I have an affinity for high-performance wagons, having learned to drive using my parents’ 1969 Ford Country Squire LTD station wagon, with a 7.0-liter, 429 cubic inch V8. It was big and fast—although I can honestly claim, unlike my older brother, that I never hooked any corners in it or performed a 180. Boys will be boys.
Years ago when working at Motor Trend, I tested a Volvo T-5R wagon with a turbocharged inline five. It rolled on 40 series tires and had black suede-like seats. With my brand new baby in the back, I thought it was the coolest car for a hot rod mommy. Before that I’d fallen in love with an Audi S4 quattro wagon. It wasn’t smog-certified for sale in California, but Audi was nice enough to share it with the staff at MT, and I was lucky enough to drive it to Santa Barbara and back on a nice weekend.
What could be more perfect than a high-performance, low profile luxury wagon that hauls mass without blocking the road-view of the driver behind you? Assuming they can keep up, and it even matters, it’s quite fun not to have to give up your performance driving tendencies and your trips to the garden center. There are some things a tall SUV will just not satisfy.
Coming soon is Cadillac’s completely new CTS Sport Wagon. It doesn’t take much to imagine the wonderful attributes of the current 3.6-liter, direct-injected, 304-horsepower award-winning CTS sedan—but with room for Rastro in the rear. On the outside, the wagon is about the same size as the sedan, yet has nearly twice the cargo-carrying capacity on the inside. Also available with a 270-hp, 3.0-liter six, the 3.6-liter setup has an 11.3:1 compression ratio and a near-even 51/49 front/rear weight distribution. The 2010 CTS Sport Wagon is expected to be on sale later this summer. A few more of my favorite fast luxury wagons can be found in our 2009 New Car Buyer’s Guide—the Audi A4 Avant, BMW 328i Sports Wagon, Mercedes-Benz E350 Wagon, Saab 9-3 Sport Combi, and Volvo V70R Wagon.
~Deborah Neal, Editorial Director, autoMedia.com