The wagon appreciation thread

NGTD wrote: This is mine and it will be for sale soon. Selling to fund a rally car!

This is relevant to my interests, or rather DD#1's interests. Where are you and what's the deal with the car?

I want a cool wagon in the worst way, but it seems the only wagons in my neck of the woods are tauruses and subarus. I'd take the Volvo v50 as pictures or maybe a 9-3

Anways I can't make pictures. But a 9-3 sportcombi

mazdeuce wrote: The CTS wagons are legit. Long and flat enough in back for a six footer to sleep. Can carry 800lbs of flooring. The 3.6 is more GRM priced than the V and you can get it in AWD for snow country, but the V is better.

High on my want list

I would consider the W124 modern enough for a daily as well, but were they ever sold in the USA?

Storz wrote: I would consider the W124 modern enough for a daily as well, but were they ever sold in the USA?

Yes

My first wagon-

My latest ($1300) acquisition-

yeah this would do it for me.

http://stlouis.craigslist.org/cto/5381078043.html

Duke wrote:

NGTD wrote: This is mine and it will be for sale soon. Selling to fund a rally car!

This is relevant to my interests, or rather DD#1's interests. Where are you and what's the deal with the car?

I'm in North Bay, ON Canada. About 3 1/2 hrs north of Toronto.

The details are here: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/project-rally-pig-05-wrx-wagon/100914/page1/>

I'm currently dropping the fuel tank to fix a fuel line issue.

Here are some of the items replaced:
- steering rack - had a leak on the lines and damaged the old one trying to remove the lines.
- Engine, as noted in the thread, I found a low mileage replacement and its in and running.
- Brand new timing belt, fuel filter, right side valve cover gasket (to fix oil leak).

2005 WRX's had the upgraded HVAC controls and some of the upgrades of the 06+ cars, but still used the 2.0L engine that seems to have fewer issues than the 2.5L engines.

Body is super clean for being up here and the mileage. It has clearly had rust protection applied in the past.

I could deliver to US Border crossing (Niagara area or Thousand Islands would be my preference). It should be noted that you are currently getting about 30% more for a US dollar up here so the price will work out to be damn good in US funds.

As noted, I'm selling to use the funds to purchase a 2WD rally car.

The 'new enough to dd' comments are amusing.

My dd:

Just drove it from Indiana to California pulling a trailer... with a few key modifications, it's also a lot of fun on a twisty road. Just saying.

There is rarely a thread where I like every car posted, but this one delivers.

Kia may bring the Sportspace Optima to us

Im perfectly happy with using my 78 as a fair weather DD. If you buy 79-83 you can even avoid the one year only spindle/brake set up!

Its a foxbody so parts are easy and cheap to find aside from body panels and wagon only trim.

No wagon thread is complete without the Volvo BTCC

NGTD wrote: Body is super clean for being up here and the mileage. It has clearly had rust protection applied in the past.

OK, thanks for all that info! I am worried about the amount of brown stuff underneath. Price may be right, though. I'll discuss with DD#1.

BMW E61, modern, good handling, available with a 6 speed manual as an n/a or 6spd auto with the 535 turbo. Turbo can hit 400+ hp with a few tweaks.

volvoclearinghouse wrote: The W123 300TD is the best all-round wagon I've ever driven. It's large inside, easy to drive, has great sightlines, is fairly safe (MB crash tested them, back in the 70's, before anyone was doing crash testing) and fun to drive slow. Electrical issues won't strand you, although getting the HVAC to work properly is a real issue. Still, just look at it:

Now that car makes me smile. I would love to have one but the poke might be a little too slow for me every day. Depends on how satisfying everything else about it is, I suppose.

I've had a lot of wagons .. hmm. '71 VW Squareback, '66 Pontiac hearse/ambulance, '96 Roadmaster, '68 Ford Country Sedan (it's a wagon!), '96 Volvo 850, '04 Mazda6, but never a Mercedes wagon. Maybe that will change soonish.

