WSIB Wagons Edition!

[00:00:00] Hello and welcome to the Gran Touring Motor Sports Podcast Break Fix, where we’re always fixing the break into something motor sports related.

What’s up everyone? It’s your host, Brad, and with me as always is my co-host Eric. Hello. So G t m Northeast Region Chief Harry is looking for a new car, specifically a wagon. So we thought, wouldn’t it be fun to rally the troops and play another round of, what should I buy? Wagon’s Edition.

So Harry, why don’t you tell us why you’d like to become a member of the Long Roof Society by telling us what you’re replacing in laying out your shopping criteria. Okay, so currently the only vehicle my wife and I have is a 99 4runner, third gen, best Gen. We’re replacing a mini four door that we leased.

Good car, not a great car. Definitely looking for something a little bigger. My requirements are kind of unique [00:01:00] cuz my wife is really hard on rims. Something with a big side wall is really important, which is hard to find in nice cars. The higher you get in the model, bigger the rim, the smaller the tire.

So looking for some big tires, not big rims. Looking for something that says I’ve got class but not money. Oddly enough, going to customers houses and being seen around town. Being in the small business, it’s important to not be too flashy, but not looking like you’re broke. So that’s where the mini came in last time.

That’s also really important to us. Normally I like the lease cars cause I don’t like to get committed to anything outside of my wife at like three years, maybe two years, and change it out for something else. All right, so those are pretty much our requirements. I don’t really have anything else. Don’t need for wheel drive.

I got, we got the forerunner, I’ve got a bunch of trucks. Yeah, that’s about it. Do you have a dollar requirement, Harry? Yeah, so looking like you have class but not money. That is the dollar [00:02:00] requirement. So it’s probably somewhere in that 30 to 50 range. Anything more than 50 to me would be, you know, I’d love to own a Merck wagon, but it’s just too much money.

Is there a age, does it have to be within the last five years, seven years, three years, 10 years? Do you have, uh, are you looking new, used? Any of those types of requirements? So the current fleet is my work truck, which is new but beat. It’s already got 33,000, the 99 4runner, and we have a 74 Alpha Romeo. So that is the current fleet.

So something that is new in the last maybe just off lease would be as old as I’m willing to go. So basically I’m looking for a new car. Okay. Uh, and I’ll be really comfortable on road trips, a parameter that I didn’t mention earlier, like. being able to do five, 600 miles at a pretty good clip. All right.

Alright. Right. All right. Now that we’ve properly chummed the water, the Piranas, I mean the rest of tonight’s panel of GTM members will submit [00:03:00] some cars for you to consider. But before we get into it, I’d like to introduce crutch. Mike Crutchfield. We’ve got his lovely wife, Chrissy. Definitely the better half we’ve got hazmat, definitely

We’ve got Tanya hailing from Texas, we’ve got Andrew Mason, we’ve got our newcomer of the show, Rob Lores. And then of course you’ve met our Northeast Region Chief Harry. All right. Who wants to chime in first? Who’s got a car for Harry? I’ve already got three or four. , but I want to hear what the peanut gallery has to say before we start.

There’s one thing I have to point out. There’s been a long-standing internal debate, well, let’s call it what it is. It’s an argument within G T M about the differences between a wagon, a hatchback, and a liftback. While some might lump all of these cars together, we don’t, therefore, for tonight’s purposes to be considered a wagon, the vehicle must be built with a D pillar.

Vehicles like the VW G T I or the Subaru Impreza, the wagon like are considered [00:04:00] hatchbacks and therefore disqualified. And with that, let’s get into it. Given that criteria, you’re suite of available wagons has gotten very small over the years. We’ve got really the the Buick Regal tox, which is. I, I think it’s, it’s actually a very, a very attractive car.

The golf sport wagon, which ended production in 2019, which is still available new on dealer lots, as well as the all-wheel drive version of that, which it’s, you know, a neat little gimmick for them to sell more. But the problem I have with the, the newer Volkswagen wagons is they shopped the roof line on those wagons so much with the Mark sevens that it makes putting anything large in the back of that lift gate, uh, really difficult.

I have a feeling the Buick has a similar problem, but I’m not sure it’s as pronounced as the Volkswagen. Are you saying I don’t fit in the back of the Volkswagens ? You might in pieces. , yeah. Might not fit in the Mark Sevens in the backseat, but, and the mark six has just ended too far, too long ago [00:05:00] for the, the criteria, unfortunately.

I guess another criteria that I didn’t mention is the fact that we own a fleet of trucks and I also own my pickup truck, so, Capacity of a wagon isn’t really like, we don’t have to put shit in it. We have other trucks to do most of the heavy hauling. I do like just having the gen, the space in general for grocery getting and whatnot.

Like, I like having a space versus having a grocery getter. And the Buick Regal X is currently leading the charge and I can’t believe it. I’ve never owned, actually, I owned one gmc, but I’ve never owned a GM vehicle before outside of that one piece of crap truck. Well, I mean, we, we actually have, we’ve had wagons and we have a Passat sedan right now.

Cause unfortunately the US was, was cursed to not getting the wagon. But we actually have found that the trunk in the Passat holds a similar volume to what the back of our Jetta wagon held because the trunk is just massive. While it’s nice to have the larger opening, if having that big, empty, cavernous space [00:06:00] that fits large items isn’t as big a deal, you know, looking at one of the sedans with a larger trunk for a grocery gator could still solve your problem.

All right, so I’m gonna throw it over to Chrissy because I want to hear what the, the, the other half of the Crutchfield Dynasty has to say. I feel like he sold a lot of myself, . I think that under that 50 K mark, especially if it’s like an end of a lease, you can probably look at a Volvo like an V 70, which are nice and they’ve updated, they’ve gotten away from the boxiness of it, which is nice too.

I do like the Buick, but at the same time it’s a little expensive for a Buick in my opinion. And I do like the golf wagon, but like Mike said, the roof line’s lower. However, you and Justine are shorter than Mike, so , I don’t think that that’s a problem. Sorry, hun. . Rob, you’re new. You’re fresh meat. Let’s go for it.

The Regal tox actually only starts at like just under 30 K, so price wise it [00:07:00] sort of fits right in there. I was also gonna say the only counteract to the sedan is I saw obviously that you have a dog and dogs don’t like trunks. Dogs love hatchbacks and wagons. So I know for like for my family, we had a Jetta that my wife loved and we finally got rid of it and got her a Subaru Outback, which I would not suggest only because they switched all the CVTs and that’s a pile of crap.

But our Outback is a manual, so it’s actually a ton of fun and the dog loves being in the back of that thing and the kids loves sliding around in it too. But yeah, I’d say the Buick should be the leading contender. I think if you go to the Volvo, it starts edging into that. Like you have old money sort of feel, as opposed to just looking nice.

It looks like you loaded a close friend. Classmates’ parents recently got rid of their Mazda three and picked up a pre-owned, you know, V 70 wagon, and literally the first joke on the first camping trip was like, oh, who died and left you a pile of money, because it just seemed like that was the joke to make when you got a Volvo wagon.

