Three for the Road: '08 Luxury AWD Wagons

March 11, 2008 - By John LeBlanc

Unless you need to tow your house, or ford valleys and streams on the weekends, the arguments for sport-utility-vehicle ownership are getting weaker and weaker these days. But there's an upside to the past 15 years of SUV mania.

As an example of some kind of freakish reverse evolution, most automakers now make all-wheel-drive station wagons in hope of attracting SUV castoffs. Take these three: As capacious as some mid-size SUVs, they ride and drive better, melt fewer icebergs, and frankly, look cooler.

But which one of these anti-SUVs blends your need to haul with your need to, well, haul? For those who can't just let go, we give a similarly priced SUV stable mate.

THIRD PLACE: Volvo XC70 3.2 AWD - Underneath familiar styling – trust me, it really is all-new – the XC70 is based on the Volvo S80 sedan. Starting at $46,495, optional metallic paint, sunroof, luxury and convenience packages pushed the test car's sticker to $53,445.

The Volvo's 235 hp inline-six with a similar 236 lb.-ft. of torque is mid-pack. But the hefty Volvo weighs 154 kg more than the next heaviest here: the VW. That extra avoirdupois secures it to the back of this trio, with a glacial 9.2-second 0-to-100 km/h time. And its combined fuel consumption rating of 11.8 L/100 km is worse than a Saturn Outlook.

Unfortunately, there's a definite "truth in advertising" to the XC70's faux-SUV personality. It's slow off the line and SUV-thirsty at the pumps. Like a bow rider on a choppy lake, the XC70 driver tends to "aim" it through turns; apexes become concepts. Blame the Volvo's front-wheel-drive biased AWD system. Other partners in this driving crime are tall, soft tires, and a raised suspension and a steering system that's numb as a frozen boot.

It may take a while, but when one does get up to speed, the XC70 is quiet, smooth and refined. And that square back roofline doesn't lie – there's 15 per cent more cargo room than the next commodious, the Passat. If you don't need the space, Volvo's one size smaller – and much more nimble – V50 T5 AWD at $41,495 is the Volvo wagon for drivers.

WHY BUY? Limousine ride; cargo room; familiar looks. WHY NOT? SUV performance; SUV handling; SUV economy, SUV pricing. SUV ALTERNATIVE: Volvo XC90 3.2 L AWD 5-seater

SECOND PLACE: BMW 328xi Touring - With its rear-biased permanent AWD system, the wagon version barely dilutes the near-perfect driving dynamics of its 3 Series sedan counterpart: crisp handling, responsive steering and a decent ride are all here and accounted for. It's the same inside the BMW: everything the driver touches – seats, steering wheel, pedals – was created for spirited driving.

The 328xi Touring's only engine, a 3.0 L inline-six, is silken in use and happy to rev. Not once did it feel like it's down 50 horsepower and 65 lb.-ft. of torque on the 280 hp Passat. Yet the BMW delivers the best fuel-economy numbers of this trifecta of toters, at 9.8 L/100 km. It's also the only hauler here available with a manual transmission.

So why the runner-up spot?

The argument against the Bimmer starts with the smallest cargo room here. At 1,727 L, it's 283 less than the barge-of-a-Volvo. And although the 328xi T's engine is a paradigm of civility, it's 1.5 seconds slower than the speedy Vee Dub from 0-to-100 km/h, at 7.7. Finally, to match the others here in kit, the BMW's once competitive $45,100 base price jumps to $54,200.

Deal with the premium pricing, add the 300 hp twin-turbo six – or do both – and then BMW will have the best all-round anti-SUV on the market.

WHY BUY? Sports sedan handling, steering and ergonomics; silky smooth and fuel-efficient inline-six. WHY NOT? Relatively slow; premium pricing. SUV ALTERNATIVE: BMW X3 3.0i, $45,300

FIRST PLACE: Volkswagen Passat 3.6 4MOTION - I'm not going to lie: VW's recent near-$5,000 drop in the Passat's base price launched it into first place. Even with the optional Highline package – which adds such niceties as a sport suspension and a three-spoke leather tiller with paddle shifters – the already well-equipped Passat is only $47,675.

As a hauler, the VW's cargo area is only 7 litres more than the Bimmer's, but its shape can handle big-screen TVs with more aplomb. And as a hauler, the Passat has few wagon equals, taking only 6.2 seconds to get from rest to 100 km/h. Yet even with the biggest (3.6 L) and most powerful (280 hp and 265 lb.-ft.) mill, at 10.0 L/100 km, it's still not as thirsty as the voracious Volvo.

Although there's not as much meat to the Passat's steering as the 328xi T's, it's laser-like compared to the sloppy XC70. There's tonnes of grip from the 235/45-17 rubber, but the Passat is nose heavy, and like the Volvo, its AWD system is front-drive biased. In the end, understeer happens earlier than in the Bimmer.

But for anything under 8/10ths motoring, the VW still possesses that solid build quality and train-on-rails feeling all German-engineered cars are seemingly born with.

WHY BUY? Drag-strip performance; features-versus-price ratio. WHY NOT? Nose heavy handling; stiff suspension. SUV ALTERNATIVE: Volkswagen Touareg 3.6, $44,975.

- John LeBlanc, Publisher