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The Manwagon

The horsepower race hits a new extreme as auto makers court dads with station wagons that can outgun a Porsche -- and still haul kiddie seats. Our driver puts them to the manly-man test.
By JONATHAN WELSH
February 24, 2006; Page W1

Doug Hess uses his Volvo station wagon to commute to work, haul groceries and ferry his daughter to and from college. He also uses it to take high-speed laps around the Watkins Glen, N.Y., raceway.

"I reached about 115 miles an hour on the back straight," says the engineer from Silver Spring, Md. Next: He plans to test the wagon's acceleration on a drag strip.

Seeking to lure speed-crazy guys with kids, car makers are trying to transform the dowdy old family hauler into something new: the manwagon. In perhaps the most extreme sign of the industry's horsepower race, some of these wagons are quicker than a Porsche Boxster. They have monstrous engines, giant brakes, track-ready suspensions and race-car-style seats -- plus prices up to $30,000 higher than the base versions. But unlike a sports car, these wagons can fit strollers and coolers in the back.

This melding of speed and sippy cups may seem unlikely, but car makers say their consumer research has unearthed a surprising number of family men who thought wagons could be cool, if only they had more guts. Dodge responded by rolling out its aggressively styled Magnum wagon in 2004 and just added a faster version, the 425-horsepower SRT8. Volvo's V70 R has 79% more power than the base V70 wagon, while Audi put together its S4 Avant by pairing an A4 wagon with a 340-horsepower V8 engine from its flagship A8 sedan. Mercedes-Benz recently began selling the supercharged E55 wagon for the first time in the U.S.: It boasts the same 469-horsepower engine that powers one of the fastest sedans Mercedes has ever built.

But can these cars deliver sports-car thrills and still lug home a ladder from the home-supply store? We test-drove the hottest wagons from Audi, Dodge, Mercedes, Saab and Volvo -- timing their acceleration, pushing them through curves and seeing how quickly they stopped. We ran errands, shuttled our 2-year-old and checked out their cargo space with a large television box, lumber and sawhorses. We gauged their tailgating potential (bonus points for electric outlets in the rear) and headroom (high enough for a cowboy hat?). Finally, for an outside opinion, we showed the cars to an array of manly men, from a station's worth of Manhattan firefighters to New York Giants All-Star defensive end Michael Strahan.

We found there was often a tradeoff between power and practicality. The Audi was so muscular it seemingly could burn holes in a race track -- but forget about fitting a weekend's worth of luggage and kid gear in the back. The Magnum's huge disc brakes stopped the big car with ease but squeaked like fingernails on a chalkboard. The Mercedes was superfast, but it got just 16 miles per gallon. Yet several wagons seemed to deftly satisfy the needs of the horsepower-hungry and the reality of hauling a family's stuff.

These manwagons represent just a sliver of the market for station wagons. But car makers see them as a way to attract attention to their overall wagon line -- the so-called halo effect sought by marketers. (In a commercial, Dodge shows a Magnum driven by a manly man zipping past a sleek European sports car.) Though many makers have shied away from calling them "station wagons" in favor of terms like "sport wagon," fearing the old term had too much baggage, overall sales of station wagons actually have been rising. Wagons accounted for 5% of the U.S. car market in 2004, up from 3.3% five years earlier, according to industry researcher WardsAuto.com.

One reason wagons are becoming more popular is that consumers are returning to cars after years of opting for sport-utility vehicles. While SUVs have long been big sellers as family cars, some drivers have tired of their poor handling and thirst for fuel; sales of traditional SUVs fell 13% last year. Minivans may be the most practical vehicles for families, but it is a rare dad who can drive one with pride intact.

This isn't the first time car makers have used power and styling to attract a wider audience to wagons. In the mid-1950s, Chevrolet offered its Nomad wagon with a slick two-door body and a powerful V8 engine. In the 1960s, Detroit stuffed muscle-car engines into Ford Country Squires and Pontiac Safaris. European makers kept the idea of the sporty wagon afloat in the 1980s and '90s with a handful of models. Today, there are 12 wagon models sold in the U.S. with at least 250 horsepower -- a base model Honda Accord, by comparison, has 166 horsepower -- more than double the number of 250-plus-horsepower wagons two years ago.

