Sometimes it's not the little differences. Carmakers sell nearly 300,000 station wagons in the UK each year, and even the crappy ones on the Telegraph's supposed "top 10 estates" list sound pretty sweet:
...a new-found sense of style as well as almost German levels of build quality.And that's the Peugeot. Peugeot, people!Well appointed interior includes a usefully large luggage area, which increases to 1,600 litres with the rear seats folded.
The 2.0-litre diesel with a six-speed manual gearbox provides the best blend of performance and parsimony. Expect to average at least 50mpg
Top 10 estate cars [telegraph.co.uk via dt sr minivan/wagon correspondent jj daddy-o]
Really sad that the Passat Wagon isn't coming here; we finally pulled the trigger on the Golf Wagon (or Jetta Sportwagen, ahem), and I'm wondering what our upgrade path from it will be in a few years, when the kids legs start intruding into the front seat area. (The car's biggest weakness is the combination of a small back seat and my 6'4" frame.)
I guess there's always this: http://www.autoblog.com/2011/07/14/volkswagen-crosspassat-in-the-wings/ but why not just buy a Subaru Legacy Outback then?
Could you even make a list of 10 wagons sold in the US? My guess is that you couldn't without going a size down to include things like the A3, Mazda3, Impreza, Jetta, etc. Or, get a little more liberal with your definition and include things like the Outback, Venza, XC70, Edge, Crosstour, etc. But even the Telegraph included the Allroad so maybe some level of trucky-ness should be allowed.
Interesting that the Ford Mondeo got such a rave. Ford is trying to attack this market from every angle in the US (Edge, Escape, Flex, Explorer) without offering an honest wagon. Maybe bringing over the Modeo or wagon-izing the Fusion would be a nice idea.
Yeesh, just came back from Paris where I almost crashed my rent-a-bike every few minutes from rubbernecking at all the sweet station wagons everywhere. The Alfa Romeo "estate" seemed particularly cool. Glad I managed to snag my 2004 Volvo V40 since it is (obviously) now discontinued, at least in North America.