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From the April 2000 concern of Automobile and Driver.
The excellent news for the station-wagon devoted is that for 2000, the palette of obtainable two-box nameplates from which to decide on broadens by two to 19. Newcomers this 12 months embody the Saturn L-series, the BMW 323i, the Volvo V40, and the Ford Focus (which replaces the Escort and Mercury Tracer wagons).
It is tempting to suppose the market is lastly listening to us. For years, we have counseled the wagon’s decrease middle of gravity, higher power-to-weight ratio, simpler maneuverability, and inherently extra carlike dealing with habits relative to minivans and sport-utility autos. And wagons can typically match the cargo capability of utes. By our sensible measurements, the common household wagon (the 4 on this check are the most important you will get nowadays) can carry extra packing containers, an extended pipe, and a much bigger piece of plywood than can the common of the final 11 small and mid-size SUVs we have comparison-tested.
However as a lot as we might wish to suppose we have satisfied our fellow motorists to climb down from their high-rise, low-efficiency, view-blocking SUVs and get again on the bottom flooring of dynamic driving get pleasure fromment, the info recommend in any other case. Wagon gross sales have simply saved tempo with the booming automobile market whereas SUV gross sales proceed to increase with the vigor of fissioning uranium.
Now, different magazines is likely to be content to wring their fingers and pose rhetorical questions on when the dopes shopping for SUVs will sensible up and uncover the virtues of the wagon, however not this one. We dig deep to reply even the rhetorical questions.
On this occasion, we figured one of the best ways to try this was to load up 4 household wagons and set a course for New Orleans—the epicenter of American voodoo worship and follow—to seek the advice of the ancestral spirits for some definitive solutions. After all, the truth that N’awlins lays declare to the oldest bar within the U.S., the very best meals within the South, and among the most outrageous nightlife in Christendom was immaterial in our alternative of a vacation spot for this winter retreat. Actually.
We final in contrast household wagons in July 1994. Of the six autos in that face-off, three have been discontinued (the wagon variants of the Honda Accord, the Mitsubishi Diamante, and the Toyota Camry). Two have been redesigned—twice (the Mercury Sable and the Subaru Legacy). The successful VW Passat has been considerably upgraded to share engines and a primary suspension design with the Audi A4. And a single newcomer joins the family-wagon section this 12 months—the Saturn L-series.
So let’s head south to the marshes, bayous, and plantations of Ascension Parish and the bustling boulevards of New Orleans throughout Carnival in the hunt for the very best household wagon—by way of our conventional goal and subjective assessments—and a few ethereal prophesying about the way forward for wagoning. Laissez le bon temps rouler!
4th Place: Subaru Legacy Outback Restricted
We would higher admit proper up entrance that this Outback Restricted mannequin, wearing SUV drag with knobby tires, cladding, and jumbo fog lamps, was not our first alternative of Subarus for this check. On this journey, we’re wagon advocates, keep in mind? Loaded to the gills with twin sunroofs, leather-based, an in-dash CD changer, heated seats, and even heated windshield wipers, this Subaru busted the finances huge time at $27,900. What’s extra, all that luxurious burdened it with a portly 3625-pound curb weight—porkiest on this group. Had a much less opulent, extra sporting $24,190 GT wagon been obtainable—particularly with a handbook transmission—the outcomes may need been completely different.
HIGHS: Quiet, inflexible physique construction; luxurious appointments.
LOWS: Inadequate energy and rear-seat area, poor dealing with from high-rise suspension.
VERDICT: The proper rig for households that all the time take holidays within the rain or snow.
For 2000, a slightly delicate restyling job belies larger modifications beneath the Legacy’s pores and skin. The construction has been beefed up, with particular consideration paid to side-impact safety. Two beams now reinforce every entrance door, and the rear wheel-arch construction is fortified, as are the B-pillars. Unibody reinforcements imply the brand new wagon resists bending twice in addition to the previous one, which interprets to an exceptionally rattle- and shake-free trip.
Adjustments to the flat-four engine are equally deceiving. Though it produces practically the identical peak output as final 12 months’s engine (165 horsepower and 166 pound-feet of torque) from the identical 2.5 liters, the engine is all-new. Its single-overhead-cam design is extra compact and extra gas environment friendly and is alleged to crank out extra low-end and part-throttle efficiency than its DOHC predecessor. That could be true, but it surely’s not sufficient to beat the friction and rotational inertia of the usual all-wheel drive and that scale-pegging curb weight. A pair extra cylinders or a turbo or each are urgently wanted.