So the Buick [00:08:00] wagon. We saw it at one hiking trip and it is gorgeous when properly outfitted, like we walked up to it and my wife and I literally stopped in our tracks and both of us were like, what is that? Because at a distance across the way, it actually has a little bit of a look of the, uh, the Jaguar wagons they made for a while that were pretty sweet looking, even though they, they wouldn’t necessarily want one, but they were pretty sweet looking.

So it has a tinge of that Jaguar wagon look, a tinge of that Volvo wagon look, but it’s a Buick, so no one thinks that you’re rolling in dough and it, it looks pretty fly and has, meets all the criteria. So it’s tough to beat that option. Is the Volvo an old money look or just an old look? That’s what’s this fly mean?

If you have to ask, you are not, you’re pretty fly for a white guy here. It looked pretty, pretty awesome, I’ll put it that way. It looked sleek and futuristic even I would say so in bigger guys. It was in, it was pretty awesome. So I, I would agree with you there, Rob. I really thought the, the regal was a handsome car until I saw it in person.

Yeah. [00:09:00] And the photographs of it were much better than when I first saw it at the DC Auto Show a couple years ago when it debuted. And the reason I say that is the concept regal tox was different in the rear. And what really turned me off is I didn’t like the chrome and I didn’t like the way it felt like the artist pencil broke as he got to the D pillar.

And it’s like, well, I don’t really know what to do here, so I’m just gonna continue this chrome from the front all the way to the taillights. And if I owned one of those and, and my wife considered one as a matter of fact, and we ultimately ended up with a Cadillac instead, the first thing she said was, that needs to go away.

Meaning make that black, right, because it, it’s just a little bit ostentatious because the rest of the car doesn’t have any chrome except for that large arch from the A pillar to the D pillar, that’s, that’s a GM thing. Just throw too much chrome. Everywhere you buy a GM car, if you want to look good, you gotta gotta get rid the chrome.

No, GM loves the Chrome styling is, is a personal thing. It’s very subjective. I still think at, at the [00:10:00] right angles. It is a good looking car, but it is deceivingly large and I think that’s another thing that I didn’t realize from the photographs until I saw it. It’s a very, very big car. Yeah, I think, I think it’s similar length to the V 70, which is not a small Volvo either.

It’s bigger than the V 70. It’s huge. Is it? Yeah, definitely was. It had been backed into a spot so that that front three quarter view, it is a gorgeous vehicle. Like, I mean it’s one of those, you definitely, you know, you stop yourself in a parking lot to look at it, which is. Amazing to, let’s call Spade a spade.

We’re saying this about a Buick, which is kind of ridiculous for a Buick made in the last 20 years. Like, that’s the car that your grandmother happened to have bought that you kind of laugh at. That’s about it. It’s a Vox Hall. Let’s, yeah, let’s, that’s fair. Serious, right? Yeah. You mean noble, right? Yeah, right.

It’s made, it’s made in Germany, so checks that box other than the aesthetics of the regal wagon. The other downside to the regal, why we didn’t get one was when we looked at it from an economy stand. [00:11:00] That regal is so big and heavy and it’s powered by a two liter turbo, like everything is Nowadays, the mileage was worse than the Cadillac we had.

And so at that point, Jess, what was the mileage? It was, so the Cadillac, the best it could ever do was like 24 and the regal was worse than that. So it’s not great. But if you don’t care about fuel economy, then it then enjoy yourself. I would. I would own Mize The five, you get bigger tires on it. They like, everything’s an 18 and it goes to a 19.

And that’s why it’s disqualified. Like I’d own a hatchback. You can’t get bigger rims on it. I have to immediately swap out. Okay Andrew, so what else do you want to say other than Buick? Well, I was gonna say, I was gonna say Outback. I didn’t know about the C V T. I was not familiar with that, but up until hearing that, I mean, a Subaru is definitely not ostentatious.

It definitely blends in and if you need someone to work on it, it’s a Subaru. They’re like Legos. So that was gonna be my out-of-the-box pick. But yeah, I mean, just [00:12:00] while Robin and uh, crutch were talking, I was looking up that Buick and yeah, it’s a good looking car and I don’t know, I’d definitely get one to get a driving one, but no, I don’t have anything else.

We went to the local Subaru dealer and he’s been bothering me for probably about six months now, like borderline harassment. That guy put a bad taste in my mouth. Was he sending you care packages full of granola and Birkenstocks too? I, it was pretty close. If he knew where I lived, he probably would’ve during the pandemic, like the, the heat of the moan, he is like, we’re still open.

You can come in and, and order a car from the parking lot. It’s like, Dave, I don’t want your car. Thank you. So I mean the, the Outbacks are, are, I mean we love ours and everybody who owns one loves them. I mean, there’s a reason everybody who has an Outback buys another Outback cuz they’re great. And just in the last.

Eight months or almost a year, you can get the, whatever they call it, the XT model that has the turbocharged motor. So instead of dealing with that 178 horsepower, you get the 268 horsepower one and it’s only like a three or four [00:13:00] mile per gallon hit. And so it’s actually gets out of its own way. But the, the one complaint from anyone who’s driven one, and I’ve had them as rental cars a few times, cuz I’ll, I’ll seek them out cuz they feel familiar, which is nice.

And they’re much better than most of the crap you can get is this, that CV t drives you insane. I mean, you just, you’re driving it and you’re like, everything about it just annoys me as I’m driving it. The biggest thing about Subarus, I, I have a shop down the road from me at, uh, a friend of mine, it’s a Subaru tuner.

The beauty of those cars is if you haven’t done a head gasket, wait, you’ll do one soon. That’s been the biggest problem with Subarus, is they are just notoriously unreliable in that respect. They don’t have the durability and a lot of ’em that I see, for whatever reason, they just. They rot, you know, which, which really surprises me.

I know that’s probably less of an issue for Harry because he is not, you know, not, probably not keeping it for 20 years, but those things rot and it’s, hmm, not, not a good thing. Ours is a 98. We’ve had [00:14:00] zero problems with that. The valve cover gaskets I’ve had to do, but I’ve done them myself cuz as Andrew said, like they’re a joke to work on.

I, I drove it up a pair of ramps and half an hour later they were both replaced in a week. I’m replacing the, the power steering pump and mine’s got 170,000 miles on it. And that’s like the first three things I’ve had to replace is, are those things. I should also say that the, the requirement for this car is about 5,000 miles a year.

My wife works from home and doesn’t leave the house. That’s kind of where the leasing comes in cuz we can get a 10,000 mile lease and be okay. She doesn’t drive first case scenario, we just start driving my truck at the end. Why don’t you go, why don’t you just go old school and buy some, uh, classic station wagon?

Yeah, you need a, you need a late eighties grand marquee with wood paneling on the side. Actually, what I really want is one of those old Merck diesel wagons. That’s what I want in the drive. The nice thing, the nice 300 td. Well, the nice thing about those is you can do those with veggie oil. Those are the ones.

