Station wagon or Minivan? Which is more apt to be a 'member of the family'?

I stand corrected; could've sworn they came out in the late 70's, but you're right tb, it was 1984.
How about the VW van? Not sure when that came out, but I'll bet it was right around when the Greenbriar was introduced.

 

Dang I forgot about that. I'm thinking 1949 in Europe and 52 or 53 for the US. See, everytime something is claimed as first then the truth comes out.

Like what's the first factory built steel station wagon?

Some say the 1949 Plymouth.
Some say the 1947 Willys station wagon.
Some say the 1936 Chevy Suburban.

 

In the early years, Volkswagen marketed the 'bus' as a direct competitor to the American station wagon. Some of the ads I believe even had our wagons in them. Compared everything but acceleration.

 

Ok i have a minivan, and have loved them since i was a kid when we got our first one. a 92 Grand Caravan, WITH woodgrain and wire hubcaps.

It was the center of all family trips. it belonged to my grandparents, but it stayed in the road. good fuel economy, plenty of room for 6 or 7 without fighting. and...AND it was Pretty. The later years when they dropped the wood are nice also. I currently have a 96 Town and Country and im running across guys who are my age who are longing for a van just for nostalgia, just like alot of you are with the wagons. it was part of their youth, they feel comfy in them..give them a few more years, with only a handful of companies making minivans now, theyll be cool too. What i love is the foreign vans are just now catching up to the good looks of my 96 chrysler.. I will agree, the new chrysler vans are ugly. Last year my parents, aunt and uncle went on a trip, had to drive them an hour forty five to the airport. All 4 of them drive SUVs, my mom, a Tahoe. In order to have seating for 5 Plus luggage for 4 for 2 weeks, we had to drive my van....

 

i think it was 84 when they introduced the first minivan, and you could get them in short wheelbase only, with a manual trans. and some even had a turbo 4cylinder. some of the turbo ones are turning up as collectors.


as far as nostalgia, the minivan generation kids arent old enough to be longing for the vans yet, and vans are still in production, not like the kids who grew up in something that isnt made anymore. My family refused to have a wagon...said they were trashy.. now i have 2 and they love them....go figure.

 

I think you've hit the nail on the head. Nostalgia. When you think about it the mini-van is ultimately more practical and fits a more compact space than a full or mid-sized wagon. A lot of folks love the high seating in a mini-van. In 2031 folks will be collecting SUVs and Crossovers.

I think the mini-van was the "evolution" of the wagon but a full framed wagon sure can tow a lot more than a mini-van.

I've secretly wanted one for years but in 1988 $10k for a used one was too much and now $35k and up is quite rediculous. I can't go to car dealerships anymore 'cause the sticker shock will kill me. Back in 1972 anything over $3k was a shocker.

 

I guess I'm anti-van, because I hated ours so bad. I've mentioned it on here many times. 1989 Voyager, no wood, turbo. I hated that car so badly. The sliding door was so heavy for a kid to open, it always blew radio hoses. The car was just awful.

 

A couple of comments:

1. Your van was from the earliest generation of them. There have been many refinements and improvements since then, and I would say that a van of today would be almost unrecognizably different from an '89 model. I would not condemn all minivans of today based on your experience with a model from 22 years ago. It's almost like saying you won't consider driving a car of today because of your bad experience with a Model T Ford. Go out and drive a 2011 Honda Odyssey or Dodge Caravan and THEN tell me you hate them.

2. Yes, the sliding door is a heavy thing for a small child to operate. However, one of the many improvements since yours was made has been power sliding doors. I don't know what percentage of minivans have them, but both of my vans ('95 Pontiac, '02 Oldsmobile) had at least one power sliding door, which eliminated the heavy door problem. Plus, there ain't a kid a live that doesn't like pushing buttons!

 

Well, I'm sure they're good for many folks. One of my best friends has one kid and another on the way and I told him to get a mini-van. He laughed at me. They're just not for me, I'll stick with the wagon. I believe every household should have at least one wagon (or family car), a sedan, and (if you live in snow country) a pickup truck.

 

He may laugh now, but wait until he has the third kid.

We were fine with our '90 Taurus wagon until child #3 was old enough to not need a child seat. When all three kids want a window seat, as I said above, if you have a wagon, one of them has to sit in the third seat. If it's rear facing as it was in the Taurus, no one wants to sit there, and the kid that does ends up getting carsick on any kind of extended drive. A minivan solved this problem in a second.

If your friend never has more than two kids, this particular problem will never arise. But if his family ever grows to five, his tune may change completely!

 

Our 77 LTD had the 3rd row that faces eachother, so does my CP. I think he needs to buy a clamshell wagon with the front-facing 3rd row!

If someone complained about wanting a window seat, when I was a kid, if we were riding in the other vehicle, Dad would just say tough s*** and turn the radio up.

 

:2_thumbs_up_-_anima
i agree with you there,get there first you get the window, but if you dont tough ****, deal with it

 

Geez, I'm sure as hell glad I didn't have either of you as a parent!

Plus, all the parental bluster in the world doesn't clean up the vomit in the third seat resulting from the car sickness.

 

When I was growing up with my three brothers, getting a window was no problem. If my two older brothers got the windows from the 2nd row, I'd just climb into the "way back" and hang out there. Did our Country Sedan have the 3rd row seat, you may ask. No, it didn't. Did it have seat belts in the driver's bench seat and the second row? No, it didn't. Did it have air bags? No, except according to my Dad, only when we were bringing his mother in law somewhere!! (Just kidding-my grandmom was a very sweet lady.) Even without all the safety items, we still survived.

 

It was the same when I was a kid. When we took family vacations, the third seat and sometimes even the second seat would be folded down, and we would put blankets and pillows back there and just sit around and play and whatever while my parents sat in the front and drove, and none of us kids was in a seat belt or thought twice about it.

It certainly wasn't as safe as it could have been, and I don't say that we should go back to that kind of behavior, but it certainly was a different era.
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