Space, comfort, and coolness part II

The best station wagons from around the world and the pages of history that we didn’t have space for, last week.
Instead of an honorable mentions, these cool wagons get a full page. Enjoy.

Station wagons are often misunderstood for uncool family workhorses filled with diapers and dog hairs. Sometimes they’re the ride of choice for mass murdering psychopaths. But like we said last week, some are undeniably cool. Here’s the list of some of the coolest that we missed out on.

CULT CLASSICS

Citroen DS

Often heralded as the finest French car ever made, and one of the most beautiful designs out there, the Citroen DS was a technological marvel of its time, featuring hydro pneumatic self-levelling suspension and lightweight materials for superior handling. The wagon version still looked pretty at the front and was an innovatively packaged car with acres of space inside, but it lost the swan shape of the sedan. Even then, its undoubtedly one of the coolest wagons ever made.

Aston DB5 Shooting Brake

Commissioned by ex-Aston Martin boss David Brown, the Aston DB5 seen here isn’t really a wagon, but an immensely beautiful shooting brake. With the Aston boss happy at the results, a further twelve were hand made for distinguished customers for a massive premium. Englishmen will be Englishmen, and Englishmen will hunt. The reason for David Brown commissioning such a DB5 is rumoured to be the need for fitting in hunting dogs and rifles. Is it worth ruining the structural integrity of a brilliant GT to fit in hunting gear? Well, if it gives us one of the best looking shooting brakes ever made, why not?

Japanese Rockets

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution wagon

The first ever wagon version of the Lancer Evolution was launched with the 9th gen Evo IX. A ballistic missile in sedan form, the wagon looked unassuming, but had the same blistering rally bred performance that defined the Evolution, generation after generation, the 286 bhp 4G63 engine making it as fast as some supercars. The performance of the Evolution with the practicality of a big boot, and the sleeper looks of a wagon. What’s not to love?

Subaru Impreza wagon

We can still see the smug grin on Richard Hammond’s face as he piloted the Subaru Impreza wagon to the source of the River Nile on Top Gear’s Africa special. He was pretty sure of himself and the Impreza’s off road abilities, and the all-time all-wheel drive rally rocket with its turbocharged boxer engine is certainly more than capable. Its also a tuner favourite, Australians tuning them to an inch of their lives for wild Outback adventures. The WRX carries world rally championship credentials, so you wouldn’t expect anything less.

Toyota Mark II Blit

Looks like a hearse, goes fast enough to put you in a casket, especially when equipped with the 2.5 litre 1JZGTE straight six turbocharged engine from the Toyota Supra. The Mark II Blit is a pretty rare sight on our roads, but we do have a few, their magnificent lengths navigating through our rickshaw laden roads. It cant be easy to drive, but it looks cool and if you got the right engine, terribly fast too.

Toyota Sprinter Carib GT

Another cut-price performance wagon from the masters of cut-price performance. Equipped with the venerable Silvertop (EE90) and Blacktop (AE110/111) 4AGE engines, the Carib GT looks unassuming and to be honest, not really all that capable of delivering on the performance side. While the added weight of the wagon body take away a little of the edge from the 4AGE engine’s performance, these are still extremely capable in terms of speed. Handling, not so much, but then how much do you expect from a front drive, heavy station wagon?

New and Hot

Volvo V60 Polestar

3.0 litre inline six-cylinder turbocharged engine, AWD, muscular looks, Volvo reliability and overcompensating safety features. The V60 Polestar isn’t properly out yet, and its already made a big hit on the automotive world. The wagon illustrates the new image that Volvo is carving out for itself, providing fascinating, refreshing replacements to the traditional executive market of BMWs, Mercs and Audis. Based on their track record of making fast and cool wagons (our previous list had two of them), the Polestar is probably going to be really good.

Jaguar XF Sportwagon

The XF brought back Jaguar’s coolness amongst the youth, and moved it from the sixty-something-Englishman-driving-Jaaaaaags-for-old-times-sake part of the market to the cool, suave executive in his 30′s wanting a car segment. The XF sportwagon aims to please the family man executive, and we think it looks absolutely spectacular. Ian Callum certainly knows how to design a car, and Jag engineers know how to make the car handle and go really fast when necessary.

Cadillac CTS-V Sport wagon

Quite possibly the only cool Cadillac in the current lineup, the CTS-V has performance, looks and equipment to take the fight to its European rivals with ease. The Sport wagon isn’t a full size wagon, more like a lifestyle performance wagon for adrenaline fueled road trips. The 556 HP V8 engine promises to be loud and thirsty, the true American way.

Mercedes CLS wagon

Some say the CLS looks like a banana with wheels, others called the old one a master-class in designing an all new niche in an overcrowded automotive niche. The original CLS kickstarted the whole four door coupe movement (Audi, BMW, VW, Volvo, everyone rushed back to the design boards), and with the new CLS wagon, they’ve created the four door wagon coupe. How the other manufacturers react to it will show whether it’s a success or not. Blistering performance with the AMG fettled versions are obvious.

Shooting Brake Heaven

Ferrari FF

The first ever four wheel drive in a Ferrari, and that too with a front engine shooting brake body? Almost everyone called it a blasphemy and a mistake, not to mention a waste of a 6.3 L V12. But then a 208 mph top speed and just a 3.7 second 0-62 mph time is absolutely nothing to scoff at. It looked cool and funky and modern, and a niche Ferrari is still a Ferrari. It definitely deserves a spot here.

Chevrolet Corvette Callaway Aerowagon

The new Corvette Sting Ray is a hit or miss for everyone. Either you like it and think the looks will grow on you, or you think it’s a cut and paste design of every single car out there, with a honking big V8 engine up front. Either way, we think almost anyone would be excited by a Vette shooting brake. Still a concept study by Vette tuning specialists Callaway, the Vette Aerowagon looks sleek, and we’d definitely want to see it in even a limited run production.

BMW Z3 coupe

Its not really pretty and its not particularly very fast, but the Z3 coupe has quite a few things going for it. First off it was an after hours project by BMW engineers that somehow made it to full scale production, so it has that “enthusiast built” feel in its favour. Second, the 3.2 litre straight six engine is a legend in engine lore, delivering astounding power figures of 325 hp and 261 lb ft of torque, delivering almost 100 hp per litre. Third, a convertible version of the Z3 was used by Pierce Brosnan as James Bond in GoldenEye. What else do you need?

Bentley Continental Flying Star

For long the reserve of Hollywood celebrities and their non-furry dogs (read: Paris 

Hilton, who has a pink one), the

Bentley Continental is a seriously capable car from a pres

tigious marque, but its image has been marred for its celeb-toy characteristics. The shooting brake version is based on the Continental GTC and is built by Touring Superleggera, an Italian coachbuilder. The 560 hp, hulking machine costs more than 590,000 Euros. Its not that cool, but it deserves a spot here.