Noise, Vibration & Harshness

The Wagon Whose Station Cannot Be Named.

- Jamie Kitman

I OWN A ridiculous number of old cars, and I test new ones almost every day of the year. So I don’t really ever need to buy a new car. But I think about buying new cars almost always. That’s one of the reasons I am qualified to write about them. Even if I only get around to actually buying new cars once in a blue moon, I have strong opinions in this area and consider myself party to many car sales, as an influencer not just of readers but of friends, relations, and pretty much anyone who will listen while I bore on.

So, as I was saying.

For me, perhaps the most exciting part of the 2018 sales season is the return of the station wagon. Of course, this is more of a micro trend than a full-blown renaissance. It is not even arriving through the front door—where I believe this supremely practical genus of vehicle would receive the hale and hearty greeting it deserves—but rather through the tradesman’s entrance. Indeed, there’s sort of an embarrassed, under-the-radar quality to the launch of the new wagons that have most piqued interest lately: Buick’s Regal TourX and Volvo’s V90.