Yeah. Cause I have so much veggie oil laying around. I’m just [00:15:00] gonna be able to fill up all the time. Let’s throw another choice out there. So, I mean, there are some old school options and I think we’ll get to that. But let’s, let’s stay on this in the last two years, potentially be able to lease it or off-lease type of car.

Does anybody else have anything in the hopper? I have a few, but continue. I wanna hear from Tanya because she is, she’s against wagons, she’s anti wagon. She’s, she’s perfect for this. I wanna hear what she has to say. I’m. Anti wagon. I’m anti people that pretend like wagons are the savior to, to everything, when in fact wagons have unfortunately, gone to the wayside because SUVs have become more popular.

So there’s been people that are like, oh, I need a wagon because how could I possibly fit my groceries in a Camry? And it’s like, you can fit your groceries for like six months in your Camry. Let’s be real here. That’s not why you want a wagon. Just admit that you like the styling and the aesthetics and [00:16:00] the performance that a wagon brings you versus something like an S U V.

Because unfortunately I’m not in a station in life where I need an S U V and I don’t want one . An S U V is, they’re kind of ugly. They’re really big, they’re fuel inefficient. They’re not performance vehicles. You’re not gonna go trundling down mountain roads really taking turns. You can still do that in a wagon cuz it’s a really long car.

And my, my problem with wagons is just people. Aren’t honest about why they like a wagon. It’s like they’re embarrassed to say they like a wagon. Just admit that you like the styling of a wagon. It’s fine. I don’t hate all of them. I mean, some of them are ugly, like, like the old ones. Okay. Who’s out there trying to get one of those, those Partridge family wood panel style wagons.

I would love a Buick. Roadmaster. No, no. I don’t want no Oldsmobile. Whatever they were. Okay, but , you know, a nice tastefully lowered a four [00:17:00] wagon with big rims and tinted windows. I mean, yes, please. I, I would definitely drive one of those if you gave it to me. Am I gonna go choose one? No, but I mean, there, there you have it.

At the end of the day, depending what your use case is, this day and age, unfortunately, an s u v trumps out wagons and that’s why they’re disappearing because you get the same cargo space, if not more. Have more than the, the small two, 2.5 nuclear family. You know, you get third row seating and granted the third row isn’t necessarily comfortable, but for small children they can fit back there and you can still carry some things in the trunk.

You get all that space, you get four wheel drive, you can also not get four wheel drive. You’ve got ground clearance so you can go up into the mountains and the dirt roads and all that stuff. And honestly, you’re not gonna take your low riding wagon over tree trunks, , uh, that’s an exaggeration. You’re probably not gonna take your SUV either.

Maybe a Bronco, but you know, whatever. But it, it’s not as, it’s not [00:18:00] as practical anymore. And, and, and they’re just disappearing. So my biggest gripe again, is just people that aren’t forthright with why they like wagons . For us, it’s very unique cuz like, we want to be the, the ideal wagon odor just for the aesthetic.

I just don’t like sedans. Just like they don’t take my boxes and I, they don’t rev my motor. I appreciate you saying that. But to Tanya’s point, I did some fact checking with respect to wagons because, you know, as, as she updated a matter of factly, SUVs are taking over, they’ve been taking over for 15 years now.

Right. And so as I was doing my research in 2010, so going back just 10 years in the United States, this doesn’t include like, you know, as Rob said, there were some jaguars and some one-off, uh, wagons that they sold all of three of in the United States, but in 2010, there were 16 wagons available that you could choose from.

That’s pretty decent considering the number of manufacturers that actually bring [00:19:00] cars to the states in 2015. That number reduced by 50%. Five years later, we’re down to eight wagons available in 2019. Six and one of those six, I actually don’t even consider it a wagon and we’ll go over that later. So your choices are getting slimmer and slimmer and slimmer every day.

But Harry hit on something with the side wall thing with the tires. Right. And I’ve heard the stories about the bent wheels and, and, and I bought a set off of you and Yeah, they were, they were rough. I would say if that’s a major thing, then maybe the wagon isn’t the right choice. And something like a Grand Cherokee or the new Bronco or something else is the right choice because it’s the same size.

The Bronco is in the works. When I can get a Bronco, the Bronco is something I do want. Put a down payment on one today. Yeah. And get one in 2022. But I need a vehicle today. I hear you. I hear you. Like I’m ready to buy next. . [00:20:00] Gotcha. I have my sales guy from work all primed up. I think his dealership owns 42 different marquees, so I basically can get whatever I want.

I just need to text him and say, this is the car I want. Please have it ready for me on this date. Are you limited to your manufacturer because. If you don’t wanna go full suv, there’s obviously the small compact crossover type SUVs. The the hvs, the Honda HVS of the world, if you will. So we were right before Covid, like really shut shit down.

We were about to buy a CX five really close my, it’s still probably the clubhouse leader for us. That really red CX five is just a really nice car. It’s, it’s a lifted wagon as Tonya kind of alluded to. Didn’t all out say it, but with that antibody chassis on those cars, those crossovers, they’re just lifted wagon.

So that’s kind of where we were leaning towards actually staying down range in that CX five. So we didn’t get the bigger tires [00:21:00] Specif. . I mean, she is literally brutal. So I found out why though, my wife is only five foot two, maybe she actually can’t see the potholes in rural Pennsylvania. So she hits them cuz she’s so short.

It’s like a little old lady driving. Mm-hmm. . So she can’t see the potholes and she just runs into them. And then I think at the tdi, we had a Volkswagen TDI for years. She, she went through four or five rims in a year. I bought her sixteens to make it through the rest of our, uh, payment. I might have a better suggestion.

Leave Pennsylvania. Yeah. The problem is there’s just not a lot of choices out there right now for wagons. And, and you’re right. I, you know, I think your better option is to find a, uh, small to mid-size crossover because it fills all the same. Without having to, to get yourself stuck in a niche, which is the wagons right now, you know, as Eric was saying, you know, they went from what, 18 [00:22:00] to nine wagons in, in 2019?

But, you know, if you look at my favorite kind of cars, which are coops, and they’re particularly three door coops, you know, they, they don’t exist. Volkswagen doesn’t sell those anymore. Okay? So crutch man said a Regal or the Buick Regal, Rob said the Buick Regal, Mr. Mason, I believe said the Buick Regal in a bunch of other words, , uh, hazmat hasn’t said, anythingany said , don’t buy a wagon.

Chrissy said, Mike stole her thunder. Eric, do you wanna chime in or should I go? Well, I have a legitimate answer and then I have some other alternatives. But if we’re sticking within the last two years, no, you, I want the alternatives for sure. Oh, we’re definitely gonna get there because they’re good. Let me tell you, if we’re sticking within the last two years, if you want something that isn’t too bougie, that is gonna be a great all around car, doesn’t suck fuel like it’s going outta [00:23:00] style can handle the weather up in Pennsylvania.

I would tell you to look at the A four all road. It’s a better looking car than the regal. As good looking as the regal is. Like Tanya said, you tit the windows and put a set of ti wheels and tires. If you were doing that on an A four great car, great handling car, excellent. All-wheel drive. Yeah. And the A four doesn’t say you have a ton of money, it just says that you wanted that car.

