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• Monday, January 5, 2009 11:18 AM

  It is a station wagon, Mark

  I wish I could have responded to this earlier, as to straighten out a lot of misconceptions. What you bought Mark, is what you had, a station wagon. That is what cross-overs really are. The term "station wagon" has been shunned for decades, but the need for them has always been there. As long as there are families, there will be a need for some form of vaguely wagon-shaped class of vehicles.

  We have been finding ways to avoid station wagons for years. It was part of what fueled the custom van craze of the 70s. Minivans made more sense and effectively replaced the classic station wagon. That of course caused Minivans to get the station wagon stigma. So SUVs came to the rescue, masking sensible family utility with active lifestyle imagery. SUVs had actually been around a while - long before they were called as such, but were mostly bought by the Field & Stream set and others with towing needs - their proper market.

  It didn't hurt that SUVs were easy create for any manufacturer with a pickup truck in their line-up. Plus making what became luxury-priced vehicles from such crude beginnings was very profitable.

  But even in an industry known for its indulgent extremes, common sense prevails in the long run. Big heavy truck-based SUVs have been esentially replaced by what are basically tall wagon bodys over a compact or mid-size car platforms. Unlike the classic wagons of old, they don't share the front end, and in some cases, interior styling of their sedan siblings, which allows the manufactures to market them as something different. Sure, they can come with all-wheel drive (AWD) along with their standard front wheel drive. But AWD is much less about going off-road than staying ON the road in poor conditions.

  A cross-over's biggest sin is a taller ride height which is not good for much of anything, but people like it. This makes cross-overs a little heavier than they really need to be, but beyond that, you are basically driving a Lancer station wagon. There was in fact an actual Lancer station wagon until recently. It looked like a wagon and didn't have a third row seat stuffed into the back but is otherwise little different then your purchase. Nothing any progressive could have any shame about. Of course it wouldn't have been a subject to write about either.

  —Typesbad Read Typesbad's other letters
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