Once upon a time station wagons were must-have family vehicles. Cars like the Vista Cruiser and Buick Estate were parked with pride in driveways across the nation. They epitomized family road trips as much as financial success.
Owning a station wagon was a status symbol of a life well-lived, even if behind closed doors they offered private chambers for yelling at kids and fighting over who got the “way back” seats.
As Americans settled into the 1990s, they discovered that the 4-wheel-drive capability and commanding view of sport utility vehicles made station wagons obsolete. The wagon was almost instantly forgotten.
Automakers have attempted to resurrect the wagon over the last couple of decades with limited success. Today, Buick and Jaguar are hoping their latest iterations of the wagon hit the sweet spot with American car buyers. Just don’t expect to them to be called station wagons.
The Buick Regal TourX is an honest-to-goodness station wagon and, in my humble opinion, is one of the best looking wagons I’ve seen in a long time.
The TourX has up to 73.5 cubic feet of cargo space behind the front seats. A turbocharged 2.0-liter 4-cylinder powers the all-wheel drive wagon and makes 295 lb-ft of torque. The TourX will also get an eight-speed automatic transmission.
Jaguar has also teased a wagon called the XF Sportbrake, which will officially be released in the United States.
Autoweek said,
Jaguar design boss Ian Callum promises the Sportbrake will add practicality to the XF range without sacrificing the “dynamic design and agile handling our customers expect.”
We assume the U.S. Sportbrake will look strikingly similar to the European XFR-S Sportbrake that debuted in Geneva back in 2014. If that’s the case, we can be reasonably assured that spaciousness has never looked so good.
The Jaguar XF Sportbrake will be available in U.S. dealerships this summer.
Could there be a station wagon in your future?
-tgriffith
Find Certified Pre-Owned Cars and Used Cars in your area at CarGurus.
So, they tried their best to take out the word,” STATION ” You know what ? A wagon will always be considered a STATION WAGON, sorry!! They are not hip cool cars for young folks to take a ride in , but it is perfect for soccer moms and senior citizens. Wether you like it or not, a “wagon ” will always be a ” station wagon” … Nothing beats an old station wagon. Seniors LOVE Station wagons !!!! ….and soccer moms!! Yay!!