Oh, station wagons! Oh estates! Oh tourings! How do I love thee! What's the matter with me, you ask? Nothing, I answer. How old am I, you ask? 33, I answer. Then, “What gives?” you follow up with. Well, I consider myself a member of the final age group that grew up with a bonified, glorified station wagon as a family car, not a frightful minivan; eeeewwww!
Some of my earliest recollections were sitting in the back seat of the family 1979 Ford Fairmount Wagon, hauling a 2,000-lb tent-trailer heading towards the beach in South Jersey. Good times! The first car I ever legally drove was a 1988 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser (first illegally was a 1981 Buick Century wagon). T'was no better ship for carrying you and eight of your closest friends to a “friendly” GTG.
Although I owned a slew of coupes and sedans, after I got married, it was only logical for me to purchase a wagon. My wife and I shopped around but I knew what I wanted: AWD, turbo, heated seats and a little class. I wanted the Passat 1.8T 4MOTION that we found, but the pricing was off and I was weary, so we found our Volvo XC70 and we've loved it ever since.
Volks-Wagons
Now there's a clever subtitle... Volkswagen has long participated in the estate/touring category. Although not quite a wagon, the Volkswagen Type 2, aka the Bus, was one of the original people movers as far back as 1950. Some 25 years later, the first Passat/Dasher wagon made its way to our market and the rest, as they say, is history.
The present B6 generation Passat wagon was launched for the 2007 model year. As sleek as ever, the Passat is a fully mature, executive mid-level car. From the outside, its elegant lines distinguish it from its limited competition such as the Subaru Outback (the Legacy wagon is no more) and, well, that's it for affordable pure wagons in this class. What a shame...
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Some of my earliest recollections were sitting in the back seat of the family 1979 Ford Fairmount Wagon, hauling a 2,000-lb tent-trailer heading towards the beach in South Jersey. Good times! The first car I ever legally drove was a 1988 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser (first illegally was a 1981 Buick Century wagon). T'was no better ship for carrying you and eight of your closest friends to a “friendly” GTG.
Although I owned a slew of coupes and sedans, after I got married, it was only logical for me to purchase a wagon. My wife and I shopped around but I knew what I wanted: AWD, turbo, heated seats and a little class. I wanted the Passat 1.8T 4MOTION that we found, but the pricing was off and I was weary, so we found our Volvo XC70 and we've loved it ever since.
Volks-Wagons
Now there's a clever subtitle... Volkswagen has long participated in the estate/touring category. Although not quite a wagon, the Volkswagen Type 2, aka the Bus, was one of the original people movers as far back as 1950. Some 25 years later, the first Passat/Dasher wagon made its way to our market and the rest, as they say, is history.
The present B6 generation Passat wagon was launched for the 2007 model year. As sleek as ever, the Passat is a fully mature, executive mid-level car. From the outside, its elegant lines distinguish it from its limited competition such as the Subaru Outback (the Legacy wagon is no more) and, well, that's it for affordable pure wagons in this class. What a shame...
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