V8. Manual. Wagon. A holy combination if there ever was one- which car objectively would be the best? I've heard many sing the praises of the Mercedes V8s, but the Volvo V8s were Yamaha-assisted mills like my 4A.
You mean manual...swapped? Otherwise I'm not aware of any Mercedes or Volvo v8 wagons from the factory that came with a manual.
In reply to Vigo (Forum Supporter) :
Volvo did not, but BMW has- one guy on the forums here had one of like, 20.
This is just... the place to ask.
m4ff3w
UberDork
9/8/20 9:40 a.m.
GIRTHQUAKE said:
In reply to Vigo (Forum Supporter) :
Volvo did not, but BMW has- one guy on the forums here had one of like, 20.
This is just... the place to ask.
There are more than a few that have been swapped, but I'm not aware of any factory V8 manual trans wagons from BMW in the US.
Duke
MegaDork
9/8/20 11:01 a.m.
fanfoy said:
Duke said:
Having ridden in my sister's Suburban many times - she's a Burban fanatic- there is no way a Suburban is hauling 6 kids unless the driver is alone and all 6 kids are just old enough to be out of booster seats but before the earliest onset of puberty.
LOL what?
My 01 Burb took 2 adults and 6 kids (ages 14, 13, 13, 11, 9 and 7) on a two weeks vacation in Florida in this past January. That was a 3200 miles round trip for us.
While we did need to bring the Thule cargo carrier for the lighter luggage, everyone was very comfortable for the entire trip. It tackled NYC twice on that trip, Washington and the Florida heat.
I don't know how people manage that. I'm not huge and I can barely fit in the 3rd row seat of my sister's Suburban. And getting in and out was comic. I'll grant you it's probably easier for kids but you must have angels if they tolerated sitting like they were packed into bleachers at Homecoming for 3200 miles.
In reply to Duke :
Does your sister have captain seats in the second row or does she have a bench seat?
In reply to m4ff3w :
Agreed, I’m pretty sure they were not made. If they were, there’s probably more swapped to MT than actually came from the factory that way.
Duke
MegaDork
9/8/20 2:22 p.m.
yupididit said:
In reply to Duke :
Does your sister have captain seats in the second row or does she have a bench seat?
I think she had a split bench second row? All I remember is that compared to our minivan, the Suburban was a dungeon in back.
Of course it had more power and could tow twice what my van could, but it really didn't seem that carrying a lot of people was really the Suburban's strong suit.
Duke said:
yupididit said:
In reply to Duke :
Does your sister have captain seats in the second row or does she have a bench seat?
I think she had a split bench second row? All I remember is that compared to our minivan, the Suburban was a dungeon in back.
Of course it had more power and could tow twice what my van could, but it really didn't seem that carrying a lot of people was really the Suburban's strong suit.
Hmm that's a weird conclusion to come up with. I've filled into an suburban with all adults and was comfortable. I think minivans only advantage to hauling people are the sliding side doors. Other than that 3rd row comfort seems about equal suburban vs many minivans.
D2W
Dork
9/8/20 2:39 p.m.
Nobody has said CTS V Wagon?
I would go Merc. The R500 is kind of a unicorn. I think it was the First year only of the R series. Then they all were R350's with the V6 that has the cam gear issues. The R500 I believe is the the older "better" V8 not the later one that had timing gear issues.
Im pretty sure r500s were available multiple years but yes it is the older more reliable (also plain, unexceptional) v8. The later ones with the timing issues never made it into the R here, although the r550 was sold overseas. Every R with the updated front end is a v6.
Also Suburbans and basically all other SUVs and especially all body on frame suvs with stick axles have a way shorter interior height than Minivans which usually means either headroom, legroom or both is compromised in the 3rd row. Having to leave most of a foot of empty space over a solid rear axle with a big differential housing in the middle is just.. dumb in a 3 row, but that's how it was done for a long time with SUVs.