Something for the Wagon Lovers
So you need to haul innumerable numbers of people, cargo, or that shoe shaped cake you just spent 10 hours cobbling together. However, you’re not quite ready to hand over half that annual cake baking salary to OPEC or sacrifice what remaining years of youth you’ve got left to a Minivan. Have no fear, a modern sport-wagon may be just what the Cake Boss ordered.
Todays wagons ain’t your grand-dad’s Country Squire anymore. In fact, some of the best wagons out there just happen to be spin offs of the best sports sedans (hence the modern sport wagon moniker), and for the most part bring with them all of the fantastic attributes of those vehicles with that healthy dose of cargo room typically associated with fuel sucking SUVs. Better yet, low mileage pre-owned examples can be had for less than your average four door econobox. But just how do you find these rare automotive gems?
AOL Autos has put together one of the best used wagon round-ups I’ve seen in a long time. It’s a basic slide show containing the best of the Japanese and European choices and even one domestic. Personally, my choice would by far be the one pictured above. The BMW 3 Series, and particularly the E46, is already known the world over as perhaps one of the finest vehicle chassis ever produced for daily commuting. Thus, it stands to reason the long-standing wagon variant should be nearly as good. Available in both RWD and AWD (Xi) versions (but unfortunately only with the smaller 2.5L inline engine), it will give you an uncompromised and rewarding driving experience, along with most of the modern gadgets and creature comforts you could possibly want and expect from a BMW. These are also very stout and reliable BMWs that will provide years of trouble free service so long as you keep up with minimal maintenance.
Click through to check out AOL Autos’ under 15k used wagon roundup!
I do like the E46, though not sure I would do a wagon.
Here in Japan, the Subaru Legacy wagon and the Nissan Stagea are pretty popular. The Subarus are all AWD and the Nissans can be found in RWD and AWD.
Both offer naturally aspirated and turbo (single/twin) variants, the latter having an option for the GT-R’s RB26DETT and ATESSA E-TS AWD drivetrain.