On the monitor, the Sube ran simply forward of the 155-hp Taurus, reaching 60 mph in a leisurely 10.7 seconds. Passing requires superior planning, and momentum conservation turns into the order of the day.
Exacerbating the weak straight-line efficiency in a check that by no means ventured off-road had been the Outback’s sport-ute-pretender underpinnings. The suspension is raised, and taller P225/60HR-16 Firestone Wilderness tires are fitted to offer 7.3 inches of floor clearance (an inch extra daylight than tarmac-only Legacys). This setup supplies commendable trip isolation over sharp impacts however leads to extra fore-and-aft passion horsing over dips within the street, extra physique roll, and peculiar habits in transient maneuvers. There’s some imprecision because the tire tread blocks lean in curves, and the physique rolls noticeably earlier than taking a set. We expect the GT’s 205/55R-16s would work higher right here.
Our Subaru fell brief in a single different space of maybe higher significance to the vacationing household. The rear seat, which thoughtfully supplies headrests and shoulder belts for 3, lacks head and shoulder room for 3 youngsters. Nixing the twin sunroofs would assist.
On the plus facet, the cargo maintain ranks common on this group by most of our measurements, and the baggage rack is the one one to supply crossbars with accent mounting factors. The Legacy wagon additionally felt extraordinarily refined and well-built—solely the Volkswagen was quieter on the freeway.
Put merely, the Outback simply is not our sort of wagon. But when its SUV-like enticepings idiot anybody into selecting it over an Explorer, we’ll endorse it heartily.
2000 Subaru Legacy Outback Restricted
165-hp flat-4, 4-speed computerized, 3625 lb
Base/as-tested value: $26,590/$27,900
C/D TEST RESULTS
60 mph: 10.7 sec
1/4 mile: 18.0 sec @ 76 mph
100 mph: 36.1 sec
Braking, 70–0 mph: 184 ft
Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 0.75 g
C/D noticed gas economic system: 24 mpg
third Place: Ford Taurus SE
That is as shut as any car involves the station wagons of the Donna Reed and Brady Bunch eras. The Taurus and its Sable sibling are actually the one center-class household wagons to supply a 3rd rear-facing seat, and thus passenger seating for eight. Our Taurus was the longest and widest automobile on this check, and never surprisingly, it provided essentially the most area for carrying passengers and cargo.
It hauls 81 cubic toes of stuff with the rear seats folded down (only one cubic foot lower than an Explorer holds). It has the longest and most helpful roof-top baggage rack. The rear glass opens independently of the liftgate for loading grocery sacks. And when not in use, the effectively the place the third seat stows can be utilized as a lockable storage space. The one hitch is a cargo shade that is mounted so low above the ground that something taller than 11.5 inches makes a bulge in it. (Shades within the different automobiles provide 4 to eight extra inches of clearance.)
HIGHS: Runaway winner within the cargo-hauling contest, equally excessive marks for security and worth.
LOWS: Noisy engine comes up brief on efficiency, rear bench belongs in a park.
VERDICT: The wagoniest wagon of the bunch.
Additionally racking up huge family-value factors is the Taurus’s security report. In 1999, it was the one mid-size automobile to obtain a high five-star ranking for each the driving force and front-seat passenger in authorities crash assessments. And for 2000, “sensible airbags” that tailor their inflation fee and power to the dimensions and place of the occupant have been added, together with seatbelt pretensioners and power limiters.
Among the many different revisions made to the brand new Taurus are bigger and brighter headlamps, new sheetmetal (apart from the doorways), and tweaks to the steering and chassis to enhance directional stability. The chassis work was effectively definitely worth the effort. This massive wagon has not been reborn as nimble and tossable, however it’s now communicative and well-behaved, going exactly the place it’s pointed with modest and tolerable physique roll and completely no surprises. Its massive measurement and lowest-in-test grip (0.74 g) triggered it to run the lane change extra slowly than the opposite automobiles, but it surely negotiated the cones with higher ease and poise than the next-best Subaru.
The place the Ford comes up brief is in efficiency, refinement, and seat comfort. Right here once more, our vehicle-availability juju allow us to down, as the one Taurus we may lay our fingers on got here with the low-tech 155-hp Vulcan pushrod V-6. The smoother 200-hp Duratec DOHC six would have added simply $695 to the worth—that is $200 lower than the worth of the leather-based seats (an admittedly helpful choice for spill cleanup in a household automobile, now that vinyl is taboo).
