Before SUVs Took Over, Nissan Built This Three-Row Station Wagon [Motor1]

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alien_farmer1@reddit

Wagon body type is utterly underrated. I wish we could get cheap compact SWs, that's the only car a person needs. I may die until i see one.

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samcuu@reddit

What makes it better than a crossover/SUV for the average person? Absolutely nothing.

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BattlePrune@reddit

But muh handling dynamics, how else am I gonna drift into the parking lot to buy milk?

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mklimbach@reddit

Emergency handling is an important metric with vehicles - how they behave when traction is lost matters. It's not just about performance handling, it's about safety.

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42LSx@reddit

Yeah, cars should never be fun and good!!

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Parcours97@reddit

Better fuel economy, better for parking and way cheaper.

VW Passat Variant and VW Touareg are the same lenght, store almost the same amount but one is about 10cm wider and 50% more expensive.

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WordWithinTheWord@reddit

Less practical than SUVs in almost every metric besides handling dynamics and maybe 1-2 MPG

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Modern wagons are also more space efficient on the inside and they have better pedestrian safety on the outside. Better handling dynamics makes them safer as well in regards to single vehicle accidents. The Corolla Touring Sport for example has much more total interior room and significantly better mpg than the Corolla Cross.

What are some ways they are generally less practical in the context of how they are actually used? Wagons seems more practical in every way.

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Captain_Alaska@reddit

Better handling dynamics makes them safer as well in regards to single vehicle accidents.

Cars are significantly worse than SUVs or pickups in single vehicle accidents.

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Tiny-Art7074@reddit

Do you have a source for that? One that also shows the rate of accidents as well as their outcome? I've only ever read that SUVs are far more likely to be involved in single vehicle crashes due to their poor handling. So even if they are slightly safer during the crash, their higher rate of crashes offsets that.

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Captain_Alaska@reddit

Overall in 2023, for 1-3-year-old passenger vehicles, there were 15 driver deaths per million registered passenger vehicles in single-vehicle crashes and 25 driver deaths per million registered passenger vehicles in multiple-vehicle crashes. Cars had the highest number of deaths per million registered vehicles both in single-vehicle crashes (23) and in multiple-vehicle crashes (43). SUVs had the lowest number of deaths per million registered vehicles in single-vehicle crashes (11).

https://www.iihs.org/research-areas/fatality-statistics/detail/passenger-vehicle-occupants

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mini4x@reddit

I'm betting half the things they are classifing as cars, are actually CUVs.

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Tiny-Art7074@reddit

You came through, good info thank you! All I need now is to stop hating SUVs.

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WordWithinTheWord@reddit

Because the Corolla Cross is their subcompact CUV offering.

You’d want to compare the RAV4 which is 1” shorter than the Corolla Touring Sport but has more interior space.

They are different engine offerings so it’s not a clean comparison for fuel economy.

Higher load floor, easier ingress/egress, better road visibility, more ground clearance for snow.

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crunchynibbas@reddit

And I also don't give two shits about driving dynamics in a commuter.

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Tiny-Art7074@reddit

Good point, didn't realize the length was so different between the cross and the wagon and looking at the same engine in the corolla cross and wagon (my country has the 1.8 and 2L in both models) it is only a 4mpg difference for the worst case trim level (and 1-2mpg for some trims), so not all that different, even the Rav4 is not all that different from the wagon.

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mini4x@reddit

Tell me how say a Subaru Impreza is Less practical that its stable mate the Crosstrek?

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mini4x@reddit

You can still buy a Subaru Imprezza in the US, globally compact wagons and hatchbacks are still quite common.

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kjubus@reddit

Like golf variant? Or octavia? Or smaller, like peugeot 206 sw?

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crunchynibbas@reddit

Daring, aren't we?

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Key_Budget9267@reddit

[Incredibly popular car enthusiast opinion] is so underrated!

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Insomniax187@reddit

Until you see one? Like you'll come back once they make one?

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AbXcape@reddit

is the 1980s Peugeot 505 3 row wagon a joke to you? who approved these “articles”?

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mini4x@reddit

Every American starting probably in the mid 50d had a 3rd tow as an option.

Probably before then even.

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Thomas_633_Mk2@reddit

They mention multiple examples of 3 row or large wagons in the article:

Think of it as Japan’s take on big American wagons like the Ford Country Squire, Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser, or Buick Roadmaster Wagon.

We managed to get hold of the press release from nearly three decades ago and discovered Nissan aptly called it a "utility wagon." But while most vehicles in this segment had a rear-facing third row, the Stylish 6 took a different approach. Unlike the Volvo V70 and Mercedes E-Class, Nissan didn’t want the rearmost seats to feel like an afterthought, so it oriented them forward.

Motor1 is rarely good journalism, but this is actually a pretty interesting concept (3 row wagon with a V6 hybrid) for the late 1990s. It's somewhat of a clickbaity title but that's every site these days, and they do provide historical context.

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