R36 Wagon Alternatives?

[jamesatfish]

Had a chat to Peter Shelley (our local VW tuning guru) who also suggested the Skoda - certainly nothing I'd have looked at but will take a look at their range. He also mentioned that the A4 2.0 is due for some Stage 3 APR love, so that might end up being a choice after all if we can push it close to 300kW.

With all the strong suggestions for the C63, I went to the local Mercedes dealer today only to find out they don't have a C-Class Estate nor a C63 of any description in the showroom to look at. Will have to try the Sydney dealerships next time I'm up there.

[GHW]

Just get the C63 estate, you know you want to.

[offshore]

We had a similar brief recently for a new family car.

Looking for something quick, sporty, nice looking, with a large hatch/wagon style boot, and easy to get the bub in and out. And I was determined to steer clear of 4WD's.

Ended up going with an A5 Sportback 3.0 TDI and after having it a couple of months couldn't be happier.

It's a modern refined diesel - forget every old cliche, you wouldn't know it was a diesel, except for the massive midrange torque and the 4L/100km on the freeway.

The 2 year old can climb into her seat by herself.

Other nice features are a rear biased AWD system, 7 Speed DSG, one of the best interiors going, and a very sleek appearance.

If you've got the coin, there's also an S5 variant with a 3.0L Supercharged petrol 6.

One catch - the A5 only seats 4. This works for us since 2 child seats pretty much rules out a third rear passenger anyway.

[KWICKS]

Nobody mentioned the 2.5T Liberty wagon. Pig ugly, but solid value and proven performance upgrades. Shame they don't do an STi version for our market. Same size as a Passat.

Falcon has a big boot and some fancy turbo performance versions... I'd take an FPV over a HSV at the moment I think.

C36 might be a bit small but the sound is the seckz!

[jamesatfish]

Looked at a C class wagon the other day - the size did surprise me (it's smaller than I thought) but there's still a decent sized boot and it certainly meets our height requirements. Unfortunately that was only a C250 so didn't bother driving that.

Was in Sydney yesterday and planned to drive the C63. Unfortunately the dealer took their C63 sedan for an offsite test drive when I was due to look at it myself, and the C63 estate they had on the lot was sold over the weekend so I couldn't look at that either. Will have to try another dealer next time I'm in town.

Still also waiting to look at the facelifted Holden / HSV wagons when the update rolls out in the next month or so.

[Rocket36]

Still also waiting to look at the facelifted Holden / HSV wagons when the update rolls out in the next month or so.

Released today...

Holden Media - Australia - News & Information

The Sportwagon looks good and Holden are catching up on the tech/features side of things, but it's such a MINOR facelift. The model range is still from 2006!!! The prices are certainly competitive though. Nobody can argue they aren't value for money.

[OilBurna]

volvo v60 wagon - while perhaps not as sporty 220kw turbo v6 with awd.

The All-New V60

[Jayse]

Any word on the new R36 replacement from VW?

Cheers,

Jayse.

[OilBurna]

not much supposed to be going turbo and 3.0 litre should be good for apr style mods.

[Jayse]

not much supposed to be going turbo and 3.0 litre should be good for apr style mods.

S4 direction? hhmmmm...that will be very tuneable!!

Cheers,

Jayse.