It’s like owning the Beamer wagon. The Beamer wagon maybe exudes a little money, but just says you really wanted a wagon. The, the all roads were always big money. They rival the, uh, the S fours in certain respects because, you know, the S four was. Slammed on the ground station wagon. The all road was, uh, up in the air station wagon.

The, the, the terrifying thing about those cars is it’s an Audi and I, I have a friend, he bought an S four wagon. He has so far sunk $30,000 into it, and it still isn’t done because it needed turbos and it needed a motor [00:24:00] and it needed. There’s a laundry list, you know, and, and that’s, that’s kind of the problem with those cars is well see, I think Matt is talking about the A six all road, which the older all roads were notorious for having all kinds of issues, mechanical issues, electrical issues.

That’s back when Audi was junk. Now Audi’s just a little junkie, but they were real serious junk back then. I think Eric is talking about the new a four based all road, which is supposed to be a much better. and it uses a two liter turbo GTI motor. So it’s a commodity engine, which is much cheaper. And if something does break, it’s a couple hundred bucks instead of a couple thousand dollars.

And I’m not exaggerating there, but the, it is a decent price differential if you look at what the A six was and the A six doesn’t make my list for that very reason. And it’s also massive. I mean, it might as well be a yacht in comparison to the A four. And they did make a newer version of the asic all road.

But again, it’s just too big for me. And when you start comparing lengths and you’re getting up above, you know, [00:25:00] 195 inches, I mean, you’re, you’re, you’re starting to get into, you know, explor territory, you know, in terms of sizes and, and vehicles that are bigger than a Jeep, grand Cherokee. I mean stuff. It just at that point, why do you need the wagon?

Just, just buy an s u v. It’s just too big, you know, in my opinion. But to each his own. Right. Just to continue on that thought, if we go back to 2015 and you were considering something just a little bit older, maybe picking it up, used something from CarMax. I would tell you out of the list of the eight cars or maybe 10 cars that were available in 2015, knowing the criteria, now that you have, I would actually lean you towards the Honda Cross tour because again, a soft car, big car lift back with big puffy balloon tires, comes in all-wheel drive.

Same old K motor that was like in the T S X and and and that kind of thing also came with a b6. And it’s cheap. It’s a Honda. Well, Acura Acura made one [00:26:00] too. Yeah. I was gonna touch on too, add the class factor. You would get the Acura Z Dx, which is essentially the, the cross tour in Acura Trim. And it’s a little bit better, I think it’s better looking.

It’s more angular, more aggressive looking. I guess they were a lot more expensive than the cross tours, but I, I think that would be a similar alternative. They didn’t sell. No. So they’re harder to find. Our old bookkeeper had one. I haven’t seen any of ’em other than that. So yeah, the cross tour. I, I got a neighbor with a cross tour and that has not aged well.

Looks, flies. Yeah, I, I agree. From a, from a usability standpoint, it’s perfect. Right? It’s balloon tires, it’s, it’s, they use it to PS around, you know, a few thousand miles a year at most in it. , you know, they have, uh, they have a dog and a daughter. So like the, that like, yeah, the tiniest point, right? The difference in my brain for a wagon is if you have a dog that’s bigger than a jisu, a wagon helps a ton cuz then you can actually have a passenger and a dog if you wanna go out camping and stuff.

Or keep at least your interior slightly clean. But yeah, that’s [00:27:00] the, the cross door. It’s a very usable, functional vehicle, but it’s, it’s looks of not, I mean, I see it every day when I walk my dog outside and it’s, it hasn’t aged well. , I find it interesting as a car guy, but it’s definitely more car guy.

Interesting than traditional piece of looking car. The Acura looks pretty solid though. I’m absolutely anal when it comes to cleaning my cars and all the vehicles get maintained outside of the Miata. You guys have seen the Miata. The Miata is beat. It’s currently sitting outside. Hasn’t been started in four months.

I think Harry’s Miata is still carrying the same mud from 2018 Summer Bash Shino. It is. The rest of my vehicles are all maintained. I really, really love detailing cars when I get to take Saturday and Sunday off from work. That is what I do in my free time to enjoy myself is, uh, detailed cars. So I really love it.

That’s why we bought the 4runner just so I didn’t have a car that I, my wife could drive it as much as she wanted and ruin it and not [00:28:00] wash it and take the dogs out and not have me freak out cuz I will. So, Eric, what else is on your list? I’m not getting into the good ones yet, but if I go back another five years into the 2010s, there’s some really interesting stuff there.

Now I know it’s out of Harry’s criteria. I wanna dive into the used car market. Just a, just a little bit. Just for fun. Yeah, me too. I want to dive in too. We could maybe own one of those. And a new car. Hmm. So when you go all possibility, when you go back to 2010, you have all sorts of weird one-offs, like the Lexus, you know, wagons and the, the Mazda sixes and all that kind of stuff.

But you also have some enthusiast cars. In 2010, you got the three series BMWs, the five series BMWs, the Mercks, you know, the E-class, all that kind of stuff. You’ve got a plethora of all those V 50 70, XC 70, which is still a wagon before it became an suv. But you also have stuff like the Cadillac CTS station wagon, which I mean, if [00:29:00] you’re a car guy, that’s the holy grail of wagons.

Good luck finding one of those new, new, they were 60 grand, used their 70, but you don’t have to get the V. That’s true. That was my point. You can get, but they’re also tiny new. They were 50 and used or don’t exist . They’re itty, itty bitty cars. They’re teeny weeny cars inside. They’re, they’re normal size on the outside.

Every auto show. I would go sit in those things. Cause I was excited as an enthusiast to get in one. Even the passenger seat was too small and I’m barely six feet tall. It’s a tiny, tiny car. It really depends. But in the cat, speaking of the Cadillac, I would tell you having owned one. The SR X is not that much bigger.

It actually isn’t really bigger at all than the cts wagon. It’s up higher, bigger sidewalls. It drives like a Cadillac. It’s got a GM engine that’s been around for a hundred years. The gas mileage was the only deterrent on the S R X. So it, I like the angular style looks. It looks like an [00:30:00] elongated, kind of stretched out cts, and you can have one of those any day of the week.

I will tell you do a 2015 or a 2016 the last year, uh, like we had, because that’s when they improved the Q system and, and a lot of the interior stuff, it’s a lot better than the early ones. They just took care of some of the problems and those cars are relatively inexpensive. If you wanted to go into that crossover and have a little bit more posh, I would, I would tell you that as an.

I’m five 10. Just for the record, five 10. I fit, I’m, I’m five 11. I’ve instructed, I’ve instructed in lotus’s I fit in every vehicle made. Yeah. No, and I normally can squeeze, I mean, I, I Miata it is what it is, but like that car just felt claustrophobic coming out of any other vehicle I sat in, including like a boxer or Cayman.

