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Archive for the ‘station wagon’ Category

Produced since 1994, the S6 is Audi’s go-faster version of the A6, slotting in under the even-faster RS6 variants. Previously offered as the fourth-generation C7, Audi just unveiled the latest fifth-gen S6, following up on the fifth-gen A6 that debuted at the 2018 Geneva International Motor Show. Once again offered in a long-roof Avant wagon body style, the latest S6 comes with fresh and sporty styling, oodles of comfort in the cabin, and a new mild-hybrid diesel powertrain under the hood. Read on for everything else this performance wagon is bringing to the table (beyond the groceries, obviously).

The new Audi RS6 Avant has been spotted covered in partial camouflage while making the test rounds recently. The high-performance wagon model of the A6 sedan is the latest Audi model to be captured by spy photographers. If anything, this shows that Audi’s test drivers have had their work cut out of them. The sporty station wagon was even spotted alongside the RS Q8 SUV.

Update 03/27/2019: We’ve received some new spy shots of the 2020 Audi RS6, This time in full production form. Check out the latest in our ”Spy Shots” section below.

At a time when wagons are slowly evolving from being family haulers to performance beasts, people in the U.S. are missing out on a lot of action. The Audi RS4 and the RS6 Avant give us the major #FOMO feels. Audi has told wagon-lovers in the U.S. not to give up hopes yet, as the company said, “We always look at potential new opportunities in the market. It’s a niche to explore. We keep holding discussions. Keep writing us letters.” That’s not a confirmation in any way, but it sounds like an assurance for the time being. The namesake fast wagon from the German automaker’s stable that we have here is the Audi A4 Allroad. Although we were mighty impressed with the wagon, it is no substitute for the RS4 Avant, and, that is why we need the Lord of the four rings to ship those beauties our way as soon as possible. You listening, Audi?

There’s no denying that Tesla has come a long way since it threw a battery pack and a badge on a Lotus and called in the Tesla Roadster. The brand now has four models in its range with a pickup truck and a semi on the way, potential range has nearly doubled compared to the original roadster, and Tesla is on the horizon of finding some pretty stiff competition in a segment it once had a dominating stronghold on. A decade after the original Roadster debuted, Elon Musk presented us with what is, essentially, the second-gen Roadster. This time around, however, it holds the title of being Tesla’s most aggressive-looking model and even delivers supercar-like performance with the caveat that it also comes with a supercar-like price in its best form. So, while the original Tesla Roadster has broken the record by traveling more than any other car in human history (Elon Musk’s roadster that was sent into space), the new roadster is breaking its own records. Even with figures like 7,376 pound-feet of torque, 620 miles per charge, or 0-to-60 mph in 1.9 seconds, we’re never truly happy and always want more. And, that’s exactly why this rendering of the Tesla Roadster as a shooting brake as tickled our interest in a way that few renderings ever do. It’s a forbidden fruit and ever seeing one is a long shot, but that doesn’t mean we can’t dream, right?

Bentley’s first SUV just became more powerful and faster although you won’t notice it that quickly when you look at the exterior of the new Bentayga Speed. Underneath the pretty bronze exterior, there’s a 626 horsepower 6.0-liter, twin-turbocharged, W-12 behemoth that helps the not-so-pretty beast reach 190 mph and a bit. That bit is one 1 km/h more than the Urus and this allows Bentley to take home all the bragging rights for now.

We are well accustomed to automakers goosing it out over who makes the fastest supercar but we’re now seeing this trend awkwardly trickle down to big SUVs. Porsche’s Cayenne Turbo was, arguably, the first modern SUV that packed a decent punch but many have followed in its wake with Lamborghini dropping the first Super-SUV ever (as they call it) with the Urus. Let’s see if Lamborghini responds with a peppered-up Urus or not, considering both companies are under the VAG umbrella.

Less than a month after the company launched the facelifted version, Volkswagen is all set to launch the sporty variant of the Passat Estate at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show. The Passat Variant R-Line Edition comes with a lot of new goodies and will certainly induce the younger folks’ interest. The company has announced that the R-Line edition will be limited to just 2,000 units!

With almost 50 million units sold since it was first introduced in 1966, the Toyota Corolla is, without question, the best-selling car in the history of the auto industry. Even if the world is populated by Corollas, Toyota has found a way to continuously reinvent the model in ways that make it popular. It comes as no surprise then that we’re going to see another reinvented version of the Corolla called the Corolla Trek at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show. Based on the Touring Sports wagon body of Toyota’s best-selling model, the Corolla Trek is essentially a raised version of the wagon that’s not a lot different from the Volkswagen Golf Alltrack. The recent trend of automakers raising their wagons and hatchbacks in the name of giving them crossover-like appeal has now taken over Toyota. We’ll see what that’s about when the Toyota Corolla debuts in Geneva next month.

Wagons are the most practical vehicles one can buy today. They amalgamate the practicality of an SUV and the ride and handling of a sedan. Although they lacked the star-power and the glamorous looks until five years back, things have changed. A lot of mainstream automakers have started making these long vehicles look sexy. One such company that deserves credit for making a wagon look so desirable is Volvo. The Scandinavian company has gone a step ahead by mixing a crossover and a wagon into one beautiful product called the Volvo V60 Cross Country.

