Longroofs We Love: Station Wagons and Shooting Brakes Worth Celebrating
From practical family haulers to high-performance exotics, station wagons and shooting brakes have always offered something special. Here's why these longroofs deserve more appreciation.
The Great Wagon Debate
According to Hagerty, there's an important distinction worth knowing: shooting brakes and station wagons aren't quite the same thing. While your typical station wagon sports five doors, a shooting brake is built from a coupe platform and features just two doors — or three if you're counting the tailgate. Which, naturally, raises another hotly contested question among longroof enthusiasts: should the liftgate actually count as a door?
These are the sorts of debates that wagon lovers thrive on, all conducted in the spirit of genuine appreciation for vehicles that prioritise practicality without sacrificing style.
Why We Love Longroofs
Station wagons have always occupied a unique space in automotive culture. They're the vehicles that can haul surfboards to the coast, transport the family in comfort, and — in the right specification — embarrass sports cars at the traffic lights.
From humble workhorses to limited-production exotics, wagons have been built across every segment of the market. Some emphasise luxury, others focus on outright performance, but all share that distinctive stretched roofline that makes them instantly recognisable.
The Volvo 850 Turbo Wagon
As reported by Hagerty, few wagons exemplify the breed better than the Volvo 850 Turbo. This Swedish longroof combined Volvo's reputation for safety and practicality with genuine performance credentials, particularly in its sportier variants.
The 850 wagon proved that family transport didn't need to be boring, offering turbocharged power and distinctive styling that stood out in the car park. It's exactly the sort of vehicle that reminds us why wagons deserve celebration — practical enough for everyday life, interesting enough to genuinely enjoy driving.
Whether you're drawn to shooting brakes or traditional five-door estates, there's no denying the enduring appeal of a well-executed longroof. They represent automotive design at its most sensible and, paradoxically, its most passionate.
Source: Hagerty
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