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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

zoomvroom Car Reviews, New car info

The Family’s New Car – What Will it Be?

So many people have been driving their old cars.  The economy, ya know.  Well, the old cars need CPR (or most likely, a quick and painless retirement).  I decided to research options.  So here you are, a comparison, and contrast, of  the:  Toyota Prius Plug-In, the Toyota Camry Hybrid, and the Chevrolet Volt.  I thought that this topic would interest you, so this post is going to be a bit longer than usual.

Toyota Prius Plug In:  The Toyota Prius plug-in is virtually indistinguishable from a normal Prius.  The only way one can tell the Prius Plug-In apart from a regular Prius are the silver paint on the mirrors, door handles, and tailgate, the car looks the same.  Of course, the blue-and-white PLUG-IN HYBRID stickers help.  There is also a cutout in the left fender that houses the outlet for the charging cord.  In terms of the inside, there are only a few PLUG-IN HYBRID stickers and logos.  The cargo floor is also a couple of inches higher, due to the larger battery pack.  From the driver’s seat, the car is virtually the same as a regular Prius.  The only differences are the fact that the battery pack is much heavier (it is made out of lithium-ion).  The car will take a tortoise-like 11.3 seconds to reach 60.  In three hours (from a 110-volt current), the car will be completely charged.  However, if you have a 220-volt current, you will be on your way in an hour and a half.  If you drive like a senior, you can get 13 miles of range before the car starts the normal hybrid cycle of a Toyota Prius.  If you drive faster, the range will subsequently go down.  Quickly.  You can go up to 62 in full electric mode, but that will drain the battery within minutes.  Accelerating to freeway speed or going up a hill will bring a moan that sounds like Leo when he’s tired from the engine.  Car & Driver gingerly drove the car in the city and were sustained by pure electric power 39% of the time, and got an average of 56 mpg neatly displayed on the navigation screen.  However, there are limited dealers that are authorized to sell the Prius Plug-In, so be sure to contact dealers near you.  The Toyota Prius Plug-In that I configured on the Toyota website came into a grand total of $33,208 (including an $850 destination charge/shipping tax).

Toyota Camry Hybrid:  The Toyota Camry Hybrid has crisper handling than the basic Camry.  The Camry Hybrid has a larger trunk than the previous generation (a gain of 2.5 cubic inches to 13.1 cubic inches) and the right side of the rear seat is now the only side that can accommodate long objects.  Passenger space has increased to 102.7 inches from 101.4 inches.  Toyota has trimmed about 220 pounds from the previous Camry Hybrid, thanks to the use of high-strength steel.  The low-rolling-resistance tires and a slicker drag coefficient of 0.27 makes the Camry Hybrid more fuel-efficient and faster.  The three “optitron” dials in the car’s multi-information display show:  mileage, range, and very important energy flow.  In uplevel XLE models, a leather interior and an infotainment system will run you $1160.  The eco setting accessed through the multi-information display will significantly inhibit throttle openings and will lower the air-conditioning power consumption to a dull roar.  When in pure electric mode, one can travel 1.6 miles below 25 mph.  While the Camry Hybrid won’t win a drag race against a Mustang, it will win a drag race against the basic Camry.  The Camry Hybrid rockets to 60 mph in a monumental 7.3 seconds!  The Camry Hybrid will brake shorter and sooner than the previous generation Camry Hybrid.  Stops have been measured at 178 feet, compared to the older Camry Hybrid’s 200.  Also, the new electric braking system is so smooth that you won’t feel queasy, even if you stomp on the brake pedal.  There is not enough lateral support in the front seats during hard cornering.  There is more rear-seat room, thanks to the car’s redesign and the center console and front seatbacks being redesigned.  This is especially better for the passenger in the center seat.  The Camry Hybrid LE that I configured on the Toyota website came into a grand total of $27,033.  That includes the $850 destination charge/shipping tax, which puts the car on par with the Chevrolet Volt (in terms of pricing).

Chevrolet Volt:  Changes in the battery pack in the Chevrolet Volt have made the car’s range go up to 38 miles in pure electric mode.  The EPA fuel economy for the car has gone up to 98 mpg.  The larger battery pack means that the charging time from a 120-volt current will snap up 10.5 hours of charging time.  With a 240-volt current, that time is dramatically reduced to 4.25 hours.  Any Chevrolet Volt sold in California will automatically come with a low-emissions package that will make it legal to drive in the carpool lane with only one person.  For many owners, work is just within reach of the electric range, so they can charge the car at work and come home without ever turning on the gas generator engine.  When owners DO use the gas generator engine, the cost is usually less than $100 a month.  This is mainly because of the massive amounts of technology stored in the Volt.  The regenerative braking system can eke about 8 more miles of range into the car.  The car will give owners neck-snapping performance in sport mode, and very little acceleration in eco mode.  The Volt that I configured on the Chevrolet website was $42,720, but of you add in the $10,000 discount on the Volt, the Volt will run you a mere $22,720.  Add in the $7,500 tax rebate and the Volt will run you $25,220.

The Kia Optima Hybrid is a hybrid family sedan that competes (ish) with the Camry Hybrid.  It has a lot of bang for the buck, but it has surprisingly bad fuel economy for something with a hybrid logo.  The Optima Hybrid is stylish, fun to drive, relatively fast, and did I mention that it will cause traffic jams because of its looks?  It only costs a mere $26,000 base price!

Here’s where the fun begins!  Comparing and contrasting the three cars won’t be easy.  I never thought it would be.  The Prius won’t win a beauty contest.  That goes to the Volt.  In terms of range, the Volt wins again.  In terms of being family-friendly, hats off to the Camry Hybrid.  In terms of technology, the Prius Plug-In and the Volt are tied.  The Volt wins the performance criteria.  In terms of utility, the Prius Plug-In wins again.  In terms of pricing, the Volt is REALLY trying to end up in your driveway.  The Camry Hybrid is REALLY good at making it into your driveway.  The Prius Plug-In has the potential to sell as well as the conventional Prius.  Which car would I recommend to my parents, or their friends?  I would recommend the Volt to them, as it is the most efficient, fun to drive, and has a good deal of storage space.  Plus, it wins the beauty contest (in my eyes).  It also comes with leather at no added cost, an HOV sticker, and a REALLY cool sound system.  Oh, and did I mention that it was the 2011 Motor Trend Car of the Year!.  My second choice?  The Camry Hybrid.  In years to come, the Camry Hybrid will be easy to find parts for, and it should last us a very long time.  Plus, it’s still family-friendly and it’s a winning formula that’s been proven many times over.  It’s also got crisp handling (a much-needed improvement for Toyota), and it has over 600 miles of range.  Why wouldn’t I recommend the Prius Plug-In to them?  Well, it’s not as fun to drive (important), it looks like it came out of Star Trek, and only certain dealers can service it.  That’s a BIG, BIG problem.  The Optima Hybrid lags behind the others in everything but looks.