Like you’re sitting at C T S V and it’s like you’re in. You’re in like this weird little shell. It’s the weirdest. It’s it’s too small. It’s comically small. So what I will say though is, I mean, if you take all the, you know, the Kia Rondos and the Hyundai Elantra tourings [00:31:00] and all that garbage and throw ’em away,

Well, you’re not, you’re not. They scream money. They do Elantra touring. I have a friend with, they actually like that car a lot. I, I do too. And, and she raves about it. But what I’m, what else is in there is what Mike was getting at is if you go back to 2010, there is a facade wagon, right? So if you’re looking for a bigger Volkswagen, stuff like that.

But I think you just, there’s some other cars in that mix that I think we’ve forgotten about. And again, I was looking at, at these just block years to say what car was sold in that year. I don’t know when they ended, I didn’t do that much research to say, okay, they, they, they made the cross tour forever. I mean, when did they stop making the T S X wagon?

That was actually a good looking car. If I, if they made the cross tour through 15, I think they just sunsetted the cross tour a couple years ago, so it’d probably be at the same time. It looks like 2014 was the last Okay. You mean the European Honda Accord wagon? It, it was a, it was a pretty decent, as wagons go, it wasn’t bad.

It wasn’t nearly as [00:32:00] weird as the, uh, was it the mid nineties Honda? The Honda Accord wagon, that was the weird angular, you know, flip up headlight front end and this modern rounded rear end that didn’t ma match the front at all. If you go back to that 2010, I haven’t researched this like you have Eric, but like my favorite looking wagon of sort of that 2000 to 2000, 2010, 2015 world is the SOB wagons nine five wagon would be pretty slow.

Yeah, those nine, five wagons are really attractive cars. They drive pretty well. You could still get ’em with a stick if you wanted, or you don’t have to, but they had tons of space. They have like a little bit of the quirkiness with the key on the floor and stuff. and they drove, drove really well. And most of those sobs came with pretty big side walls that you would have any problems.

You know, getting the smaller tires and those things and those sob wagons are, are, I think, really, really attractive. Now, Harry, did you consider that the, the essence model of the Tour X comes with an in vehicle air ionizer? Oh, so God, [00:33:00] I mean, I dunno if any sobs have that air gas up to it. Air ionizer, so it cleans the air as you’re.

No, Harry, no matter how funky you are, it’s just, that sounds like something I need Covid. So my wife, we we’re driving around in my, my at one 50 today. My wife’s complaining about my body odor the whole time because I work outside. I mean, I wanna go back to what Andrew said. Now, Andrew, you said that there’s an air ionizer.

Is that in the Buick or is that in another? It’s built into the essence level trim of the Buick. Okay. So I, I have a much cheaper solution to this problem of air ionization. I heard the windows down. I, I heard recently that you can put a scented candle in your center console and that takes care of the problem.

Uch has an opportunity right now because if they market this the right way and let people know there’s an [00:34:00] ionizer. But maybe modified to kill Covid. How about, how about it? It, it cleans up its own carbon footprint as you drive it. How about that? I’m not a big fan of the, the, the, the old like 1920s robber headlights.

It looks like a raccoon on those, those model sobs. They’re weird. I thought they were fly cars. I like the, I’m trying to look up what years they had those wagons, but those, those sub nine five. What, what does fly mean? . But Harry, Harry, I, I, I mean, I’ll sell you, I’ll sell you my golf estate. You know, it’s got a, it’s got a six cylinder, it’s a wagon, you know.

It’s all good. It’s a 2003 though, so we know of another one coming down the pipe too. That’s, that’s true. Yeah, I think I’m trying to convince, well, actually she wants old cars, but she can’t handle old cars. Every time she drives a 4runner, she’s like, oh, it made a clunk. I go, yeah, it’s old. It makes clunks.

That’s what they do. They’re old cars you just have to deal with. It shuts the door of the alpha, like, oh, it made a noise. Yeah, that’s what it does. It’s old. It makes noises. You just have the [00:35:00] deal with them. So she’s really a new car girl. All right, Tanya, 2009, by the way, for the SOB 95 wagon. Tanya, you said you had another one Not in the 2010 to 2015 range.

Oh, I, I don’t even care about his criteria. I’ve got a whole bunch of stuff that I like, Harry, be damned. His criteria means absolutely zero to me and I’m about to lay into it, but I wanna hear what, what you got. It’s on like Donkey Kong. Come on, . So, so Rob stole a little bit of my thunder there cuz if we’re gonna go older, Nine two x arrow.

What a Oh yeah, one looking wagon. It’s a Subaru looking so I don’t care. It looks better as a so than a Subaru. Yes it does. Yes it does. And I saw one, like when I was in uh, Colorado the last time there was a lady just trolling down the highway and I was like, bam, that looks good. . I’ve always really liked the oos.

One of my favorite cars in sedan form is the last nine, five [00:36:00] arrow that they made. It’s just a slick looking car. I had a buddy who bought one of those when he had his first kid and like got it like one year old but brand new on the lot sort of thing. And I with a stick. And I was like, if you saw that in the next two years, you better call me first

Cause it’s a phenomenal car. He didn’t, he still has it and he still loves it, but that’s a good looking car. I will say the this, I have worked on a lot of cars over the years and I have never used so many expletives. As when I work on a Swedish card. Well, and it’s just one of those things that as good looking as they are and whatever, I just can’t.

Right. And it’s . The old ones were so easy to work on though. Like I remember like driving somewhere where the buddy in an old 900 and like the shift link had broke and we nursed it in third gear to some like truck stop and bought like literally a thing, a string, A couple things of bubble gum and some paper clips.

And we rigged up the shifter so we could get like three or four of the gears for the rest of the way [00:37:00] home. And we did it from inside the car. Like you take off one panel and you’re like, there’s the whole linkage. We’ll just fix it. I mean, it was so easy to work on. The problem with sobs was at that time period, socialized medicine because you got six months of time off.

You didn’t feel like coming in tomorrow. You didn’t come in. But Joe, who normally builds transmissions, is putting interiors in , you know, and then Joe goes, doesn’t, doesn’t feel like coming in. So the guy who normally mounts tires is building engines. I’m trying to remember when GM sold them 10 years ago at this point.

Almost 2009 I think was the last year you could buy a, like the last model year of no, sob. Sob vegan is really high on my list of fantasy cars, though. Vegan? I think it’s a, I think it’s a vegan though. It’s it’s not plant-based. Vegan. Vegan Vigo. It only, it only runs on biofuel. You can’t use regular gas.

Yes. You know, if, if, if you forced me to drive a [00:38:00] station wagon, there’s, there’s o there’s only one. I drive 90 95 Impala SS wagon, which doesn’t exist, but you buy a Capric and you put all the Impala stuff on it and those cars are badass. You can fit, I don’t know, 12 of your best friends and a keg of beer.

Well, I think Mike, I think Mike’s got one of those too, right? You got a favorite wagon? Well, yeah. You just tick the Magnum and buy a hell crate bolt right in. I, I rented a Magnum and with luggage in the back, and there were four of us. It, it would wander down the road. I, it, it was, yes. But how did it do in an autocross, Matt

Oh, that would’ve, that would’ve been the, uh, sea convertible I rented. Thank you very much, . I have instructed on track in a Magna wagon. It’s a big vehicle. I’m not buying that for a track toy. I’m buying it to put to shame to everyone with their sports cars, off the traffic light while I’m hauling four by eight sheets of plywood.