Saddled with the poorest power-to-weight ratio, the Taurus completed final in all of the drag-racing classes. It lumbered to 60 mph in 10.9 seconds, accompanied by a rough growl and vibration felt by means of the steering wheel and the non-obligatory adjustable pedals. Vibrations additionally rippled by means of the chassis when traversing tough roads, all of which conspired with a slightly plasticky-looking sprint to present the Ford a slightly low-rent really feel.
The opposite egregious misstep entails seating consolation, particularly in again, the place occupants discover themselves on a tough, flat raised bench. And people carry-over doorways imply that adults driving again there nonetheless get an eyeful of C-pillar after they look to the facet.
The Taurus can carry extra journey toys and diversions, however comfier seats and higher driving dynamics may make dad and mom and youngsters blissful touring with a bit much less within the subsequent two wagons.
2000 Ford Taurus SE
155-hp V-6, 4-speed computerized, 3521 lb
Base/as-tested value: $20,450/$23,320
C/D TEST RESULTS
60 mph: 10.9 sec
1/4 mile: 18.1 sec @ 76 mph
100 mph: 44.3 sec
Braking, 70–0 mph: 196 ft
Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 0.74 g
C/D noticed gas economic system: 23 mpg
2nd Place: Saturn LW2
Saturn’s new “massive” sedan and wagon collection is loosely based mostly on the European Opel Vectra, and on this check, that Euro heritage expressed itself as exuberant performance. Our upmarket LW2 mannequin’s standard 182-hp, 3.0-liter V-6 (the LW1 will get a 137-hp, 2.2-liter four-cylinder) simply powered this, the lightest automobile within the check at 3249 kilos, to victory in practically all our acceleration assessments. It dashed to 60 mph in 7.8 seconds and thru the quarter-mile in simply 16.0 seconds at 87 mph, its four-pace computerized snapping off {smooth} shifts faster than Bourbon Avenue balcony boys can toss a necklace to a flashing passerby. The Passat nipped on the Saturn’s heels within the standing-start assessments, however the LW2’s quick-witted gearbox helped widen the efficiency hole within the passing and street-start contests.
Saturn additionally aced the lateral-grip check, with 205/65HR-15 Firestone Affinity HP tires that held on for 0.79 g. The LW2 was praised for its typically sprightly, dynamic habits, however its chassis couldn’t fairly match that of the Passat for poise and finesse. Stiff anti-roll bars on the Saturn resulted in additional pronounced head toss over one-wheel dips. In fast transient maneuvers such because the lane change, the LW2 was extra prone to step out within the rear, giving the VW an almost 6-mph advantage in that check. And the Saturn’s strut-entrance suspension transmits a little bit of torque steer if the wheel is rotated in any respect with the hammer down.
HIGHS: Prepared boy-racer drivetrain, good seats and cargo area.
LOWS: Saturn-familiar styling and panel matches, noisy engine.
VERDICT: Devotees of the marque shall be greater than happy.
In and out, the LW2 ranked second in measurement and hauling capability. With the rear seats folded flat, it may well settle for 71 cubic toes of dunnage—one dice lower than can a Jeep Grand Cherokee. Passenger area entrance and rear falls inside one cubic foot of the bigger Taurus, and the rear seat is motiveably comfy, providing good thigh help regardless of its decrease seating place relative to the opposite wagons right here.
Saturn wins one other gold star within the worth class. Our cloth-upholstered mannequin with anti-lock brakes and traction management price a formidable $22,890, and it is exactly the Saturn we might order. Skip the $1095 leather-based package deal (its entrance buckets are much less comfy) and the $220 premium audio system, certainly one of which is on the ground of the cargo space, the place it may simply accumulate grime and grit.
Mitigating the sturdy worth ranking, nonetheless, is the LW2′ s shortage of options and facilities and its low ranges of refinement. That strong-performing engine, discovered elsewhere beneath the hoods of the Cadillac Catera and Saab 9-5 SE, feels as if it had been bolted on to the body. It vibrates the automobile at idle, and it tasks its voice clearly by means of the firewall at an disagreeable quantity. A number of wind and street noise penetrate the cabin, too, growing fatigue on cross-country treks. And as with the smaller S-series Saturns, the plastic physique panels are hooked up with a lot of room to increase within the warmth, that means that within the winter a nutria (see glossary) may practically squeeze by means of the door gaps.
Reliability, practicality, and worth have lengthy been hallmarks of the Saturn model, and its disciples will really feel proper at house on this new mannequin (they most likely will not even discover the noise and the panel gaps).
