Station wagon
A station wagon or estate car is an automotive body-style variant of a sedan with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door, instead of a trunk/boot lid. The body style transforms a standard three-box design into a two-box design—to include an A, B, and C-pillar, as well as a D-pillar. Station wagons can flexibly reconfigure their interior volume via fold-down rear seats to prioritize either passenger or cargo volume.
The American Heritage Dictionary defines a station wagon as "an automobile with one or more rows of folding or removable seats behind the driver and no luggage compartment but an area behind the seats into which suitcases, parcels, etc., can be loaded through a [|tailgate]."
When a model range includes multiple body styles, such as sedan, hatchback, and station wagon, the models typically share their platform, drivetrain, and bodywork forward of the A-pillar, and usually the B-pillar. In 1969, Popular Mechanics said, "Station wagon-style ... follows that of the production sedan of which it is the counterpart. Most are on the same wheelbase, offer the same transmission and engine options, and the same comfort and convenience options."
Station wagons have evolved from their early use as specialized vehicles to carry people and luggage to and from a train station. The demand for station wagon body style has faded since the 2010s in favor of the crossover or SUV designs.
Name
Reflecting the original purpose of transporting people and luggage between country estates and railway stations, the station wagon body style is called an "estate car" or "estate" in the United Kingdom or a "wagon" in Australia and New Zealand.Either horse-drawn or automotive, the earliest use of the station wagon description would be considered to describe utility vehicles or light trucks. The depot hackney or taxi, often on a Model T chassis with an exposed wood body, most often found around railroad stations, was the predecessor of the station wagon body style in the United States. These early models with exposed wooden bodies became known as woodies. By the 1920s the status of the station wagon description changed to consider them as vehicles for passengers.
In Germany, the term "kombi" is used.
This is short for Kombinationskraftwagen. "Kombi" is also the term used in Poland.
In Russia and some post-Soviet countries, this type of car is called "universal".
Manufacturers may designate station wagons across various model lines with a proprietary nameplate for marketing and advertising differentiation. Examples include "Avant", "Break", "Caravan", "Kombi", "Sports Tourer", "Sports Wagon", "Tourer", "Touring", and "Variant".
Design characteristics
Comparison with hatchbacks
Station wagons and hatchbacks have in common a two-box design configuration, a shared interior volume for passengers and cargo as well as a hatch or rear door that is hinged at roof level. Folding rear seats designed to provide a larger space for cargo in place of passenger capacity, are also typical features for station wagons and hatchbacks.Distinguishing features between hatchbacks and station wagons include:
- D-pillar: Station wagons are more likely to have a D-pillar.
- Cargo volume: Station wagons prioritize passenger and cargo volume—with windows beside the cargo volume. Of the two body styles, a station wagon roof more likely extends to the very rearmost of the vehicle, enclosing a full-height cargo volume—a hatchback design is likely to have steeply sloping roofline behind the B- or C-Pillar, prioritizing style over interior volume or cargo capacity, sometimes having a shorter rear overhang and smaller side windows.
- Cargo floor contour: A station wagon often has a fold-flat floor, whereas a hatchback is more likely to have a cargo floor with a pronounced contour.
- Seating: Some station wagons have three rows of seats, whereas a hatchback will have two at most. The rearmost row of seating in a station wagon is often located in the cargo area and can be front-facing, rear-facing, or side-facing.
- Rear suspension: A station wagon may include a reconfigured rear suspension for additional load capacity and to minimize intrusion in the cargo volume.
- Rear Door: Hatchbacks usually feature a top-hinged liftgate for cargo access, with variations ranging from a two-part liftgate to a complex tailgate that can function as a full tailgate or a trunk lid. Station wagons have also been equipped with numerous [|tailgate configurations]. Hatchbacks may be called Liftbacks when the opening area is very sloped, and the door is lifted to open. A design director from General Motors has described the difference as "Where you break the roofline, at what angle, defines the spirit of the vehicle", he said. "You could have a 90-degree break in the back and have a station wagon."
