I miss small station wagons. Not SUVs posing as them either…ala Subaru Outback. All of the benefits of a car for efficiency (size, ride height, fuel efficiency) plus the added storage of the rear which generally is more than CUVs. My VW golf wagon has more storage than a CRV for instance. It will be a while before I part with that car!
this post was submitted on 08 Mar 2024
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Unpopular Opinion
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I'm currently drafting a post for this community that touches on this.
What other options are there for consumers? "Luxury" sedans that need a monthly subscription for heated seats and pickup trucks. There's really no "economy" class of cars in the US market, anymore and CUVs hit just enough checkboxes for the average buyer to put up with the ugly styling.
Minivans do it better.
The humble minivan is the ultimate family/cargo vehicle and I will die on this hill.
Minivans are a fair bit larger than most CUVs though. I'd love if something like the Astro/Safari came back to the market, but it's not like they're a 1:1 replacement. The Dodge Caravan is neatly 2' longer than a Honda CRV, for example.
What we really need more of is station wagons IMO and to fix our infrastructure so that people aren't terrified to drive anything less than an WD turbo-charged car with 8" minimum of ground clearance
You had me a station wagon.
Yeah. I loved my H6 Subaru Outback (totaled by a drunk driver at about 350,000 miles) and both my Volvo wagons. It really is the best configuration nowadays, but the station wagon name has a bad reputation in the US for being for old people.
Have you priced minivans lately? A base model Toyota Sienna starts at $39,000. Most people don’t want to spend $50,000 on a minivan when they can get a more fashionable SUV for less.
That's why you don't buy new. You never buy new. A quick search of AutoTempest, and I can find several Siennas and Odysseys between $15-$25k. I found a 2015 Sienna Limited within a 30 minute drive of me for $20,950. 91,000 miles. It's got leather upholstery and a sunroof. It's got second row captains' chairs, automatic headlights, and phone connectivity (probably not car play but a so equipped aftermarket head unit is maybe 500-1,000 bucks). And Toyotas are great cars. 91,000 miles ain't nothing. All I'd be concerned with is when it last had a timing belt and water pump. That should really be all it needs. If it hasn't been done, I bet you could tell them you'll pay asking price if they throw that in.
And if you've got the extra money and want something newer, why would you pay $39k for a new base model when you can get a 3 year old Platinum for $44k? Because I found one. Has the tech in cars between 2021 and 2024 changed just that much?
As for being fashionable, that costs money. Being cool costs money. That's why trucks cost $100,000 these days. If price is your top concern, you'll save money buying a used minivan. And you can haul all your coworkers to lunch comfortably too because minivans have third rows that are meant to be used often.
I agree and I don't know why they're popular. Though, this is an opinion I have for most modern cars. I love the body styles from the 50's, 60's and somewhat from the 70's.
Hum... Ok... It's Crossover Utilitarian Vehicle, at first I thought the C stood for "compact" and was wondering what new abomination the US bred that managed to be newspeak-like named "compact".
So, it's a normal car adapted to look like an SUV... I mean, in what world this could ever lead to anything good?
Station wagons were the shit. I bet a company would make a lot of money if it started producing them again.
Strictly based on looks ignores a lot of other aspects of the car. I always appreciated small cars, but a recent injury made climbing in and out of my little car excruciating. A friend gave me a ride in a CUV, and I didn't even clench my jaw getting into it. I'm now entertaining the idea of getting one myself.
That's why I said esthetically speaking, but they could make cars that are easier to get into that look a lot better, too.
Well then I think you answered your own question.
I don't get why people like how they look or why this body style is so popular.
If they aren't buying them for their looks, they are buying them for other reasons. Reasons such as comfort, function, or practicality.
But then why make them look that way? They could surely make a body style that fits all of the requirements without looking awful, too. There's nothing special about that particular body style that allows all of those things.
As a big and tall guy, I’ve been uncomfortable in most cars my entire life, especially as cars conformed more and more to the average person. The additional headroom of CUV form factor is a huge improvement in comfort. I always preferred cars but my Subaru Forester (CUV) was a revelation that cars could be comfortable and easy to use. Now, if only we could do something with leg room.
For those yelling minivan - nope. They are a visual monstrosity but practical as all hell. However at least the one we had, had horrible leg room. It had more of that upright seating like you see in a truck, that was just uncomfortable plus the only way to fix it is to raise the seat but there wasn’t sufficient headroom for that
When I was a kid, my Dad was able to order station wagons with the seat rails mounted back a little for leg room, but that capability is long gone.
Although I have to say my new Tesla has got it right. I have sufficient headroom and leg room for the first time since my Dad’s station wagon half a century ago. My biggest hesitation for Tesla was how difficult they are to get in but the model Y (the “CUV”) makes a huge difference over the Model 3 and even the S.
I can appreciate the room/head height of CUVs, but they don't need to look the way they do to accommodate that. There are a lot of other form factors that would suffice. CUVs look the way they do because car companies think that this is the look people want. Whether it is or not, I'm not sure.
OP hasn't seen the Crosstrek.
It's one of the least ugly CUVs I've seen. It kind of looks like a hatchback with big tires to me. Still not my cup of tea, though.