Prediction: Station wagons are going to be cool again

Obviously, there's a lot of wagon-love on this forum but as we all know the general car-buying public doesn't buy them.

But... I say that changes in the near future. First the people whose parents drove station wagons bought minivans, then the people whose parents had minivans bought suvs and crossovers because minivans were their parents' ride of choice and therefore boring and uncool. So now that Explorers and XC90s are the stereotypical mommy-mobile it makes sense that SUVs are the next thing to fall victim to being "uncool."

If we follow the model of the music business, what's hot follows a circular cycle. Everything eventually comes back around. So... when the SUVs aren't cool anymore then what will the hip parents be using to drop their kids off at school?

Nowhere to go but back around to the wagon. I'd like to think there are signs of this already. The cool kids have already embraced the wagon. The drifting crowd has been swapping V8s into Volvo wagons, Cadillac built the CTS-V and Hennessy showed off the Vette Aerowagon. In marketing terms, these are the "early adopters."

Now it's becoming a mainstream thing. At the Detroit auto show the VW display featured the Golf Sportwagen in a prominent spot. I liked that car.

That's all. I'm probably wrong but I don't have anything else to think about as I monitor study hall.

I like wagons

So, wait... when did they stop being cool?

I dunno. Most of America still thinks that diesel cars are the same as they were in 1981.

People who think wagons are lame are the reason we can't have nice things. I considered a Honda for the first time in 20 years with the tsx wagon.

Two days ago, we were putting my 4 yo grandson's scooter in the back of my Focus wagon and he says: "Hey, our cars have the trunk outside the car but this one has the trunk inside. That's cool."

Me: "It's a station wagon."

"Oh, so THIS is a station wagon."

Kia is on to something. Please bring it here: http://www.autoblog.com/2015/02/17/kia-sportspace-concept-geneva-official/

mndsm wrote: People who think wagons are lame are the reason we can't have nice things. I considered a Honda for the first time in 20 years with the tsx wagon.

...and they sold three of them?

I'm bummed there was never a Civic wagon stateside. I guess that's what the Fit is now.

Fletch1 wrote: Kia is on to something. Please bring it here: http://www.autoblog.com/2015/02/17/kia-sportspace-concept-geneva-official/

Uhhhhhhhhhh yes please

I actually didnt start really liking wagons until about a year ago...you may be on to something here.

gamby wrote:

mndsm wrote: People who think wagons are lame are the reason we can't have nice things. I considered a Honda for the first time in 20 years with the tsx wagon.

...and they sold three of them? I'm bummed there was never a Civic wagon stateside. I guess that's what the Fit is now.

Not sure what you meant, but there used to be Civic wagons. I spent a good bit of time riding around in one back in high school. Looked a bit like this one.

Fletch1 wrote: Kia is on to something. Please bring it here: http://www.autoblog.com/2015/02/17/kia-sportspace-concept-geneva-official/

We need this here.

My first car was a Civic CVCC wagon. Had some great times in that tiny tin can. The new generation of wagons promises to be nothing like the one I used to drive.

The Kia concept looks good to me. I like it.

In reply to nderwater:

Boy, that looks really good. VERY upmarket.

Funny, I was just talking to a friend saying my ideal car would be a Volvo Amazon wagon or 80s Mercedes wagon, with the reliability of a toyota and the grunt of a diesel.

Oh hell yes.

I want a Kia. There. I said it.

On a scale of 2-3, how many tons will that Kia weigh?

I like it, but I want small wagons to make a comeback.

You're only slightly wrong and it's too late to make this prediction anyway

Wagons won't be cool anytime soon because vehicles with a long, slender shape are deeply uncool (for reasons I don't understand) unless they're expensive status symbols.

So stubby "cute" CUVs are the future. They're just wagons that traded some length for some height.

I had a kid who worked at the local car wash tell me my Saab Sportcombi was cool. The times, they are a changin'. Looks to be for the better this time amazingly.

The wife's WRX wagon gets quite a few compliments.

DILYSI Dave wrote: Oh hell yes. I want a Kia. There. I said it.

I'm with you Dave--- that's a damn sexy wagon. It may be just me.....but it looks like Kia took design cues from the Ferrari FF. The Optima is a nice driving machine too--- this thing has promise.

I would rock that Kia. The rear does remind me of the FF.

The New V60 is pretty good looking. I just don't like the 90's buick vanilla taste that the chassis leaves me with.

I'm a fan of wagons. (One of my earliest cars was a well-used '62 Chevy II wagon which was an early version of a Nova, which I owned for a short while in '68. Mine had the Stovebolt Six, but it would have been better with a small block V8).

The Sonata wagon is also beautifully styled, but we don't get that one here either. It was introduced 2-3 years ago, and I saw one on the street in Rouen, France in 2013. I was blown away.

Also, how about the latest Focus wagon? Another great looker that isn't sold here anymore.