My old Pontiac, I miss it but it was too far gone for me to restore:

oldtin wrote: BMW E61, modern, good handling, available with a 6 speed manual as an n/a or 6spd auto with the 535 turbo. Turbo can hit 400+ hp with a few tweaks

BMW dealer used inventory shows 16 - 16 - wagons in stock nationwide. All 3-series; no 5ers. All are automatic trans except 1 which is listed as a manual even though the interior pics clearly show it's also automatic.

<~~ Hopes = dashed.

I forgot about one wagon and probably more. I used to have a '93 Accord wagon. Great car, and I've always thought I should get another one in better shape. I sold mine at 275k miles and it just kept going, but it was a northern Ohio car with rust creeping in.

Also, here was my '68 Ford:

previous owner lowered it, I had bought springs to raise it back up but ended up selling it instead.

When the word wagon is brought up my mind immediately goes to the Swedes. Volvos and SAABs are high on my want list. But I did drive a BMW 325ti wagon with a manual this weekend for about 2.5 hours from one side of the state to the other. Not a bad car for close to 170k miles, could be a touch faster, but rode nice and the seats were comfy.

Duke wrote:

oldtin wrote: BMW E61, modern, good handling, available with a 6 speed manual as an n/a or 6spd auto with the 535 turbo. Turbo can hit 400+ hp with a few tweaks

BMW dealer used inventory shows 16 - *16* - wagons in stock *nationwide*. All 3-series; no 5ers. All are automatic trans except 1 which is listed as a manual even though the interior pics clearly show it's also automatic. <~~ Hopes = dashed.

Heh. You and I just did the same exact search. With the same exact results.

Tom_Spangler wrote:

Duke wrote:

oldtin wrote: BMW E61, modern, good handling, available with a 6 speed manual as an n/a or 6spd auto with the 535 turbo. Turbo can hit 400+ hp with a few tweaks

BMW dealer used inventory shows 16 - *16* - wagons in stock *nationwide*. All 3-series; no 5ers. All are automatic trans except 1 which is listed as a manual even though the interior pics clearly show it's also automatic. <~~ Hopes = dashed.

Heh. You and I just did the same exact search. With the same exact results.

Autotrader has about 33 listed nationwide (> 2008 m/y), mostly 3s but a handful of 5s. And a big goose egg for manual transmissions.

In reply to Tom_Spangler:

It took a little while to find mine, but they are out there if a bit rare.

In reply to dculberson:

"Now that car makes me smile. I would love to have one but the poke might be a little too slow for me every day. Depends on how satisfying everything else about it is, I suppose."

My DD is a 1980 300TD, which is naturally aspirated. That means about 88 horsepower, a 3.47 gear, and a 3500 pound car. It's not fast, but the close-ratio 4 speed automatic does a decent job of keeping the revs up (where the power is, odd for a diesel). I can peg the speedo on a long, flat highway. Uphill grades, however, are not your friend. You really have to keep the revs up. If I hit a steep hill at 65 mph, I can maintain 65 mph by the top, but if I hit it at 50, I'll be at 40 by the time I crest it, unless I manually downshift, and 3rd gear will only let me do about 55. But it'll do 55 up the side of a wall.

The turbo cars make 120 hp, but have 3.07 rears, so ff the line they're not much faster than the N/A version. But when the boost wakes up, they step out pretty well. In '85 they went to a 2.88 rear, which is good for cruising but really makes it bit of a pig off the line. I'd go with an 81 to 84.

Handling is really this car's strong suit. I have mine on stock 14" bundt wheels and Firestone 195/70R14s, and the thing just flat outcorners everything, albeit with plentiful body roll. I've thought about switching to wider/stickier/lower aspect ratio tires/ wheels, but the thing just rides too nice on those big meats and soaks up potholes and speed bumps with dignity. The steering is light, but direct, and communicative. I can parallel park the thing anywhere, too.

It's dated, but it's rear wheel drive. It's also why I got a 740 turbo wagon some years ago. Which transformed my wife from a sedate normal driver to a bit of speed demon.

and

I'd like to say the same about the V70's and such, but they are much squishier and rather boring. The wife still laments her old 740 turbo.

In reply to foxtrapper:

Hahahahah they brag about out-accelerating a BMW eta!

We've had a few. VW is the current.