See, and that’s the other upside to a wagon. [00:39:00] It’s like the ultimate sleeper, especially if you don’t do anything fancy, but you got something juiced up under the hood and you just rip off from a, from a, from a light. It’s like, did I just get pulled by a wagon? You know, it’s, it’s, it’s like a matter of pride.

You know, I, I love, I got my doors pulled off by a Buick. Roadmaster. Yeah, right. . I think I’m gonna kick it off here with some crazy town. Oh, I’m ready. I’m ready. So before I get into it too crazy, I think the Buick Roadmaster is the only Buick Harry should consider for sure with a three 50. A crate motor, maybe an LS X motor in there somewhere, you know?

I agree. Also, I saw a Caprice wagon, which is equi the equivalent tow and a car hauler with a Camaro on the back of it, and I was in love. That thing was amazing. Does he get to change, does he get to change his last name to Griswold? ? Yes. Yes, yes. Yes he does. Yeah. But you put the Impala Ss stuff on it, the thing’s badass.

Yeah, exactly. So my next [00:40:00] crazy town car is not too terribly crazy, but I mean, I, I would consider it, it’s a pair of cars, either the E 63 wagon. Yeah. Because everybody needs, you know, a 600 horsepower wagon. Yeah. Or the RS six avan. I think. I think either one of those, the, well, I mean the fact, the fact that it’s called an avant just brings it up to that next level.

So of actually a pristine, one of my, one of my employees just bought a B five Avant S four for $500 with like Wow, seven 70,000 miles on it. The guy wanted to sell it to someone who would love the car. This kid has been looking for the cars up and down the eastern seaboard for the last four or five years.

He just finally got one. It’s leaking oil and fluids out of every orifice that you can leak fluids out of. But he has it, well, as I, as I always said, most honest car ever sold resale value, right on the hood, . All right. Next, it’s, it’s been touched on, but the, the V 90 Volvo, [00:41:00] or if you want to go something with bigger tires, you can do the cross country version.

The, the V 90 regular wagon, you, at least when it first came out, had to be special ordered. They were only bringing the cross tour, you know, to deal or lots. You had to special order the, the non cross, I mean cross-country version. Next, I’m gonna say Stelvio, and you’ll lower it and you’ve got an Alpha Romeo wagon.

I give you that. That’s major points right there. Yeah. Two of my favorites. Mitsubishi Gallant VR four. If they made a wagon version and you can get one right hand drive. I would bring one of those here maybe. Maybe in Japan, but I’ve never seen one. Yeah, I don’t, yeah, so So you’d have to bring it here. I’ve seen the Evo wagon, but I haven’t seen the Yeah, yeah.

So yeah, like an old nineties Gallant VR four. Then I’ve got two more. One my all time favorite is the the Chevy Nomad horse Horseless wagon ever made. Cause you can’t put anything in it, but [00:42:00] you can, you can put horsepower in it, and that’s all that matters, . Yeah, I know. You can put all kinds of horsepower in it, and you can put a lot of stereo in it too.

And you can fit airbags in it. Oh, that’s a lot. That’s a lot of stuff. That’s a lot of stuff. You can fit a lot of things in it. And then that’s the all the most important things that you could fit in a wagon. Yes. Horsepower. Horsepower and stereo . That’s, that’s all you need. And then lastly, is something semi-serious?

Have you thought about a machi? . It’s not a wagon, it’s more like a lift back and it’s raised or whatever. But I think it would give you that, that class that you’re looking for cuz it’s brand new, you know? And there aren’t, I mean, nobody’s got ’em on the street and I just, I think they’re kind of cool.

Yeah, it’s definitely a consideration. We actually have access to the Ford Fleet program, which gives us premium pricing on all of Ford’s products. So Ford is definitely in the, it makes everything more attractive cuz everything’s cheaper for us. Sure. Not a lot cheaper. Just a, just a pinch. Just get a wait for [00:43:00] the VW Buzz

We’re getting e bussy. Really? I’m, I’m just waiting for Poeo to make it back to America. So I get the Gary Busey. What? See, so you could get a 4 0 5 station wagon. Like back in the eighties, those things were horrendous. That’s what I’m waiting for. I got a pre puja pepper grinder. What one to what? A car to match.

You could have got a model, you could get a Model X there, Harry, with the gull wing doors and, and all that. Yeah, possibly, probably not, but yeah, maybe. No, maybe. Hey, is the, is the reliant Robin a wagon or is it just a hatchback? , that’s a mistake. Hatchback. . It’s a mistake. All right. I was gonna say, I don’t think Harry has any choice but to find a crossover.

not a choice. No. As far as my car i’d, I’d take the wagon version of my car if I could. I got a 2016 SS. And in Australia, they just make one platform apparently, and they’re like, you can get it however you want it. You want it two doors, four doors, pickup truck wagon, you want it LS three, or you want an Ls LSA with a [00:44:00] blower, like they don’t care.

They’ll, they’ll make it for you. So that would be probably my ultimate wagon, but those aren’t here. I’d say the more realistic option, the one that I’ve been noodling with Brad for a while. Find some mid sixties wagon, something like Mopar Abody Gmx platform, something as small as possible, which those things were actually like, curb weighted under 3000 pounds.

Find something with a dead six in it that I can get for $500 and throw $30,000 worth of parts at it and just have some kind of pro touring slash track something. So that’s my fantasy wagon. I saw a Holden h s v wagon when I was in New Zealand. Yeah. And I just, I just stared at it for a while. ? Yeah. Full size wagon.

Full send. The wa the wagons I liked were from the mid seventies. I had a, uh, I had a Chevy Kingswood wagon, full size wagon. I paid $50 for it. Best car I ever bought for 50 bucks. And the coolest thing about it was you put the key in the, in the back and you turned it. [00:45:00] And if you, you held it, uh, just a little bit and the window went up into the roof.

If you held it, turned it further. The tailgate went into the, uh, sunk into the body and it was awesome. And it had the third row. It had the third row. We had 14 people in it one night. You know, they, and it was, you couldn’t hurt it. I hit a building in Georgetown and set off the burglar alarm

It’s like that scene from Lost Bullet. And you guys all, were those 14 people dead or alive? We’re not sure. . Good Lord. Next podcast has to just be stories from Matt. By the way, this hundred percent is the title of next week’s podcast. Y’all be Yiping,

We touched on all the ones that like, I mean, we talked about like the BMW five series wagons when they existed, the three series which they finished making [00:46:00] last year or the year before the Volkswagens. What I like that’s coming out but not going to be available here is the RTS shooting Break Volkswagen.

That’s pretty, but also along those lines with the little bit higher price range of c r six Avant. So it seemed different, I imagine. Yeah, and I liked my ctsv wagon, but then I was sad to hear that it’s actually small inside, so . So, Mike, you got anything else you wanna add to that? Because I think you and I share a similar unicorn that, that we would appreciate as a wagon.

