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Comment by xattt | Hacker News Reader

Best of both worlds of capacity and fuel economy is a station wagon.

With the Golf Sportwagen (EU name Golf Variant) off the market in North America now, it leaves Volvos and Subarus as the only option.

I predict that in the next decade, station wagons will get rediscovered as manufacturers try to maximize range and reduce battery volume as electrification marches on.

Edit: forgot about Subarus

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I just checked and it seems the Subaru Outback is bigger than the Golf Variant and has otherwise similar stats.

Are they not the same class of car?

My mistake. I did forget about this one!

Different size class. The Outback is a lifted large sedan with an extended trunk, there aren't any vehicles on the market that compare to it except perhaps the Toyota Venza.

Outback "competes" with the crossovers which are usually shorter in length and have taller interior space.

Don't they sell the Mercedes E-Class T Model in the US?

Perhaps, Mercedes is luxury though. People are more likely to purchase something that provides better value/size/gas mileage that costs 40% less.

Volvo wagons start at about $51k CAD, MB C-Class starts at $57k CAD and an E-Class starts at $81k CAD. This is out of reach of Jonny Everyman (including me).

I purchased a base Golf Sportwagen with 4Motion back in 2017 for around $29k which was surprisingly nicely equipped (DSG, tunable engine, decent soundsystem). A similarly equipped Suburu would have been mid-to-high $30s.

If I had freedom to "flex", I would have gone for the Volvo because of the safety street cred.

I hope you’re right. I’ve been driving wagons for years, but the US market for them has been shrinking consistently since crossovers became a thing. Europeans seemingly have oodles of options, but God forbid automakers allow Americans a sporty AWD wagon with a manual transmission…

The very hard edge on the tail of a wagon makes it a terribly great at producing turbolence which is bad for fuel efficiency. I think shooting break or sort of stretched-out hatchbacks will be where it's at.

Isn't the Subaru Outback still a station wagon even if they try to disguise it with crossover inspired body panels.

It has quite a bit of ground clearance despite it's low profile. It's higher off the ground than more popular models like the CR-V, RAV4, Highlander, etc.

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