Estates have always been looked upon as family and luggage haulers. They were never meant to be attractive, fast, or adventurous. These vehicles were boring, but very practical. But with time, estates, aka wagons, started getting glamorous and confident, and lately, even luxurious. One classic example of the same is the Audi A4 Allroad. Other than the slight body roll and the long tail, it is a perfect blend of a sedan’s ride and handling and an SUVs practicality and off-roading capabilities.

Mercedes will inject some practicality into its all-new second-gen CLA with the load-lugging CLA shooting brake model. It’s not difficult to see that, with its tapered, swooping shape, it won’t be the most cavernous wagon on the market, but it will certainly offer more space inside than the sedan. It may also appeal to wagon and SUV fans that would otherwise have completely ignored the model.

However, this is not merely a rehash of the initial CLA estate’s formula, since this new one has quite a different shape to it. The front it inherited from the new CLA sedan, but the rear end looks quite different compared to that of the previous CLA wagon – it’s even sleeker and has a more steeply raked fastback-like rear screen.

Realistically few will buy the CLA wagon for its practicality, and most will just want one because it’s a cool, stylish wagon that drives well. Plus it carries the ultra-desirable Mercedes badge. It’s a head-turner too, as with any CLA (even the older one), it draws quite a lot of looks since it’s quite an unusual shape and quite nice to look at too.

Mercedes-Benz is already parading camouflaged prototypes of its upcoming CLA wagon, the second generation of the load-lugging four-door coupe that is based on the A-Class. This time the model is all the more unique since there is no bigger CLS shooting brake anymore, so buyers looking for this type of sporty looking wagon within the Mercedes range will have to settle for the new CLA.

Ford has unveiled the refreshed Mondeo at the 2019 Brussels Motor Show in Belgium. The Mondeo was looking stale for quite some time now and needed a refresh desperately. However, it did not come alone. It brought along the company’s first-ever hybrid wagon and, from our initial impressions, we would call this hybrid-wagon a masterstroke!

Sedans are driving towards extinction and SUVs are the supposed heirs to the throne; but, what about wagons? These long, not-so-pretty vehicles actually make for a perfect family car and are quite practical as a daily commuter as well. In Europe, wagons sell in huge numbers, but that’s not the case here in the U.S. Even though all sizes of SUVs are dominating the market and killing competition, wagons are in a league of their own and seem to be on a come up.

Automakers are gearing up for the Tokyo Auto Show, and it’s already proving to be a show of conceptual goodness. Outside of Mitsubishi’s interesting concepts Subaru will be in attendance with two pretty awesome concepts – the Forester STI e-Boxer and the Impreza STI. Both come wearing a beautiful helping of STI design to go with, most likely, limited performance. Here’s what we know about them so far.

Unveiled in late 2017, the cool Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato Shooting Brake is starting to make appearances on public roads. Aton Martin Lagonda Group SEO and President Andy Palmer spotted one during a factory walk, and it’s more outlandish that the car we’ve seen on auto show floors – simply because it’s painted bright pink!

Unveiled in late 2017, the cool Aston Martin Vanquish Zagato Shooting Brake is starting to make appearances on public roads. Aton Martin Lagonda Group SEO and President Andy Palmer spotted one during a factory walk, and it’s more outlandish that the car we’ve seen on auto show floors – simply because it’s painted bright pink!

The market has been moving towards big SUVs and all kinds of crossovers in the past few years, but there are still people who favor a good old station wagon like this guy who decided a snowmobile will fit in the back of his BMW 3 Series Wagon and, incredibly, it did. Sort of…

Just when we all thought that sedans and station wagons were on the chopping block…. Thanks to an ever decreasing interest in cars and the momentum gained by trucks and all kinds of crossovers in the past few years, we come across videos like this that show just how much stuff you can haul in the back of an ordinary station wagon.

Audi’s current sedan lineup consists of the A8, the A7, and the A6, followed by the A4 taking up the smallest slot of them all. Among these four-door nameplates, Audi also offers a variety of wagon iterations for added practicality, and now it’s looking like the compact A4 Avant is close to an extensive refresh, as revealed in a series of spy shots that capture a new prototype out and about for some cold-weather testing in Sweden. Updates are likely to include fresh exterior styling, a sleeker interior layout, and the very latest technology for convenience, entertainment, and safety.

We really have to come out and say it straight off the bat: the Peugeot 508 SW is one of the best looking estate- or wagon-style vehicles on the market right now at any price. It builds on the striking but stylish look of the 508 sedan but adds extra coolness and practicality courtesy of the wagon shape.

It debuted a few months after the three-box hatch (which looks like a sedan, but it really isn’t) was unveiled at the 2018 Geneva motor show, where people flocked around the Peugeot stand to get a better look at it – I’ve literally never seen a motor show stand more crowded, and as I was approaching it, I thought Peugeot had unveiled a surprise concept. In the end, it was actually the production-spec 508.

The 508 SW I think looks even better than the already pretty hatchback, especially since it’s not really a boxy, traditional wagon, but more of a fastback/shooting brake type of vehicle. Unusually for a load lugger of its type, it ticks the “looks like it’s moving while standing still” cliché box.

I’ve wondered for long – what the heck is a sleeper? Can any of the modern performance-laden cars be sleepers? I think it’s possible, but only if you inject it with a proper amount of power. This time I am referring to a rather unusual entry in the world of modified cars – the Carbonfiber Dynamics BMW M5 Estate – an Estate with a power greater than that of a Porsche 918
Spyder. Yup, this BMW M5 Estate has an engine under its bonnet with 900 horsepower.

The Germans! What can I say!?