Station wagons.....

[IHateMyJob2004]

Been eyeing these up as a better alternative to SUVs.

I am a hater of road noise.

I am eyeing these:
Golf SportWagen
Subaru Outback

Are either of these noisy inside on the highway? I love the price of the VW granted the Subaru is not much more.

The Tiguan is also of interest.

Thoughts?

 

[Dr. Detroit]

Tiguan is old and in need of a major refresh. I would strongly avoid.

CRV and CX5 are the best compact SUV's on the market by a wide margin. The CRV has a massive amount of interior space for a compact SUV. Class leading!

The Outback's interior is pretty terrible - lots of plastic. If you need AWD, its the way to go!

Have a look at the all new 2017 Impreza. About the same space as the SportWagen.

 

[drnickriviera]

I guess everything is subjective. I don't have a problem with my 16' OB interior. Now our 01' ram 2500, that's a cheap plastic interior. I consider the highway noise to be quiet, but would depend on your travel speed and terrain. The 4cyl engine can get noisy under load..

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Wow, the 5 door impreza looks decent. Nice price on it fully loaded!

 

[pauldun170]

Tossing long term ownership concerns out the window I'd look really hard at the VW Sportwagen.

 

[Herr Kutz]

If you hate road noise, want a station wagon, and have time....wait for the buick regal wagon

 

[NutBucket]

I'm guessing it will be out of his price range. The current gen Outback is much quieter than previous ones but of course everything is relative

 

[Meghan54]

I'm guessing it will be out of his price range. The current gen Outback is much quieter than previous ones but of course everything is relative

Like the difference between a jackhammer and an alarm clock?

 

[NutBucket]

Hey now! I've owned enough Subarus to accept they're loud. But really, the current OB is definitely trying much harder to be quiet and comfortable and it's working.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

If you hate road noise, want a station wagon, and have time....wait for the buick regal wagon

Really. That's going to be a thing? My first car was a regal. I loved it.

DAMN, the new regal looks awesome. Sucks that it will probably be over $30K though.

 

[Murloc]

the Tiguan II (the new model from 2016 in Europe) is very comfy imho, also for the rear passengers, for the first time seating in the back of a car at my normal height of 1.8 m doesn't feel constrained.
It's also quiet inside and very easy to drive.

 

[herm0016]

check out jules subbi thread for a great description of the CVT. " old sticky oatmeal"

 

[NutBucket]

And I'll stand by my statement that its perfectly fine for non-spirited driving.

 

[tsupersonic]

Glad Buick dropped the sedan for the hatch. I wish more cars would do this - like BMW should get rid of the 3 series and replace it with the 4 GC. I don't care the rear seats suffer, it looks much better!

 

[postmortemIA]

check out jules subbi thread for a great description of the CVT. " old sticky oatmeal"

CVT done right is good, Subie makes good ones. It is just bias from manual "enthusiasts" giving it bad rap
skip to minute 12
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OSDw-uyP98

 

[thedarkwolf]

Did they stop offering a manual?

 

[NutBucket]

Only in the Outback. Impreza, Crosstrek and Forester still have manual options.

 

[herm0016]

CVT done right is good, Subie makes good ones. It is just bias from manual "enthusiasts" giving it bad rap
skip to minute 12
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OSDw-uyP98

I have never owned a manual transmission. I drive a 09 1/2 ton pickup, and have put hundreds of thousands of miles on a F350. drive a Volt frequetly as well. Spent a full week with a 13 or 14? Outback when we needed more people space touring around in the mountains ( Rockies up to about 12k feet). The steering is heavy and vague, the transmission hunts and pecks around on an incline and the thing could not get out of its own way while going uphill. I bet it's very reliable though.

no youtubz at work.

 

[NutBucket]

Well you're also dealing with a slow vehicle to being with. Plus, being at altitude hurts a lot and you had a full load of people/stuff. Any car with a similar power/weight ratio would feel about the same IMHO. I think even the 3.6R would have trouble given all those factors.

 

[postmortemIA]

2.5i outback has poor power/weight ratio, no CVT can save it from that. You think that conventional automatic transmission would fare better on uphill on highway? It would constantly seek right gear because overdrive gears have no power.