Why Does America Hate Wagons?

[DoubleWasp]

Forget the rest of America. Pry this out of my cold, dead hands:



Rides better than any car I own, Seats 9, and MUCH easier to put my kayaks, surfboards, and bikes on. Never need to use a ladder, can see everything I am doing, and do it by myself.

With 3.73's, Posi, and the LT1 V8, she puts the scoot on quick.

Towing? 7000 lbs. Beats most of the "utility" vehicles sold today.

 

[aquariuscsm]

Originally Posted By: DoubleWasp
Forget the rest of America. Pry this out of my cold, dead hands:



Rides better than any car I own, Seats 9, and MUCH easier to put my kayaks, surfboards, and bikes on. Never need to use a ladder, can see everything I am doing, and do it by myself.

With 3.73's, Posi, and the LT1 V8, she puts the scoot on quick.

Towing? 7000 lbs. Beats most of the "utility" vehicles sold today.


That is NICE!!

 

[fdcg27]

Love it!!
So much personality as compared to some generic SUV.
I envy your ownership of this gem, while I typically shake my head at SUV owners.

 

[spasm3]

Originally Posted By: DoubleWasp
Forget the rest of America. Pry this out of my cold, dead hands:



Rides better than any car I own, Seats 9, and MUCH easier to put my kayaks, surfboards, and bikes on. Never need to use a ladder, can see everything I am doing, and do it by myself.

With 3.73's, Posi, and the LT1 V8, she puts the scoot on quick.

Towing? 7000 lbs. Beats most of the "utility" vehicles sold today.


Nice, those are the wagons i was talking about earlier.

 

[artificialist]

Mom associated station wagons with her parents, and she said many people in her generation felt the same way.

Back in January of 1985, Mom got a Maxima sedan. The dealer pushed for her to buy a wagon that was in stock, but she wanted a sedan and was willing to wait for the next shipment.

When the Maxima was redesigned in 1989, the USA no longer got a station wagon. I did hear that in some countries outside the USA, there was a station wagon made after 1988.

I like a liftback car with 4 doors, such as my Lancer Ralliart Sportback. As cars got more aerodynamic and compact, the opening to the trunk became smaller, and it was the only thing I didn't like about my MKIV Jetta. SAAB made cars this way years ahead of many other car companies.

When Dodge introduced the Magnum, I thought almost nobody would buy it. It actually sold well for a few years, but then people got bored of the styling of it.

 

[Silk]

My next door neighbour has one of these, same colour. It's a Nissan Stagea...a Skyline staion wagon, same size as my 850 Volvo. His is AWD.

 

[HM12460]

I like wagon's. The Caprice above is a very nice car. Have owned 3 wagon's myself. A 1972 Ford LTD wagon, 1987 Buick Century wagon, and a 1993 Escort wagon. The LTD was nothing more than a party-mobile when I was a youngster. Some of the things I did in that car with a few girls is enough to make an old man wish for his younger days. My next vehicle will likely be a SUV. Wagon's from the 60's and 70's in nice condition fetch a pretty good price on e-bay, especially the GM models.

 

[aquariuscsm]

Originally Posted By: Silk
My next door neighbour has one of these, same colour. It's a Nissan Stagea...a Skyline staion wagon, same size as my 850 Volvo. His is AWD.

That's a good looking wagon! I'm with the wagon crowd too,there's just something about them. They always look great!

 

[Cubey]

Most consumers have been brainwashed into thinking they need something more than than they'll actually ever need.

"Why buy something smaller when you could buy something bigger?"

It's a form of "keeping up with the Jones's" . Your neighbor has a station wagon? You need an SUV. They now have a bigger SUV than you? You need one even bigger.

I'm not saying they aren't practical for people who live down dirt roads or regularly need to drive off road for one reason or another, but for 90% of SUV drivers, especially since most are 2WD, it's all about appearances.

 

[Cubey]

Oh, and I was slightly considering a mid 90s Buick Roadmaster wagon, but I went with a Pontiac Vibe for much better MPG since I didn't really need a full size wagon. The Vibe is just big enough for my wants and needs.

Thanks to the weird front passenger seat that doubles over into a table, I can stretch out and sleep in the back of the Vibe when on long trips. No need for a much longer vehicle.

If I needed to tow very often and/or had a big family to haul around, the Roadmaster would have been better thanks to it's big V8 and 5k towing capacity. But it's just me and if I ever need to move anything bigger than the car, I can still tow a 4x7 uhaul trailer. (Once I get a hitch in the coming months sometime, anyway.)

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: Jarlaxle
I'm not sure ANY new cars will accommodate three booster seats in the back! (Though I think a Crown Vic would.)

Another issue: many cars built in the last ~15 years have low rooflines. The result is that tall people are CROWDED. I work with a guy that is very tall...he simply doesn't FIT in most cars! (Even his son's 300 is a tight fit.)


There are front facing seats that can go 3 in a row, in some of the new cars.

I'm pretty sure you can't put 3 car seats in a row in a civic or corolla.

 

[Vikas]

Visited Munich recently; way more than half of the cars were wagons/hatchback; very few sedans in that city. I suspect it is same in most of the Europe.