The demise of the lowly, humble, station wagon..

[Cleetus]

The station wagon, symbol of suburban bliss for 5 decades, is no more. The station wagon is dead, replaced by the "Crossover SUV", (which is, of course, a station wagon).

Marketing assholes.

Speaking of SUV's, and the selfish, pretentious assholes who adore them, our local radio wingnut drives a big SUV. So I emailed him asking if he believed that the billions (trillions?) of dollars we ship over to the mideast may directly or indirectly help finance terrorism, and if the answer is "yes", then why the fuck is he driving around city streets in a gas-guzzling piece of shit.

In my mind, the $$$ we ship over there does support terrorism, and the most hypocritical thing I can think of is a "Support the Troops" ribbon on the back of an Excursion.

Assholes.

Rant over. Thank you.

[sailor65]

1. You're wrong.

The wagon's demise began with the minivan.
Although the crossover has claimed part of that share, it's not what killed wagons.

Just sayin'

[JerseygirlCT]

3. I really don't like minivans

Hated driving one when we had it years and years ago. Still don't care for them. Bulky, hard to maneuver...

I'll take my peppy little sedan, thanks!

[JerseygirlCT]

2. I don't know, I still see a mess of them around here

Mainly Subarus or Volvos.

[hlthe2b]

7. Yes... Colorado seems like Subaru Outback Central....

and, yes, I drive a 99 Subie Outback

[Arugula Latte]

4. We've got one (a '99). I love it.

It's not as humongous as a mini van, yet we can get the kids and their friends in there. If we have to haul stuff, the seat folds down for a big cargo load.

[kestrel91316]

5. My parents had several station wagons over the years. With two

kids and a dog and camping gear, we needed it.

We had one of these:
http://cgi.ebay.com/1961-PINK-Rambler-American-Custom-Station-Wagon-Car-Ad_W0QQitemZ4625808137QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting
Yes, we had the lovely PINK Rambler.....

Then we had one of these:
http://www.autobooksbishko.com/item.cgi?id=6610
Dark green Mazda wagon c 1973. My mom totalled it in about 1976 when she hit a motorcycle (the bike was barely scratched).

Then, learning a little about auto safety they got one of these:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volvo_240
Also dark green. In a crash contest with a motorcycle, it would have won.

Then my dad got this for use up in the mountains in CO:
http://sandiego.craigslist.org/car/464281696.html
4-WD Subaru wagon, GREAT in the snow, he LOVED it.

[Xithras]

6. A rose by any name.... The station wagon isn't anywhere near dead.

The 2006 Subie in my driveway will attest to that. My neighbors brand new Magnum will second it.

A "Crossover" is simply a station wagon with better ground clearance. No more, no less. If the "Crossover" helps to get people out of their SUV's and into more economical vehicles, then more power to them. I don't really care what they're CALLED, as long as they help to undermine the SUV market.

A bit of trivia for you: The station wagon was one of the first types of autos developed, and it gets its name from its original use. They were originally adopted by train STATIONS as a convenience to carry passengers from the depot to the riders home. All passenger models were called Hackneys, and split passenger/cargo models were called Wagons. This quickly evolved into Depot Hackneys and Station Wagons in modern English. The Depot Hackneys died off, but the Station Wagon stuck around.

The name doesn't really mean anything nowadays, so I don't see the harm in replacing the "fuddy duddy" station wagon name with a more appealing "Crossover" badge. I don't know what the heck they're supposed to be crossing over (though my Subie can wade through anything), but it's catchy and they're selling as the Next Big Thing.