By Jim Brennan
Welcome to Hooniverse Wagon Wednesday. Our readers rock judging by the amount of tips we receive each day, like this one from Age_of_Aerostar (Thanks, Man!) He alerted us to a couple of modern Wagon interpretations, and I was wondering if you love them or hate them. However, you can only see them after the jump….
This one is a photo interpretation of a current Ford Taurus SHO Wagon. According to the site EGM CarTech:
Josiah LaColla is an industrial designer from Detroit and has had vehicles displayed at the SEMA show for the past two years. While his imagination was out for a jog, it came back with an idea of the 2011 Ford Taurus SHO Wagon, known by LaColla as a “Sophisticated American Tourer.”
I like this car a lot, but what do you think? Check out the original posting here.
Over at the Car Spy Shots Forum, a photoshop artist who calls himself “Taglane” produced a couple of renderings of a Chevrolet Malibu Wagon. Again, one wonders why GM never decided to produce one in the flesh, as this is just about perfect, even if the artist calls them “messy”.
Here is another angle on the Malibu Wagon. What do you think? See the original thread here.
Oh and just because this is Wagon Wednesday, it doesn’t mean that I have to leave out this rendering of a Malibu Coupe. Tell the artist what you think of these either here, or on the thread. Oh, and Taglane, if you are reading this, leave your thoughts here as well…
I also did some further research, and came upon this rendering. This is what a Kia Optima Wagon would look like, and I thought it was drop dead gorgeous. This was on the blog site Accelerate Mpls and according to the site, Theophilius Chin was the artist responsible for these renderings. See the original posting here.
Lead Image courtesy of Stephen Wiltshire. You can purchase a copy of this drawing here, and view more images from this artist here.
Jeff Glucker 
Kamil Kaluski
I do really like the SHO wagon, but I am sure, if it ever made it to real life, it would be $50k+ and would be packing at the bulge.
Back when I first got my license, I tried feverishly to find a cheap Mercury Sable wagon so that I could swap the front clip out for a Taurus SHO clip. Sadly, the cheap Sable wagon, and SHO parts were never able to formulate. Being a broke teenager really put a damper on my want for cool looking stuff!
That is always the case. I had a Shelby Daytona in high school, and all I could afford to trick it out was chrome valve stem caps, and a new shifter. It really needed new wheels, but, being a broke ass teenager "really put a damper on my want for cool looking stuff!"
The new Taurus is tall enough for the wagon version to qualify as a "cross-over".
Yes, the new Tauruses are BIIIG. You don't realize until one pulls alongside at a light.
The new big Fords all look like they took a normal car and blew it up to 110% size on a copier. Not big as in long and sleek, but big like a large print book.
All of the wagons look fantastic! Unfortunately,
1. The Ford SHOwagon would overlap with the Flex, thus rendering itself redundant.
2. Has the CTS Sportwagon sold enough units to warrant a GM entry level wagon?
3. I think the KIA has an excellent chance of solid sales numbers, were it produced. The demographic targeted by the Optima doesn't have memories of growing up staring out the back of the family truckster or any other stigma that wagons are uncool.
RE: 1. It would also overlap with the Explorer and the Edge.
Seems like I see Malibu MAXX hatchbacks all the time, even though they haven't been made for a couple of years.
Maybe all the rental fleets are being sold off now.
1) Replacing the Flex with a Taurus Wagon could possibly gain Ford a few MPG back for the CAFE regulations.
2) The idea of owning a CTS (or CTS-V) Sportwagon with all the trimmings makes me tingly all over. I'm planning to replace my car in the next 12-20 months. However, my finances won't support the vehicle cost. 🙁 The good news is that in five years, the depreciation may make a CTS(-V) Sportwagon my car-after-next. While I like that Cadillac built the car, they did so just as the last remaining public sentiment for buying station wagons seems to have died.
I kind of like the Flex, but it's a little bit too big and square for my taste, too big to be a midsize sport wagon, like the Volvo V70R that I currently have. The CTS-V wagon costs around $68k msrp; an SHO Wagon priced around $43k would have me whipping out my checkbook and looking for dotted lines to sign on. Of course, an SEL trim level Taurus wagon at $33k or so would be more sensible for the finances…
I think the wagon "stigma" was mostly manufactured by marketing wonks, first to sell minivans, and then to sell SUV's.
