the ultimate backup car for your local autocross/track day, and it would be a fun daily driver to boot.

I’m sure that many of my readers have some fun memories of being in station wagons as kids…let’s here them!

 

 

1991 Audi 200 Avant

 

1967 Ford Country SquireVolvo V60 PolestarSaab 9-2XMorris Minor Traveller1992 Buick Roadmaster WagonChevy Caprice WagonCadillac CTS-V Wagon Drifting

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Audi’s Allroad is Back and Hungry!

 

Just six years ago, any potential buyer for a family-friendly Audi station wagon could choose between the:  A4 Avant (wagon in German), A6 Avant, or the A6-based Allroad.  The Allroad was slightly higher than the A4 and A6 Avant’s, and was more fun to drive (but notoriously unreliable).

Determined NOT to let Volvo get out of sight, Audi has re-introduced the Allroad.  This time, it is based on the very reliable A4 platform.  Even though the A4 is a smaller car than the A6, the Allroad is actually a bit bigger than the older model.  It’s engine is much less powerful than the mighty 250 horsepower, 258 lb-ft of torque twin-turbo, 2.7-liter V6.  The 300 horsepower, 280 lb-ft of torque V8 is still much more powerful than the much more fuel-efficient 2.0 liter turbo four cylinder that pumps out 211 horsepower and 258 lb-ft of torque.

Also, the ride-height-adjustable air suspension isn’t available on the new model.  But, Audi has raised the A4-based Allroad 1.5 inches, compared with the normal A4 Avant.  Plus, it borrows the A5 coupe/convertible’s one-inch wider track, front and rear.  To keep the new Allroad competitive, Audi changed the tire size from a 245/40/18 to a 245/45/18.  You can still get the 245/40/18’s on optional 19-inch wheels.  Audi predicts most buyers will stick with the 245/45/18’s.  Audi has also changed the final driv ratio to compensate for the tall tires.

Even though those various mechanical bits are very exciting, Audi has to protect them.  So, stainless-steel skidplates come standard on the Allroad.  There’s also enough plastic cladding around both the bumpers to make a Tupperware jealous.  For those who don’t want to look like their car belongs to yet another Bear Grylls fan, Audi will paint all that plastic cladding body color for just $1,000 (it’s worth it to look rugged on the Allroad…)!

Inside the Allroad, the interior is pretty much the same as the outgoing A4.  But, some materials have been upgraded.  The electronics are state-of-the-art.  The MMI navigation and infotainment system can be had with a T-Mobile SIM card that wirelessly connects to Google Maps.  This will add $15 to $30 to your monthly payment, but the graphics and navigation are on par with the high-end private jets.  This little SIM card also allows for weather information, points of interest, and a few other features.  It’s well worth that extra money.

The Audi Allroad really doesn’t have much competition.  It’s only real competition is the Volvo XC70, which Motor Trend last tested way back in 2008.  The 235-horsepower, inline-six cylinder powered Volvo may look WAY cheaper on paper, but it doesn’t come with:  all-wheel-drive, navigation, leather interior, sunroof, and power seats (all of which are standard on the $40,900 Audi), you’ve added almost SEVEN THOUSAND dollars to the Volvo’s $33,825 base price.  Now, the Audi seems like a pretty good deal…

Even though the Allroad is bigger than the old model, it doesn’t feel like it inside.  Audi has always been in the top five for safety, and the Allroad is no exception.  All of its safety equipment seems to take away a lot of interior space.  While there isn’t much room in the back seat, you can go for a few hundred miles sitting on very comfortable seats, knowing that all the airbags in the back will protect you from death.  In comparison, the Volvo is bigger, being about five inches longer and wider.  But, the Volvo has about 350 pounds on the Audi (which isn’t a lightweight either).

At Motor Trend‘s test track, the whole test crew was impressed at how fast the chunky (ish) Audi is.  The Quattro all-wheel-drive system puts down all of those 258 lb-ft of torque with a lot of ease.  Since the Allroad is more focused towards touring, it doesn’t have the rear-wheel biased feel as the A4 Avant.  Instead, the center differential of the Quattro all-wheel-drive system has a 50/50% torque distribution.  Surprisingly, there is very little brake dive and body role in the Allroad.  The electro-mechanical steering may be a bit light feeling, but responds to a command almost instantly.  Michael Febbo of Motor Trend would like to see Audi Drive Select become an option on the Allroad someday.  Also, an Allroad S with the supercharged 3.0 liter V6 from the S4 would be nice.

But, the Allroad is still a pretty quick station wagon. 0-60 in 6.5 seconds may not seem like a lot, but it is for a station wagon.  The Volvo XC70 hits 60 in a leisurely 8.9 seconds. In the quarter mile, the chunky Swede falls far behind, with a run of 16.7 seconds at 87.9 miles per hour.  The Audi will do the quarter mile in 15 seconds flat at 92.4 miles per hour.  That’s pretty fast for a station wagon.

The Allroad will go just about 90% of the places a CUV (compact utility vehicle) will go.  That’s pretty good for a station wagon.  It also handles like a station wagon (still pretty fu n to drive), looks like a CUV, and is a good car.  Overall, the Allroad is a good car for a family of four who is outdoorsy and needs some four-wheel-drive capability, without having to sacrifice the fuel economy and sport touring gains of a station wagon.  I’d recommend it to almost anybody in the market for a $40,000 station wagon.  Also, it’s a good compromise for automotive journalists who will miss the two station wagons and one hatchback option.  As I said before, it’s a great car.  How about this as a replacement to the old family car?