46 - North Shore Mews — Friday, November 26, 1999 openread — Station wagons| sei Toay Whitney Contributing Writer I suddenly realized the * other day that I'd test- driven more station wagons over the past year er so than I had during the previous - five. oe Could this mean that sta- ~ tion wagons are set to nudge SUVs aad minivans ~ out of favour? Probably not, but there ‘ certainly appears to be a trend back towards wagons and as always, automakers are not stow to react. Years ago, station wagons were the ily transporta-. tion of choice and were _ pretty popular among busi- ". fess -wsers too. Many of them, of ‘course, were based on’ the huge sedans of the period and provided i interior space that even‘ many of today’s utili- tarian products would be : hard pressed to match. They were big alright, but whe it came to'szfety, economy and environmental friendliness, they were a poor match for the vehicles we've enjoyed in the 90s. While there 3s no disput- ing the people and load-car- rying capacity of the ubiqui- ” tous minivan, nor the go- anywhere capabilities of SUVs, station wagons do ‘ have a place in the automo- _ tive scheme of things. They are easy te park and _ to manoeuvre in traffic. They are often more eca- ” nomical than vans and SUVs and they can be designed to perform and handle like good sedans — an impor- retall 148.725 $44, 500 ; "984-935 iercedes-benz.ca ~ reports, thieves tend to | WASONS can combine the nance and handling of a sedan with the carryl Veive V70's voluminous cargo deck would bs ever lerger with the beck seats tant feature for people who don’t want to trade sporti- ness for practicality. Theze’s no deaying that some buyers worry about the security aspects of sta- tion wagons. After ail, arer’c valuables a lot safer when : locked in the trunk of a sedan? _ Actually, this point has .. ‘been addressed by wagon | ” manufacturers in the form’ of roll-out luggage covers that odels have as ‘stan- dard..Even'‘fess expensive © wagons usually offer this feature as an option. : “According to most break into vehicles when valuables (which means vir- tually anything worth a cou- . ple of bucks 3 these days) are open to view. ; The chances are that your wagon won’: be broken into just on the off-chance there’s something under the luggage cover. When it comes to cargo space, wagons can be. quite commodious. ae Most have 2 fair-sized - . ‘Toad area behind the back “is folded down, the resulting ¥" gargo deck can be huge. .- “Many models have Bitch a Rack ad 60/40 split rear seatbacks s0 carrying long lozds doesn’t necessarily mean converting your hauler into 2 two- seater. One of the peculiarities of the wagon market right now is that. most products : scera to be huddled at one end or other of the price: spectrum. _,, According to my reckon- | ing, there are 16 scation wagons available on the -Canadian market at present. . - Seven of them — Ford - Escort and Focus, Suzuki” Esteem, Saturn LW1 and. . ~§W2,; Deewoo Nubira and. . Hyundai Elantra — falt into « _the “affordable” category." Upscale wagons include the Audi A6 Avant, Mercedes-Benz E-Class,. . - BMW 5-Series, Saab 9-5 and Nolvo V70.- include Nissan, Honda and Toyora- . spite market opportu- nitice ? for auto manufacturers in the medium- riced sta: tion wagon field, there is - one of these ible, e2sy- to-park. haulers on offer for just about every budget.. Whether it’s an eattry- level Hyundai or a lavishly- equipped Mercedes, there is: Occupying the “middle - ground” are the Subaru Legacy and Outback, © = Volkswagen Passat and Ford! ‘Taurus: |. Chrysler doesn’ t ‘offer 2 wagon at all right now, hav- ing decided to concentrate | -- on its top-selling SUV and. “minivan ranges. Other. ‘automakers that once ‘offered wagons tut are now - focusing on other products Tow bes for BS), _MNAO’s im : Miller, pre parent...