Cars We Drive! - Page 382

^^ I don't understand sports wagons. Wagons are like family cars where you put your dog in the back or your picnic basket (never both together).

What's so hard to understand about wagons? They fit things that sedans can't (keep in mind that fold-down seats in sedans are a relatively new invention across the board, and even then, many things just don't fit)... basically as much as a small SUV. On the other hand, most people never take their SUVs off road (or can't, since many are just for looks) and they'd be better suited by a car with a lower center of gravity and more car-like performance. The E55 AMG wagon from almost 10 years ago can do a standing 1/4 mile in the low 12's and runs neck and neck with a 996 turbo, and the E wagon is fairly large and capacious...

The new E class wagon has a bigger boot than the current X5.

I'm with blahman. I understand the concept of wagons. Makes sense.

I don't understand the concept of sports wagons, though. Totally defeats the purpose of having a car that drives faster and better by having a fat ass boot and additional weight.

I know I'm being ignorant, but sports wagons and high performance SUVs should not exist.

utility + fun + DAT ASS. whats not to get? i prefer some people dont get it, anyway. 

the boot doesn't add much weight

E63 sedan: 4347lbs
E63T wagon: 4510lbs

160 lbs is a nominal weight increase for a car that weighs 4350lbs to begin with. There's also the fact that the E63 wagon is a 7 passenger car, while the sedan is a 5-placer.

sedan stats:
0-60 : 3.8s
1/4 mi : 12.1 @120.8mph
braking, 60mph-0 : 103ft (ceramic brakes)
.93 lateral g
16/24mpg

wagon stats
0.-60: 3.9s
1/4 mi: 12.2 @ 118.6mph
braking, 60-0: 105ft (non-ceramic brakes)
.92 lateral g
15/23mpg

And GreenFrog, your beloved E92 M3, for comparison:

0-60: 4.1s
1/4mi: 12.6@113.2mph
braking 60-0 =110ft
.95g
14/20mpg

One can hold 7 passengers or a proper wagon's worth of cargo, the other can't. Now do you understand sport wagons?

not saying sports SUVs and to a slightly lesser point aren't impractical, but aren't all sports cars?

A sports wagon is totally practical. I can understand the aversion (and that's almost strictly an American thing, as sports wagons are outrageously popular in Europe and Japan, and the rest of the Asian markets aren't developed/matured enough to appreciate cars like this), but saying they're impractical is way off base - just look at the numbers.
Imagine if HRoi replaced his M3 sedan with the E63T wagon - he'd have an E63 and a 997 GT3, that's like a one-two for street/track cars, and as you can see above, the E63 gets slightly better mileage, is much bigger and utilitarian (most people don't ever use the 7 passenger feature, but I would very occasionally) and it's even faster than the M3.

I meant impractical only In the power and girth in the respect that the X6 is impractical and thirsty, wagons are not the same animal

 

Thought I would add my vehicle to the thread. 

Not my picture, but I have one just the same and my what a slut she is

But can a wagon handle as well as a sedan/coupe around the track? I don't really care for 0-60 times. The engines are completely different and Mercs are all about monster torque.

I just don't get performance wagons. Why not get a regular wagon and a high performance coup/sedan?

The sedan pulls .93 lateral g's, the wagon does .92g. It's a long wheelbase car and has crushing power all the way to the top it seems, I'm sure it's not pretty to look at on a track but it'd get around a track pretty quickly if you got angry with it.

And why not get a high powered sports wagon if you can afford it? It's no different than a sedan in this case. If anything, your argument is illogical when you start putting a sports sedan above the wagon - the wagon has actual utilitarian value to explain it's weight, whereas most sports sedans, much less so, and a sports sedan is no closer to a real sports car than the wagon is, especially in the case of the E63.

+1 on this. I love sport wagons.

Also, you will understand this concept better when you get to be 30 or so and start buying things like furniture and houseplants, possibly even have a baby on purpose... there are no coupes that handle these things well.