More manwagons are likely to emerge because they let manufacturers profit by squeezing more products from an existing "vehicle platform" and selling them at a steep premium. BMW, for one, says it is considering building a wagon based on the 500-horsepower M5 sedan it began selling late last year; that car starts at $81,200, compared with $42,500 for the base 5-Series sedan, giving an indication what an M5 wagon might cost.

So which wagons hit their makers' mark -- a family guy who wants a slick set of wheels? Here's how the five stacked up. Prices reflect the starting sticker of the version tested:

Audi S4 Avant

$47,400; 340 horsepower


MANLY TOUCH: Real aluminum trim, rich leather, silky-smooth controls. But at nearly two tons, it seemed too heavy for its small size.

FAMILY TOUCH: Kids love its bright "Sprint Blue" paint.

The Giants' Mr. Strahan appreciates fast cars. No wonder: He grew up in Germany, where he traveled the country's no-speed-limit autobahns. And he isn't too worried about being seen in a station wagon. "There's something about a wagon that makes people think, 'This guy borrowed his wife's car.' So driving a car like this means you're confident enough to pull it off," he says. After getting around in a powder-blue Ford Festiva with pink stripes during his college years, he adds: "I'd drive the Audi without worrying."

Mr. Strahan further warmed to the S4 Avant when he heard the growl of the 340-horsepower V8 engine. He was sold after a dash at close to 100 miles an hour on a course through the access roads and parking lots around Giants Stadium in New Jersey. (In the 1980s, drivers including Mario Andretti and Al Unser competed in the Meadowlands Grand Prix near the stadium.) "This is how I drive when I'm late for practice," he said before braking hard and powering smoothly through a tight turn.

We liked the car, too, but in our own tests we thought its steering was a bit numb and the wagon had a nose-heavy feel in tight corners, where the front wheels seemed to plow instead of carve the curves. And in fact, the S4 wagon hasn't made the impression here that it has in Europe, where it accounts for half of all S4 sales (the rest are sedans). In the U.S., Audi sells about 500 S4 wagons a year, or 10% of total S4 sales.

Dodge Magnum SRT8

$37,320; 425 horsepower


MANLY TOUCH: Most aggressive looking of the bunch, with headlights shaped like furrowed brows and a flared-nostril grille.

FAMILY TOUCH: Others had room for two child seats in back, but this car fit three. Still, its deceptively low cargo-bay ceiling was bad news for big boxes.

When we parked the big Dodge in a firefighter-only space in front of New York City's Engine 24 and Ladder 5, we didn't hear any complaints. Firefighter Jim Laverty called it "the ideal soccer-dad's muscle car." His stationmate Chris Cregin also ogled it, saying it was the only wagon in the group we tested that looks special -- "like a hot rod."

The Magnum is a textbook example of Dodge's push to build multiple vehicles from its successful platforms. The Magnum is based on sibling Chrysler's 300 sedan, which in turn borrows parts from cars built by Mercedes-Benz, also a DaimlerChrysler unit. Except for its special engine, the Magnum SRT8 is essentially the same as the Magnum R/T that costs about $7,000 less.

The Magnum, with its bellowing V8 engine and blacked-out grille, quickly established itself as the most overtly manly wagon of the group. Yes, a few others were faster, but the Magnum wore its Y-chromosome on its fenders.

Still, not all the firemen were impressed. "If I'm going to get a midlife-crisis car, it will have to be a lot cooler than that," says Capt. Pat McNally, 43, who has three children and a minivan, and would pick a two-seat sports car instead. "No matter what you do, it still looks like a station wagon."

Saab 9-3 SportCombi

$32,900; 250 horsepower


MANLY TOUCH: Lightest (1,000 pounds less than the Magnum) and liveliest of the group. But it also had the least horsepower.

FAMILY TOUCH: Got 27 mpg on the highway.

As a unit of General Motors, Saab has appeared to lose some of its endearing oddness, from the rounded-edge, bubble-back body styling to the unique rumble of its engines. But the SportCombi recalls Saabs of old -- with big windows, fenders neatly flared for a muscular look and large taillights that stretch dramatically from the lower edge of the rear hatch to the top of the roof pillars. Some of that styling hurt its practicality, though: Its raked-forward hatch looked sharp but its rear window and frame were too low to allow us to cram in our TV box.

