Comparison Tests
From the June 2014 Issue of Car and Driver
Three’s a trend, but something short of a comeback. Even with enough wagons clustered in one segment to warrant our first roundup in 13 years, the two-box car remains endangered. The taller, truckier version of the wagon, the compact crossover, now dominates the market for utility vehicles. Case in point: Audi sells nine Q5s for every Allroad it unloads.
You can have your pick of a dozen crossovers for similar money, but there are just three bona fide wagons in the compact-luxury class. Each one hails from Europe, where sensible people buy these pragmatic cars en masse. Even if you’ve never bought one or even seen one, you know their siblings well. The BMW 328i xDrive sports wagon is the cargo-toting variant of the 23-time 10Best-winning sedan. Audi’s Allroad is a sort of Subaru Outback of luxury cars, with a 1.5-inch suspension lift compared with the Euro-only A4 Avant on which it’s based. The Volvo V60, derived from the S60 sedan, is the newcomer here, though it’s been sold overseas since 2011. Consider it a stopgap to keep showroom floors fresh as Volvo’s new owner, Chinese automaker Geely, takes its sweet time preparing a full-lineup reboot.
The few Americans who buy these wagons reap the advantages that come with keeping your cargo close to the road. A sports sedan wearing a backpack is the enthusiast’s alternative to a crossover, offering similar cargo capacity with better fuel economy and performance. The 328i wagon is 400 pounds lighter than a BMW X3. The Allroad’s center of gravity is 2.5 inches lower than that of the Audi Q5. Volvo’s V60 wagon is 0.7 second quicker to 60 mph than the XC60. We ranked them from third to first, but by most measures of driving dynamics, any one of these wagons puts you well ahead of any crossover.
