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

As a boy growing up in American suburbia in the 1960s and 1970s , every neighbor with kids had a massive station wagon in the drive. The sedan was usually the car Dads drove to work, the station wagon was used for family themed events. Wagons are still being made, but I have noticed many young families favor the mini van to the station wagon. What's happening to America? The station wagon was once a core part of family life- Here is a family photo from 1976- Our '72 Dodge Monaco wagon was as much a part of the family as our dog. Can the same be said of mini vans?

 

I think a minivan can be "part of the family" just fine. Just choose carefully the one you get. I know alot of people on here hate minivans,but the way they are designed for the most part they are very practical.

 

I love your family photo! You guys really were "The Pepsi Generation"!

Very cool pic! One of the best candid wagon shots I've seen. :2_thumbs_up_-_anima

As far as your question...I got nothin'.

David

 

The dreaded Mini Van.....we have one.....


In 1999, a good used bubble wagon Impala/Roady was still out of our price range so we went for a brand new plain jane 99 GMC Saffari mini van and my (now gone) 86 Fox Marquies, the smaller Fox wagon was used more on wekends out, small trips, etc. Was the van part of the family, yes...untill I got my honey a new ride this past Mothers day. Weekend come and I wash the wagons and my honeys new ride, but the mini van is now just a mule. I don't neglect it service wise but if it's in need of a wash who cares...it's a mule now, my mule come this winter. I just insured it today for a year. I'll barn one wagon but keep another insured just to have a back up ride....the mini van to "us" is disposable

New wagons today....some are drop dead stunning but what young starting out family can aford them?....and they really don't have much room inside IMO, no roof racks, tailgate windows don'r open... You can go for a small pudle jumper, great little wagons but if you have kids, very toooo small. The Mini van has come along way, lots of family designed options/saftey features for "todays' family, but like everything else today, built as disposable units.

 

In my opinion, absolutely yes.

I know it's sacrilege to say such a thing in a station wagon forum, but there's a reason that minivans put station wagons out of business as the primary family hauler: they're better at the job.

I owned both as my kids were growing up. We had a '90 Taurus wagon, a '95 Pontiac Transport, and an '02 Oldsmobile Silhouette. We loved the Taurus, but the minivans were better for our family.



They have several advantages over wagons:

1. EVERYBODY gets a window seat. At least, everyone but whoever sits in the middle of the second seat. But that still leaves six window seats. Our Taurus had a rear-facing third seat. With three kids, if everyone was to get a window seat, one of them had to sit in the third seat and face backwards.

Can anyone say "carsickness?"

Plus, ACCESS to those seats was a breeze. Open the sliding door on either side of the van, and you can easily get into any seat. Getting into the third seat of a station wagon, whether it was front-facing or rear-facing, always required a bit of a contortion on the part of the person trying get back there.


2. Minivans are much better cargo haulers. I could easily remove the second and third-row seats in my vans, and the amount of cargo space that opened up just can't be matched by anything a station wagon has to offer. I can bring home a new washing machine or dryer, still in the box, in the back of the minivan, and that includes closing the tailgate. Can't do that with a wagon.


3. The entire driving experience can be better. In a minivan, you are generally sitting higher off the ground, and the visibility around you with all that glass is very good. My wife much preferred driving the vans over the wagon for this reason.


I love my old wagon and enjoy driving it. But I'm practical as well and am willing to admit that minivans have advantages that wagons don't.

We drove our two vans on family vacations all over the eastern U.S. and as far west as South Dakota, and they were a pleasure. They were every bit the family vehicle that the wagons my dad owned when I was a kid were.

 

We are on our third, voyager, grand caravan sport and town@country.

Defiantly they a part of the family.

comfortable,easy to park and hold a lot of stuff!

 

Jaunty, mini-vans are ugly!

Oops! Uh-oh! Now I've done it!

David

 

No question! But who usually is the driving force behind such purchases? The wife. Women don't care a whit about the looks of a vehicle.

 

Right past you.

David

 

OK fannie, he's all yours now.............

 

OK, let me clarify. MY wife has never given a whit about what a car looks like!

 

Don't go that far.....bring home the honey a Yugo and then ask that question!

 

As much as I love wagons, and of course it is difficult to say enthusiastically on a wagon forum I will have to agree w/ the utilitarian aspects of the minivan.

We've had minivans ever since our second child came along. Before that I held out with wagons, cars, and extended cab trucks as long as I could w/ only one child!

My wife's current vehicle, and our vacation/travel/heavy hauler, is a 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan with the "Stow and Go" seating.

The amount of "stuff" we have packed in that thing is unbelievable, and the flexibility of folding up or down seats of often "on the fly" to accomodate people and cargo has proved priceless.

And honestly it rides well on the highway and admittedly has enough power to get out of it's own way, and I still think the power opening and closing doors and rear hatch is sorta cool.

Two things that the minivan has that simply aren't easy for other vehicles to compete with, the sliding doors permitting easy access to back seats in crowded parking lots, and the ability to "pass through" from the front seats to the back seats from inside the vehicle.

The latter trait, VERY desirable for young mothers to access needy babies, carsick children, spills, and the thousands of other child "incidents" that happen on the road.

Now, I will have to somewhat disagree with women not caring about "looks", my wife has made it clear she wants something sportier now that the kids are getting older :::cough cough Audi cough cough:::, but as mother's do, she was quick to put practicality and childrens "needs" above some image or status.

We'll probably keep our minivan for awhile, as long as the kids are still living at home anyway, for traveling and utilitarian needs, even after my wife eventually gets her "sporty" replacement.

Of course, Audi does make pretty wagons.

 

take this for what it is worth . on our road trip through georgia last week i took the wife and kid to six flags over atlanta . we had just parked and were getting out of the wagon when a new dodge minivan pulls up next to us. the woman driving looks over and says " thanks you just made me the un coolest mom on the planet" we all had a good laugh

 

I'm country-folk. In these parts, you usually have a 4x4. I have a pickup for hauling anything my wagon can't haul. I have yet to find myself in a situation where I couldn't haul it with the wagon.

While a min-van may have its advantages, I just think they're uglier than sin.

People think the wagon is cool, I've never heard anyone say a mini-van was cool!