In 1983, the station wagon finally met its match in the form of the original Chrysler minivan. Until then, the station wagon had ruled as the family car of choice, and every major automaker offered at least one. The minivan changed all that, and demand for station wagons began to wither in advance of the SUV boom of the 1990s that ultimately threatened to make the station wagon extinct.
Fast-forward nearly three decades, and the station wagon isn’t dead – though people are loath to reference them as such. By our count, there are 16 different models under $60,000 on sale, evenly split at price points above and below $30,000.
Of course, the definition of a “wagon” is murkier today than it was during the station wagon’s heyday. In deciding which models were wagons, we included vehicles like the Audi A3, Infiniti EX35, Kia Soul, Nissan Cube, Scion xB and Toyota Matrix. You may disagree with these inclusions, but someone’s gotta make executive decisions about this stuff, and since this is our ball field, we get to make the rules. In any case, follow the links to see which ones are our favorites. And if you want to learn more about the methodologies employed for our 2012 Vehix Picks, there’s a link for that, too.
View: 2012 Vehix Picks – Wagons Under $30,000
View: 2012 Vehix Picks – Wagons Over $30,000
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