Tailgate designs
Many modern station wagons have an upward-swinging, full-width, full-height rear door supported on gas springs—often where the rear window can swing up independently. A variety of other designs have been employed in the past.Split gate
The split gate features an upward-swinging window and a downward-swinging tailgate, both manually operated. This configuration was typical in the 1920s through the 1940s, and remained common on many models into the 1960s.Retractable window
In the early 1950s, tailgates with hand-cranked roll-down rear windows began to appear. Later in the decade, electric power was applied to the tailgate window so it could be operated from the driver's seat and by a key-activated switch in the tailgate. By the early 1970s, this arrangement was available on full-size, intermediate, and compact wagons. The lowered bottom hinged tailgate extended the cargo area floor and could serve as a picnic table for "tailgating."- Side hinge: A side-hinged tailgate that opened like a door was offered on some three-seat station wagons to facilitate the back-row passengers to enter and exit the rear-facing seats.
Retractable roof
Dual and tri-operating gates
In the United States, Ford's full-size station wagons for 1966 introduced a system marketed as "Magic Doorgate"—a conventional tailgate with retracting rear glass, where the tailgate could either fold down or pivot open on a side hinge—with the rear window retracted in either case. Competitors marketed their versions as a Drop and Swing or Dual Action Tailgate. For 1969, Ford incorporated a design that allowed the rear glass to remain up or down when the door pivoted open on its side hinge, marketing the system, engineered by Donald N. Frey as the "Three-Way Magic Doorgate".Similar configurations became the standard feature on full-size and intermediate station wagons from General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, and American Motors Corporation. Some full-size GM wagons added a notch in the rear bumper that acted as a step plate; a small portion of the bumper was attached to the tailgate to fill the gap. When opened as a swinging door, this part of the bumper moved away, allowing the depression in the bumper to provide a "step" to ease entry; when the gate was opened by being lowered or raised to a closed position, the chrome section remained in place making the bumper "whole".
Clamshell
Full-size General Motors, from 1971 through 1976 station wagons featured a 'clam shell' design marketed as the Glide-away tailgate, also called a "disappearing" tailgate because when open, the tailgate was entirely out of view. On the clamshell design, the rear power-operated glass slid up into the roof and the lower tailgate, lowered below the load floor. Manually operated types included a lower tailgate counterbalanced by a torque rod similar to the torque rods used in holding a trunk lid open. It required a push to lower the gate. Raising it required a pull on a handhold integral to the top edge of the retractable gate. Power-assisted operation of both the upper glass and lower tailgate became standard equipment in later model years. Station wagons with this design were available with an optional third row of forward-facing seats accessed by the rear side doors and a folding second-row seat. They could accommodate sheets of plywood or other panels with the rear seats folded. The clamshell design required no increased footprint or operational area to open the cargo area. This enabled access even if the station wagon's rear was parked against a wall.The GM design, as used in a Pontiac Grand Safari, with a forward-facing third-row seat and the clamshell tailgate, was less popular with consumers and was described as the "least convenient of all wagon arrangements" with difficult passenger egress and problematic tailgate operation in comparison to the 1974 AMC Ambassador, Dodge Monaco, and Mercury Colony Park, full-size station wagons conducted by Popular Science magazine.
Subsequent GM full-size wagons reverted to the door/gate system for its full-size wagons.
Lift-gate
A simplified, one-piece lift-gate on smaller wagons. The AMC Hornet Sportabout was introduced for the 1972 model year and featured a "liftgate-style hatchback instead of swing-out or fold-down tailgate... would set a precedent for liftgates in modern SUVs." The 1978-1996 GM's mid-size station wagons also returned to the upward-lifting rear window/gate as had been used in the 1940s.- Swing-up window: An upward-lifting, full-height, full-width rear door, where the window on the rear door can be opened independently from the rear door itself. The window is also opened upwards and is held on pneumatic struts. The Renault Laguna II station wagon and Ford Taurus wagon featured this arrangement.
- Fold-up license plate: Wagons had an upward folding hinged license plate attached to the lower tailgate of the split rear door. When the tailgate was folded down, the plate hung down and remained readable. The wagon versions of the Citroën DS, called the Break, Familiale, or Safari, had a different solution: two number plates were fitted to the tailgate at right angles to each other so one would be visible in either position.