What kind of station wagon would fit my needs?

Hello, new member here! I've been lurking around for a bit, but now that I'm seriously looking into getting a wagon, perhaps there's something you all can help me with. My situation is this:

For a while I drove an ex police car, a 99 Crown Victoria. It came to me with nearly 200,000 miles on it, but it was a beautiful car that ran very well and very powerfully. It was sturdy and didn't care when I took shortcuts over curbs or equally damaging terrain. The huge seats were very comfortable, and overall I really loved that car.

A woman I knew out in California had this ancient VW bus. It was rusty and acted like it never wanted to run, but it had this nice big back that two people could easily stretch out in and go to sleep. It was my favorite part about that bus. My crown vic was big, but just a few inches too narrow (width wise) for me to lay back there, and I'm tired of sleeping upright in seats.

I want something that feels as powerful and as durable as my old crown vic police interceptor, but with that large space in the back where I can stretch out and go to sleep. A few friends suggested that I get a SUV, but that's not really what I want. I think a good station wagon will serve me well. Of course I don't know a whole lot about station wagons, so does anyone here have any suggestions for what would fit my wants?

My first thought is to get a Crown Victoria Wagon, but the newest I could really hope to get would be from the 80s, and I worry about how durable it would be (compared to a nice 99 interceptor) and if the mileage would be terrible.

I know an old man in the area who's selling an 84 Country Squire. It seems a bit expensive at $2700, but he's been a mechanic for as long as I've known, so I know it's in excellent shape. Would one of those old Squire's fit what I'm talking about, or do some of the experts around here have better suggestions?

I'm all ears! And thanks.

 

It depends on how clean the 84 is. Is it solid? What's the miles? I recently sold a 85 Country Squire which is pretty much the same kinda car. They are pretty good cars the throttle body injected 302s run pretty decent for daily driving but are not that powerful. For $2700.00 it would have to be a really darn clean wagon.

 

That Country Squire is almost there. What you want is an 86 or 87 Country Squire or Colony Park, BUT with the 351W and Trailer Tow III package. Dive one, and your 99 will feel like the torqueless wonder it really is, and it will also seem like a fuel hog. Done right, the 351 wagons will match Honda Civic for economy. Upgrade further, and they will match a toyota prius hybrid on the highway.

 

Forgot to mention that these cars will do 1,000,000 miles and more without major problems. When they do need work, parts are readily available and cheap!

 

If you're dead set on Fords, I concur with MikeT. But, if you can find a good 90's Caprice or Impala wagon with the LT1 engine (most of them had it), you'd be suprised at the power they have. Its the same engine that came in the Chevy Police cars.

 

I'm not set on Fords at all. Looks like from what HillBillyHipster and MikeT said, a wagon with the 305 will be a little sluggish? And the one I saw for sale is low miles, ~65k.

Remember, it's just as important that I find a durable car as is that I find a powerful one. MikeT, I'm not a mechanic in any regards, anything else you can tell me about getting an 86-87 Country Park to run with that significantly better gas mileage?

And thanks Drg racr, I'm going to look into those two.

 

90-96 GM wagon. Big, powerful, comfortable and gets reasonable gas mileage.

 

X2, except I would limit the search to 94-96.

 

Any particular reason?

 

I am assuming he is in the U.S. Somewhere. The 351 was not available in the U.S. outside of the fleet cars. I know you could get it up in Canada in the wagon, but not here. Unless he imports one from Canada he won't find one. I'd also respectfully disagree with your assessment of the 351 VV fuel economy. From my experience even with the finicky VV carb you'd be doing pretty well to get into the 20's on the highway.

In '86 Ford started using the mult-point fuel injecton on the 302 which was a little better than the previous central fuel injection.

The full size Ford wagon was available up through '91 and there are still decent examples around.

I don't see any reason to exclude the fullsise '91-'93 GM wagons. They don't make as much power as the LT1 cars, but are plenty reliable and can still pull decent mileage.

 

Some minor styling differences, and the chances it'll have fewer miles.
And I am a fan of ODB2. I think that was only on the '96 models.
I have a '96 Caprice, so I'm very biased anyways!

 

Yeah... I have a 96 Cappy OBDII also....but....none of these GM wagons from 90 up were BAD. Just not an LT1 or, in the case of the 96, an OBDII. I would have no problem buying any of them for a DD...no problem at all. Even the early one's with the 305. Heck...the 305 and the 350, before the LT1, had the same horsepower and were still great cars. The 90 to 93 will be cheaper also.

 

Is the 96 a solid frame? What sort of mileage does that get?

Silverfox, I was also looking at that post you made about http://orlando.craigslist.org/cto/2422366886.html this being sold. It's a 5 L, but does that mean it's a 351?

 

All the 90 up GM wagons are solid frame.

No...the 5.0 in that car is a 302.

 

The 351 is a 5.8L and as I mentioned earlier you'd have a hard time finding one in the U.S. unless someone imported one.

While it would be sweet, I'm dubious that that thing actually has 17k actual miles on it. People on craigslist and ebay seem to be unaware of the fact that 5 digit odometers can roll over multiple times. However that could still be a pretty decent car. Also, note that in 1989 the turn signal indicators below the headlights were amber and not clear as he has installed.