Opinion: Station Wagons Are Better Than SUVs

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Estates, station wagons, I’ve heard people call them plenty of things. But there’s one thing I won’t be swayed about. They’re miles better than SUVs at most things. There’s many advantages that wagons hold over the head of SUVs. One notable one is fuel economy. More often than not, having less car to move is going to mean you can move that car with less gas. One exception to this is my absolute gas guzzler of an Audi wagon (pictured above), but that’s besides the point. This also means you’re more environmentally friendly, if that’s something of concern to you.

My favorite upside of wagons over SUVs is the driving dynamics. Your typical SUV has a turning radius larger than the state of Connecticut, whereas with a wagon it’s just as good as the car it’s based on. You can really feel the difference that a lower center of gravity makes when driving a wagon. Driving a Chevy Tahoe, on the other hand, makes me half expect the speedometer to be in Knots. The handling is dramatically better in a wagon than an SUV, and so if you plan on having any fun while driving your car, most SUVs would be lousy choices when Estates exist. With handling like that, they must sacrifice some practicality, right? WRONG. Typical wagons have more than enough cargo space. Isn’t it Ironic that SUV stands for “Sports Utility Vehicle” when the station wagon has just as much utility and is far sportier. They got the vehicles part right, at least.

“But it snows where I live! I need an SUV!” Chances are that a wagon could get you through that just fine. If it’s really bad, an off-road dedicated wagon, like a Subaru Outback, Audi Allroad, or even a personal favorite of mine, the AMC Eagle, would likely fare just as well as most of the pavement princess jacked up “Offroad package” SUVs. Plenty of wagons can come with all-wheel drive as well, including Audi’s QUattro system, which I am quite partial to. Unless you’re living, say, in someplace like the boondocks of Maine, on an neglected and unplowed dirt road, a wagon will likely suffice. I mean, it snowed before SUVs were a thing, and people still got to work just fine.

Despite the obvious upsides and seemingly large lack of downsides, station wagons are a dying breed. There used to be a station wagon version of almost every car, and now there’s only a handful left on the market in the United States. Part of this is fueled by the cultural shift away from small cars. The truth is that today’s subcompacts are the size of midsize cars from years past, and the Station wagon is a victim of this. One potential upside of the electric car movement could *potentially* be the return to smaller cars, and subsequently the rebirth of the station wagon. Or at least that’s what I’m hoping, even though it’s likely unrealistic. I guess for now we’re stuck with the uglier, vertically stretched versions.

-Max Daigle