2000 Saturn LW2
182-hp V-6, 4-speed computerized, 3249 lb
Base/as-tested value: $21,800/$22,890
C/D TEST RESULTS
60 mph: 7.8 sec
1/4 mile: 16.0 sec @ 87 mph
100 mph: 21.8 sec
Braking, 70–0 mph: 186 ft
Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 0.79 g
C/D noticed gas economic system: 22 mpg
1st Place: Volkswagen Passat GLS V-6
All proper, right here we go once more—sure, this $27,880 V-6 Passat is pricey, and on this firm, it clearly seems to be prefer it’s slumming, down for a go to from the genuine-wood class. We requested a base Passat GLS powered by the feisty little 150-hp, 1.8-liter turbo priced at $22,525 to start out, however solely the new-for-2000 2.8-liter 30-valve V-6 was obtainable.
HIGHS: Bucks-up match, end, and chassis finesse.
LOWS: Bucks-up value.
VERDICT: Rear-seat consolation and cargo capability meet a household’s wants, driving dynamics will delight the fanatic.
That engine provides $2600 to the worth, and mated to the $1075 five-speed computerized transmission, it generates velvety-smooth and quiet acceleration from any pace. It takes 8.0 seconds to hit 60 mph, about twice that for the quarter-mile. These numbers are inside a half-second of the 1.8-liter Passat wagon we examined in November 1998 (with a handbook transmission). That signifies that even when we might gotten the automobile we requested for, the Passat’s ending order on the drag strip wouldn’t have modified. (Its gas economic system may need been higher, too. Over our 400-mile journey, the V-6 Passat gulped premium on the abysmal fee of 20 mpg.) That base automobile additionally runs on the identical very good Audi A4-derived chassis, with the identical multilink entrance and trailing-arm rear suspension that presses the tires to the tarmac with unmatched precision. The identical laser-accurate, frictionless steering that communicates each nuance of road-surface knowledge. The identical Continental 195/65HR-15 tires that generate modest grip (0.76 g right here) in stoic silence. Our Passat sailed by means of the emergency lane change with out drama at 62.7 mph, feeling as if the gates had widened by a minimum of two toes.
Out in the true world, the Passat’s exceptionally inflexible chassis absorbs bumps and imperfections quietly and with no intestine-jiggling repercussions. Freeway miles slip by in close to silence at 70 mph, with only a 67 or 68 dBA whisper—and that is with both engine.
And the Passat acquits itself effectively within the people- and stuff-hauling classes as effectively. Regardless of being the shortest automobile within the group, measuring 13.8 inches shorter than the Taurus, its upright greenhouse makes essentially the most of inside area. With the seats up, it matches the Taurus’s 39 cubic toes of cargo capability; the rear seat is 5 cubic toes smaller, however vertical C-pillars and the massive, sq. home windows make it appear and feel larger than the Taurus, which accounts for its first-place rating within the rear-seat consolation class. (High marks within the styling column additional vindicate the selection made concerning greenhouse form.) The rear doorways additionally open wider for simpler entry. Alas, when the seat are folded down, the Passat’s smaller measurement can now not be disguised—the max capability is 56 cubic toes, the smallest within the group.
Including to the impression that this automobile is visiting from the following rung up on the status ladder are the Passat’s spectacular construct high quality and luxurious touches, resembling free scheduled upkeep for 2 years or 40,000 miles and a 10-year/100,000-mile restricted powertrain guarantee.
We agreed unanimously that Volkswagen’s newest Passat makes essentially the most articulate argument for purchasing a wagon slightly than any of the extra cumbersome hauling gadgets, no matter which engine is specified. And for the SUV devoted hooked on all-wheel drive, VW’s new 4Motion system will quickly be obtainable on V-6 computerized fashions, priced at simply $1650.
As we headed house from sunny New Orleans, belching day-old Cajun spices and nursing Hurricane hangovers, we had been satisfied of the veracity of Priestess Miriam’s prophesy: “Station wagons will return!”
2000 Volkswagen Passat GLS V-6
190-hp V-6, 5-speed computerized, 3382 lb
Base/as-tested value: $25,125/$27,880
C/D TEST RESULTS
60 mph: 8.0 sec
1/4 mile: 16.2 sec @ 87 mph
100 mph: 22.0 sec
Braking, 70–0 mph: 187 ft
Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 0.76 g
C/D noticed gas economic system: 20 mpg
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