Search for the Perfect Family Wagon

Search for the Perfect Family Wagon

The cars  below, cover all sorts of price ranges, wagons and SUVs and  is a very brief summary of each:

• VW Passat, nice but don’t like front wheel drive and the R36 is just too hard on road.

• Audi Q5, thought long and hard, waited for the 2 litre diesel but it just doesn’t do it for me. With all of the options you’d need the car easily gets into the $70Ks and beyond , and you have to wait a few months to get one!

• Audi A4 Avant, not much room in rear, front wheel drive and expensive options make it over $70K to be worthwhile

• Holden Sportswagon, including V8 Calais V, OK, but just not up to the quality yet…sorry!

• Nissan Murano, No. Only managed to drive this 1 kilometre and both my wife and I agreed, no! Ugly inside and out.

• Mitsubishi Outlander, the new MY 10 version with the ‘Lancer’ front. This is an improvement on the MY09 car but still no air in the rear, which you get on a Golf, major issue if you have kids in the back most days!

• Citroen C5, nice car, very nice car, good value in the 2.0 litre diesel and great engine in the 2.7litre diesel, but what about the resale, especially after the recent recall???

• Subaru Tribeca, just hated those cheap plastics inside and dash layout, otherwise lots of car for the money, now that the front has been fixed!.

• Skoda Octavia (recently the new RS..much better) Nice car for the money, very hard in the back for the 8 year old, so I don’t think so, but worth considering if resale is not an issue.

• Subaru Forester, again no air in the rear, so no.

• Ford Mondeo Wagon, Now here’s one of the best kept secrets. Even without a range topping ‘Titanium’ version or a diesel auto, the Zetec wagon is a lot of car for the money, change from $40K on the road. It includes Bluetooth, which is probably better than Audi’s, especially when coupled to an iPhone, Voice activation, front and rear parking sensors, just about everything but leather seats

• Mazda 6 Wagon, nice car, again no range topping version or a diesel auto (hasn’t anyone worked out that we drive Autos in Australia!), but a very elegant well priced car. Nowhere near as good in the standard equipment area as the Mondeo, with rear parking sensors a glaring omission, but probably better resale than the Ford. Still no air in the rear though!

• Mazda CX7. Nice car but very hard in the middle rear seat and VERY thirsty. New 4×2, 2.3 litre cheaper than the Mazda 6 wagon and well worth considering.

• Mazda CX9. Big brother of the CX7 and a very elegant, large car. Again middle rear seat is very hard but good car and package.

• Volvo XC60. Having had 3 Volvos, the last was the XC90, I was really looking forward to this, but the diesel sounds like a tractor especially when cold in the morning (honestly, in comparison to my existing diesel and the Audi/VW/Citroen/Peugeot diesels this is like an old London cab) and the petrol just doesn’t go and is very thirsty. If you don’t have navigation as an option you end up with a ridiculous hole in the middle of the dash which is very unattractive.

• Peugeot 407 Touring. Lovely car, especially the 2.7 litre diesel which is just a great engine. But you have to have a full glass sunroof which is OK in dull countries but I doubt you would use it much here.

• Peugeot 4007, based on the Mitsubishi Outlander, but with a very frugal auto diesel and upgraded specs  and bold Peugeot front..well worth a look.

• Peugeot 308 Wagon. The only 7 seat small wagon with the frugal auto diesel engine. Very versatile and great quality…again worth a look.

• New Subaru Liberty and Outback, very little to fault, especially at the top end. The Liberty GT Wagon ticks just about all of the boxes (as does the Outback 3.6R Premium).

• Hyundai i30CW. Another great car from Hyundai. Safe, well appointed and finished and great value. Petrol not enough power but the diesel very torquey and great fuel economy with 5 star safety.

Hot off the press!

• Hyundai ix35. Just launched and a good looker, again with all of the great new Hyundai features. Safety, economy, feature packed and well priced, even at the top of the range.

No wonder Hyundai were Number 3 in February 2010!

• VW Golf Wagon. It’s a VW and a Golf, so it will sell and why not!? Great space, safety and range of engines. Options do put the price up like all of the Germans, but a great compact wagon.

So a huge choice exists in this market and there are more than listed above, Volvo XC70 and XC90, Lexus RX350 and 400H, BMW X3 and X5, Audi Q7, the list goes on and on…it is a very popular and growing segment!

We will soon have in depth reviews of all of the above cars, so watch this space and happy shopping.