I already know which one it is. Well, I, I have a kind of an off the wall one that’s, that hasn’t been made for a few years is basically an old school wagon that they call an suv cuz of the platform, which is the Ford Flex. It’s, oh, that was on my list. I was gonna bring it up. Yeah, because a lot of guys really like the flex.

I mean, think of that Harry, I love the flex. My wife said, no, fuck you. That’s actually her exact words. Ruth, you can, you can go marry [00:47:00] someone else. I, I agree. I agree with justice. That’s ugly. She said that Tim was ugly. I agree with you. It’s ugly. What a smart woman. Do you marry ? Well, I mean if you want ugly, you’re just getting hhr.

Is that a wagon? I think the HHR is a wagon. You ruined before me. We found, we found an episode where the HHR is appropriate. Well it is. And the PT cruiser’s the same thing, right? Yes. Oh my God. You’re stealing ’em all. Because the third one in that mess is the P F 500 L, all these. Oh yeah. These travesty Doesn’t the PT Cruiser turbo share the same motor?

The SRT four? Yes. It’s the SRT four Neon. It’s a neon wagon and it’s called the GT Cruiser. Thank you very much. Correct. With sticker wood paneling. Yes, man. I was gonna, I was gonna end with the hhr. You stole my thunder mic. Ah, there, you know that might be the perfect car for you. The Chevrolet Malibu Max.

[00:48:00] Oh, I forgot about that. Gigantic turd. That thing is, I’ll do it Sin . It’s also lighter on fire with a candle. Seriously, I’d rather an Aztec slides back. Right? I’ll take two Aztecs. And you can have that thing and a via cross. What? What the fuck was that thing called? The V Cross Cross is awesome. Yeah, I’m trying.

The, the max was actually the same chassis as the Pontiac G six, even the coop. Mm-hmm. , because Pontiac was doing their whole wider is better thing still, so they’re still doing their whole wider is better. So they, you know, wanted the longer wheelbase on the G six. So they took the Malibu Max’s wheel base rather than the Malibu’s wheelbase with G six.

Uh, here. No, the, the other, the other nice thing actually, and it’s kind of the, the, the dark secret is that was in the period where Chevrolet was selling everything as an ss. Yep. So you could get a [00:49:00] Sonic Ss or a Malibu Max Ss. Yes. Ss. What the fuck do you do with a Malibu? Max Ss? I’m not sure. It’s a Coval and it does the quarter mile faster than a gt.

Yeah. Until you started. Oh, don’t be talking. Don’t be talking smack about that hhr. That is a high quality vehicle. People, oh, that chat went on so damn long and that was horrible. Everything about that whole, everything, the whole entire thread was horrible of so much SS that they made. The ssr. Yeah, . I’ve got, I’ve got a question for you guys.

Do, did they ever make a Panos wagon? Well, so I had to bring up the HHR cuz it’s sitting behind Brad right now. Uh, well that’s a nomad, but Yes. Oh shit. Yeah, he, he, he’s fired. He’s just talking trash. But he knows not to come across my nomad. But yes, [00:50:00] by, by our rules. I was gonna bring it in as an exception because it does have a D pillar.

It is actually considered a wagon when you look it up. And, uh, that’s in that 2010 range, along with the PT Cruiser and, uh, the Fiat 500 l. Quickly replace that. And if you want to be environmentally friendly, you could always go with the Ford Cmax Energy. Oh yeah, yeah. Is that, that, that’s actually a wagon.

It’s not a hatchback. It is considered a wagon. It has an extra window and a D pillar, so yes, it’s a, it’s a, it’s a wagon. So does the mini Clubman too. But the mini Clubman is a wagon as well. I think they’re done. I think they’re done is actually act, the mini club was actually paying attention. Cause I could lease it again until I could stay over, until I can get my Bronco, because the club end does have that dpi.

I mean it’s, it’s, it’s a pseudo wagon. And barn doors. I mean, my holy grail of wagons is still like a, I’d rather have like a Volvo eight 50 R. You get one of those tinted up and [00:51:00] nice wheels and tires. That thing is phenomenal looking brown with a manual. Exactly. , I mean, you got a manual horsepower. Brown, brown or that weird blue color.

Do we have blue color key? That’s all you get. And if I don’t have money, like you can get the, what’s the other one? The V 70 R or something is the other one that’s like with the six speed and 300 horsepower. Pretty sweet. What year was it? They made the Camry with the dual, had the dual wipers on the back window.

Oh, I know what you’re talking about. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That’d be great. That thing looks like, it looks like a hearse from, it’s terrible. . The Magnum looks like a hearse. Yeah, the Magnum. The Magnum always looks like it’s, it’s always in silver or black or some other monotone color, some other color.

The Magnum is actually, I think classified as an suv. Because SUVs, you know the manufacturer classifies ’em, but if the floors live, it’s an SUV because it’s on a Dodge truck platform like every [00:52:00] other Dodge ever made. No, it’s on a Mercedes E-class platform. Yeah. It’s the same as a Chrysler 300. Which I was gonna say, you can put the 300 front clip on them.

I’ve seen ’em converted over and it still looks like ass Kanye. You got something If we’re going for Hearst, like the Ghostbusters, well, yes, but no, we want Hearst like and also modern within the last five years. Lincoln, m k t. Talk about, oh God, like a hearst. What the hell? I have one of those that lives on the street behind me.

There’s an older couple that has one of those. I see it every day. I’m trying to remember which one that was. It’s the Hearst. You got a hear it up. The mark t Yeah, the M k T, uh, Google. It. It’s, it looks like a hearst. If it’s, if it’s not the hearse, it’s the vehicle escorting the. ? Yes. When you No, that was a F Home exclusive.

I didn’t know you could actually buy that. No, I, I just love the, the, the logo, like the mark t was like wedged together funny. So it’s like little m, little tiny k the t over the top. Like they tried to look stylish and [00:53:00] it’s just dumb . The best part is when you can get the mark t blackwood edition with the pin striping.

Oh my God. Like, who thought that was a good idea? , come on. Did, did you, did you ever see the one old money? Man, old money. Loves that shit. You need to get it with the, the, the Boston top, the sort of fabric top across the back three quarters of it, even though it’s like not a convertible thought me brought That’s good.

The Boston top, right. I think that’s what it’s called. My shit, my first car was a cut list, Supreme coop that had the back half the back, just back over the back seat. Had vinyl over the roof. Yep. ran, ran down I think, I think it’s called the Boston Top. I think that’s what they called it. Is that vinyl. Oh, fuck me.

No, that’s so good. Sure. It’s, it’s the Bain top. So the land. Yeah, the Bain. Have you ever seen a Cts v a Cts with one of those? Cuz I have. Ooh. Oh God. So I, I, I, you know, I’ll, I, I’ll let Tanya go after me cuz I gotta steal Mike Thunder since he stole mine [00:54:00] for the hhr, which we’re, we can revisit as many times as we like.

Oh, I, there’s too many, as much as I’ve sworn off BMWs and there’s, there’s, there’s two I would own in my, in my lifetime if, if I, you know, could find and find where those, well one is not a wagon, it’s the Z four M coop. I like the Z four M coop. There’s something about that car. But the other one, , the other one would be that late, uh, kind of early two thousands, five series wagon.