The Flex in Titanium trim comes with the EcoBoost SHO motor, I believe. I also believe it costs $50k+. So yeah, quite redundant.
I like the case for the KIA wagon. Folks in the market for a KIA care more about functionality and frugality with a warranty than anything else.
They all look nice, but as others have said, the business case for the Ford and Chevy are questionable. The Kia looks best and has a CTS vibe to the overall shape, but I'd like to be able to delete those roof rails. The Malibu coupe is handsome too, but isn't the current 'Bu nearing the end of its life cycle?
Nothing a Sawzall can't fix. Except maybe most things…
What? No love for the eight-door Country Squire? I can't believe it.
As soon as I saw that sketch, I was reminded of my first trip to Hawaii as a kid in the 1970s. Those multi-door station wagons were everywhere back then on the islands, toting people to and from the airport and on tours.
1. The Taurus SHO wagon, as has been said already, would further blur the sales line between the Flex and the new Explorer, not to mention the Edge. Too many Fords on car platforms with wagon-y rears would not be good or cost-effective.
2. The Malibu? Meh. It just screams ENTERPRISE CAR RENTAL WEEKEND SPECIAL!
3. Kia looks like a complete knock-off of the new TSX wagon. Which means, or course, that Kia will build it as soon as possible.
Here's a car that I almost bought a number of years ago. I was in the middle of negotiations when someone else snapped it up.
<img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_9lU9g7QlKNY/TYoIEflD-rI/AAAAAAAAAwY/quuuz1gjCZs/buick6dr3.jpg" a="">
In the meantime, have a look at these…
<img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_9lU9g7QlKNY/TYoJwj3HwmI/AAAAAAAAAws/feKITWgIm04/Xenatec-Mercedes-CLS-f900x600-F4F4F2-C-fbeb9dd2-354808.jpg" a="" width="500">
<img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_9lU9g7QlKNY/TYoJxJbPZiI/AAAAAAAAAwg/Wm2MfLkFWHg/s640/BMW-1800-Touring-f900x600-F4F4F2-C-be494fcc-424444.jpg" a="" width="500">
<img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_9lU9g7QlKNY/TYoJxIpYR0I/AAAAAAAAAwk/4U13NNzranU/s640/Retusche-VW-Beetle-Kombi-f900x600-F4F4F2-C-e6c5133e-422710.jpg" a="" width="500">
And one from my blog (which I won't plug)…
<img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-6STQR6Blrh4/TYKqg0XwNvI/AAAAAAAAAnY/eaagCT9JMP8/s1600/chevrolet_caprice_estate.jpg" a="" width="500">
Ohh the wheels on that Buick. Sorry you missed out on it, it is very cool.
The VW Bug wagon makes me think of a PT cruiser. And not in a good way.
There's a good way?!?
Sure, there's the "that looks nothing like a PT Cruiser" way!
@K5ing: Love the Buick. Sorry you missed it.
Well played sir.
Too bad they don't build wagons anymore. Instead they bloat them up to cartoonish porportions to pass them off as SUVs to meet ill planned CAFE rules.
I know the CAFE limits are creeping up to 35MPG or something in the future, but weren't they going to merge them as well (between the passenger car and light truck fleets)? That's really what it would take to get rid of the "truckettes" and bring back just a normal, reasonable station wagon.
Oh, I totally agree, and that is why I get wildly over excited when I see a wagon concepts, then crash when I realize that it will never, ever happen.
Yeah I kinda pissed on everyone's parade, but the truth must be heard!
Most regrettably, Subaru, the former purveyor of many modern wagons has followed this cue.
Yeah, corporate groupthink evidently doesn't believe that wagon buyers might actually want something with a big, square, flat cargo area. Instead we get crossovers with hatches curved to take up a quarter of the vertical area of the cargo bay, interior panels sticking in the way of everything, hatches with seats that don't even fold flat, and nothing with any visibility whatsoever.