The high roof in the passenger area gave the interior an airy feel -- it accommodated a tall, cowboy-hat wearing driver -- and the room was also a plus for the 6-foot-5 Mr. Strahan. Still, for Mr. Strahan, the car had a fatal flaw: "It just doesn't have enough power for me. I like to feel that there is a little extra in reserve, but the Saab feels like it's at the limit."

It's true the SportCombi is the least-powerful car in our test group, but in some ways we found it more fun to drive than the others. It weighs 1,000 pounds less than the Dodge and 900 less than the Mercedes, so it felt more lithe when negotiating tight bends on one of our favorite twisty roads. We also liked its feedback: the hum of the transmission and gentle vibrations though the shift lever. Unlike the Mercedes and Audi, its power steering didn't make us feel too insulated from the road. Some might call its ride a bit harsh, but for us it won the fun-per-dollar contest.

Volvo V70 R

$40,030; 300 horsepower


MANLY TOUCH: Understated, yet still sharper than mom's Volvo wagon. But its low front end scraped just about every driveway apron we crossed.

FAMILY TOUCH: Lots of cargo space for kids' stuff.

Volvo has a long history of selling family-friendly wagons. Though the Swedish maker no longer sells as many wagons as it did in the 1980s and 1990s, when they made up more than a third of its U.S. market, it still takes the style seriously. And for years it has offered high-powered, turbo-charged versions.

Its current V70 R is the fastest Volvo wagon yet. Our tester sprinted from zero to 60 mph in 5.5 seconds -- a hair quicker than a Porsche Boxster. And on the practical side, it was the only car out of the five that could carry our TV box without requiring us to fold the rear seats first.

But a manwagon should at least hint at raciness, so we ran the V70 R past Will Castro, owner of Unique Autosport, a car-customization shop in Holbrook, N.Y. Unique is the setting for a reality show, "Unique Whips," on Fox's Speed channel. We thought Mr. Castro, who soups up cars for music and sports figures such as rappers Wyclef Jean and Busta Rhymes and basketball's Marcus Camby, would find the V70 R hopelessly lacking hipness. But he surprised us.

"This Volvo is hot," says Mr. Castro. "I like the way they lowered it and added ground-effects along the bottom," he adds, referring to the flared bodywork around the car's bottom edge that gives it a lower, sleeker look. He opened the door and rubbed the iridescent blue-gray seats. "This is very nice leather, and the contrasting stitching is a nice detail," he says. The 17-inch wheels fell short, though. "I'd put some 18s on it for the soccer mom, but it would need 20s if I was going to take it out on the street." Best of all, Mr. Castro's crew fixed the low-hanging front bumper after we knocked it loose in his parking lot.

Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG

$82,600; 469 horsepower


MANLY TOUCH: Most horsepower of the bunch. But it's so pricey -- and we wish it offered a manual transmission.

FAMILY TOUCH: Room for seven with rear-facing jump seat.

For years, Mercedes-Benz has offered high-performance versions of its sedans, coupes and convertibles in the U.S. But the German maker held off on a hot wagon because many U.S. buyers can't seem to warm up to that body style.

But that changed, the company says, after many longtime Mercedes owners began asking for a souped-up wagon. "I was walking around with a folder full of letters from customers who were interested specifically in the E55 AMG wagon," says Rob Allan, a spokesman for the company's AMG arm, which develops engines and other components to beef up Mercedes's stock models.

To test demand, the company sent about 200 of the E55 AMGs here last year. It did no advertising. Yet buyers, finding out about them largely through owners' clubs, snapped up the wagons within a few months.

Our metallic-black test car quickly won us over, too. It was the most powerful wagon in the group but its understated looks -- no spoiler like the Volvo, no loud colors like the Audi -- didn't flaunt its muscle. The only external details that gave it away were four big exhaust pipes in back, instead of two, and small "V8 kompressor" badges indicating the engine is supercharged.

Ours raced from 0 to 60 in about 4.5 seconds, the fastest by a comfortable margin. It also had the most stylish interior, from sweet-smelling perforated-leather seats to an amazingly plush suede headliner. While it wasn't the best cargo hauler, it was the most comfortable overall for passengers thanks to its roomy back seat. It was the one we most wanted to take home because it had the best combination of practicality, speed and style. Of course, for 80 grand -- almost $30,000 more than the base E-Class wagon -- it should.