I thought they were very handsome cars that was pre bangle, getting his hands on him and ruining him. You know, they were still kind of classy. B m W, especially in black with some big, you know, h r E wheels or something like that. Or even, can you imagine an M Wagon? How nice would that be? That would’ve been awesome.

Wasn was that, wasn’t that the last time you could get, you actually could get an M five touring correct. In that, in that style, in that, in that, in that gen Yeah. Generation. They’re super rare, but they look fantastic. Uhhuh, . I, I, you know, again, I’m not, I’m not super into BMW [00:55:00] camp, but I would definitely check that one off the list, Mike.

So I like, I actually like the E 60 with the little cat eye tail lights that was available as a five 50. Mm-hmm. . And that is basically an M five wagon without some of the MBIs. Yep. It is a stunning car. I’d always love one, but there is one car if literally money was no object and I had all the time in the world to turn wrenches on it with spare engines and parts and everything else.

Can I steal your thunder? I’m gonna steal your thunder. My thunder stolen all the time. . Go ahead. No, go ahead. The Passat W eight wagon. Yeah. With six speeding. Yes. All-wheel drive. You better believe. I looked for one, I looked pretty hard, uh, cuz I was gonna get that instead of the golf estate. I just think those cars are super cool.

I don’t mind four liter W eight, if it blows up, you put a 42 Audi motor in its place, it bolts right up, you know, it is two vrs together, you know that motor sounds odd and it’s just, it’s cool. It’s different. It’s very [00:56:00] subdued and in the right color scheme with the right wheels, it’s a, a very attractive car.

So I don’t know that, that’s just me. I, I guess I like euros and, and I’m sure Tanya back me up on this, you go travel in Europe enough, especially over the last decade. Wagons were everywhere. It was the hot commodity. It was the thing that everybody had. And if you, it all diesel. Yeah. And if you didn’t have a wagon, you had a hatchback, I mean a sedan.

Yeah. And especially SUVs. That was not a thing even recently that, like my dad was over there with on a trip with my parents, with another set of parents and they had rented a, a Tiguan with the diesel and a six speed. And my dad was, would kill for one. He came home and he is like, why can’t I have a car that gets.

40 miles to the gallon perfectly drives up hills all over the place. Easily fits four adults with all the luggage in the world. And was awesome because it kills people allegedly. Yeah. But he, he was like, I wish they would sell that over here. Instead, he bought the final generation forester that you could get with a stick.

So he has a six speed [00:57:00] forester that he loves. He’s driven it down to Florida and back up. He lives in Massachusetts, so he loves his forester wagon, but he bought like the, the final year he could get a stick on it is when he bought that one. Cause he refuses to ever own a car that has an automatic, so only manuals for him.

Good, good. He’s got an A four manual, like a newish, a four manual on that forester. And then he has his 19 89 11 SC from Europe. So. So Tanya, do you have anything you wanna add in there? Wagon, you would own just a fantasy. Well, first of all, I already own a wagon. It just doesn’t have a D pillar. , huh? That’s kidding.

I’ve got a golf, um, but I wanna mention a terrible wagon just for the fun of it. That, eh, h r No. I’m gonna go further back in time and suggest that the Plymouth reliant wagon should, oh, oh, come on. What’s wrong with the reliant, definite choice on anybody’s wagon list? Let’s not forget that Low blow di dishonorable [00:58:00] mention right there.

But if, I mean, I that’s, yes, but what’s it used by a Florida man? Probably, let’s be real. We’ll be out beacon in Florida, man. Next week there’s gonna be something, the sob, the arrow that I mentioned earlier. I mean, that’s beautiful. Honestly, as a wagon, I, I would very much enjoy that car. I would also very much enjoy a two thousands vintage RS four wagon.

I particularly like that style of the, the A four s and s four s and done well or done right with the correct body package and wheel choice, et cetera. I mean, to me, they’re very good looking. If I was buying today and what’s currently available the last couple years, I, I don’t, I don’t know, , I’d probably go look or an Audi, but I don’t know for Harry.

Good. , I, I’m leaning towards the idea of [00:59:00] just keep the mini and wait for the Bronco to come out is probably the right decision. Dream wagon, I want like Tomas and I believe Rob is talking about the asic all road with like 1500 horsepower that that can get through half a session on track before it overheats and needs to come off.

But in that half a session, no one can keep up with. I mean he’s exactly fair, but that thing just hauls, . That thing is a frigging rocket ship and sounds amazing. What full chat and you gotta get rid of the doll back stickers to get some level of sort of sleeper fill. But that thing is just on a different planet of Awesome.

Well, with that, let’s get back to what do we think, what do we think Harry should buy? Right? That is the premise of this particular episode. What should I buy? So what are we thinking for Harry? Do we have a vote? I mean, just, we’ll go around the horn real fast and just knee jerk. What do you think he should buy?

All right, let’s start with Mike. Uh, I mean, if he’s sticking wagon, I, I’d still say tox. Chrissy? Yeah. [01:00:00] Matt. The, the, the Regal’s probably the way to go, Rob, if it’s new, it’s gotta be the regal. If it’s old SAB, Andrew GMs aren’t that bad. So yeah, the regal Tanya, a crossover. Nice. You have to be a wagon. Fine.

Pr I would go seriously, consider the Buick. I’m gonna go with the A four all road. I’m the, I’m the oddball out. And then Brad, uh, if it’s old, I’m going Chevy Nomad. If it’s new, I’m going Stelvio lowered. because you gotta be a true petrolhead at some point in your life. Exactly. Well, he’s already got an alpha.

He’s already alpha now. Yeah. He doesn’t need, yeah, I have an alpha already Got that. He needs, he needs an alpha that doesn’t run on Monday and an alpha that doesn’t run on Tuesday. Nice. So Harry, is there anything else? A a anything else you want to talk about? No, I think you guys hit off everything, uh, way more thorough than I thought you were going to.

This was nice. Well, very good. I, I’ve, I’m definitely gonna look at the Buick Regal. I have not seen it yet. It was [01:01:00] in the leader house just because it fit all my criteria being a wagon and that’s what I wanted. I didn’t wanna own an suv. And the listeners are gonna tune in next time when we can hear all about Harry’s new hhr.

Uhhuh and on that utter disappointment. I think it’s time. That’s awful. Awful. It’s time to end . So thank you all so much for joining us tonight. I hope the listeners out there enjoyed it. We never really do come to a decision or a consensus. I think this is the closest we’ve ever gotten. And I guess, Harry, the answer is Buick, so let us know how that goes.

Roadmaster. Yeah, I’ll let you know how the Buick is. I’m gonna go lease one. And don’t forget your golf clubs.

In full disclosure. Our high level assessment of all the cars on this list is really based on our members and our and owner experiences. We urge you to do your own research and fact check everything before committing to any one of these vehicles. G T M [01:02:00] and Brad and I specifically, were not responsible for your satisfaction, your happiness with whatever vehicle you choose.

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