From the sixties to the nineties, Volvo offered a safe, reasonably efficient brick that weighed about 3000 pounds and could fit 76 cubic feet of stuff in a nice, square bay with a big hatch. Is there any car on the US market that fits this description now? A Mazda5 maybe, but it weighs about 400 pounds more. A Honda Fit is maybe the only thing as usefully packaged, though of course at a different size, and they ruined it with the refresh.
I like the Taurus wagon but it's likely to be too expensive and the slant shape of the the hatch will severely limit the ability to transport large items. That's really the biggest problem with modern wagons,and I really noticed that with my Lancer when i was trying to move bookshelves with it.
The Malibu is a better shape, but looks kind of meh…. how about moving that D-pillar forwards, and create a flattop look kind of like the '59 Impala 4-door? I'll even settle for just making a fake window with some black glossy plastic, just make the pillar thinner looking.
Trying to pitch this to Mrs. Feds_II as a minivan alternative:
http://hamilton.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehicles-classic…
So far, she ain't catchin'.
I've had the same hard sell at Chez Alff. Part of me is glad it didn't work – for all its blandness, the minivan gets 18-19 mpg and is a more versatile cargo hauler.
Someone above said something about the slope of the above Taurus too space-encroaching, so I went into P-shop to see what could be done and now this happened.
<img src="http://i1228.photobucket.com/albums/ee456/HoonaLotte/FordTaurusSuperWagon.jpg" width="500">
IT'S ALIIIVE!
The problem is the high belt line…the windows are a bit smaller, and the body is much thicker, so overall it looks like a CUV. I think the Flex is the Taurus wagon. At least they appear to be about as big…
<img src="http://i1228.photobucket.com/albums/ee456/HoonaLotte/FordTaurusWagon.jpg" width="500">
Amazing how quickly we've all forgotten about the TaurusX…
Y'know, it didn't even come to me when I was making these. And I don't think you can fault me for forgetting it 😉
Just this morning I was discussing Fargo's recent unpleasantness in the weather department with a co-worker, and it took me a while to remember what exactly he meant by saying his car was a "Ford Freestyle".
Ha! Urban break dancers doing the flippity-flippity-flip comes to mind. And the new Taurus is much better-looking than the almost trucklike face of the Five Hundred so it can almost pull off a wagon. Almost.
We've got half that amount of snow in Toronto; I didn't expect to wake up to a snowy morning today…
very cool!!!
I wish I had Photoshop and knew how to use it!
It certainly does make a difference, but I would also point out that the top picture is a fully loaded SX and the bottom is a stripped-down LX model. If you look closely, you'll notice the different grille, front valence, and side skirts. Also, I'm not sure due to the differences in lighting, but I think the top car is finished in "Satin Metal", while the bottom car is in low-rent "Bright Silver" paint.
Like you said, though, the wheels are a big deal. I actually prefer the hybrid's wheels. They look like inverted 5-spokes. Very unique.
<img src="http://www.motorward.com/wp-content/images/2010/11/kia-optima-hybrid-1.jpg">
I would really like to see an artist renderings let's say that GM had proposed back for the mid 1970s as to how the 1975-79 GM X-Bodied RWD quartet of the NOVA group collectively known as the Chevrolet Nova/Concours, Pontiac Ventura/Phoenix, Oldsmobile Omega, Buick Apollo/Skylark and even the RWD X-Bodied derived 1975-79 K-Bodied Cadillac Seville would ALL appear in four door station wagon versions?
http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/58… In this link if its working, you will be able to see a 1978-79 Pontiac Phoenix Stretch Limo.
This and the photos downloaded below were actual real life cars that were converted to unique body styles not common to these mass production cars of the past and they were NOT retouched, doctored or photoshopped in any way, shape and/or form.
http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/58… This one, a 1975 Chevrolet Nova 2 Door Convertible.
http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/33… A 1977-79 Cadillac Seville 2 Door Convertible.
http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/74… Last but NOT least, a 1977-79 Cadillac Seville 2 Door Coupe.
If only we can get all the normal sedan in station wagon form . Take the Venza : the platform is from the Camry but why toyota simply don't put a rear wagon style on it like the old one in the '90 ? Don't want to pay premium for 19'' or 20'' replacement tire . And for sure the mpg would be better with normal heigth car .