Re:Bring back the station wagon
by classichasclass on Tuesday June 01, 2021 @04:12PM
(#27360625)
We had a Ford LTD Country Squire as a kid with the full V8. It could have survived Hiroshima (it did survive hitting a deer near Lake Tahoe) and idled at 25mph without breaking a sweat. Learning to drive on a tank like that was an experience. My folks bought it with the new fangled centre dash vehicle information system that never showed more than 10mpg at any given time. It seated the entire family and then some with the rear seats up, which always made me motion sick because they faced backwards. It towed and carried anything. And hey, it was the Reagan years. Gas was cheap.
There is no wagon or indeed crossover anymore like those antediluvian beasts.
I've been low-key searching for a country squire for a couple years now. If it's not in good condition, I'll put in a 3.5 Ecoboost, fully modern suspension, and a trailer hitch. Just a perfect vehicle.
"Sans some stylistic differences, they are functionally the same thing."
You can't raise the whole vehicle several inches (although crossovers have weirdly low ground clearance) without affecting the handling. Modern wagons corner like modern cars, not like minivans.
Re:Bring back the station wagon
by throwaway0a5e on Tuesday June 01, 2021 @10:38PM
(#27364153)
Still corners better than any "true station wagon" from years past.
Modern vehicles of similar weight to an old wagon have better suspension components, wider wheels and tires, and most importantly better tires. A modern refresh will have an old wagon cornering just as well, if not better than a "crossover".
The modern crossover/compact SUV trend is worthy of nothing kinder than active contempt.
Even something like an Odyssey or a Civic is about five or six inches taller than they was in the 90s. If Chevy added six inches of height to a Buick Roadmaster, they'd end up with a vehicle as tall as a Chevy Blazer (a crossover), but over two feet (!!!!) longer!!!
Which brings me to another point people seem to forget about classic station wagons: they were fucking massive. A Buick Roadmaster could haul kids, furniture, Labradors, and ass because it was roughly the foot print of a modern Escalade. Not everyone wants to drive around a 18 foot beast of a vehicle, so station wagons became smaller and we called them crossovers.
So yeah, a modern Rav4 is going to feel smaller than a Grampa's Olds Cruiser, because it is a lot smaller.