Have estates lost their appeal again?

[gizlaroc]

All that jazz said:

vikingaero said:

Modern estates are sometimes nothing more than glorified hatchbacks with the swoopy Avant/Touring/Shooting Brake marketing style.

Well spotted by Cpt. Obvious here. What did you think they were?

What he means is, modern estates are not really estates any more, with the modern design they are more like a larger hatchback.

This was my 2001 E320 estate...


It was a proper huge load space, you could get two kids in the back 'comfortably' along with 3 large suitcases.

My 2007 model had nearly the same floor space but far less load area as the roof swooped....


I didn't take a pic of my 2010 E350 load space when I was selling it as it was so small in comparison, although, much bigger than anything else out there that is classed as 'an estate'. It made our F11 5 series touring look more like a VW Golf.

The 5 series touring load space is terrible, so much so we went with an X3, that is far more useable if not much bigger in litre terms...

X3


5 Series



So totally agree with his comments.

[Sump]

I prefer estates over saloons.

I think they look nicer and just more practical. I'd rather have a E61 M5 touring over the E60 M5.

[gizlaroc]

RobinBanks said:

I avoid them if possible. I find saloon's nicer looking and I always tend to find that you get more noise from the back end in an estate. They always seem slightly less refined.

The problem to me with saloons is they say 'I'm a nobody, I have nothing going on in my life' or at best 'I sell photocopiers.' .


17 - You buy your first car, probably some 1 litre Citreon or Renault.
20 - you buy a nice hatchback, a Golf maybe.
25 - You buy a nice Hot Hatch, a Golf GTi, maybe an M135i if you can insure it.
28 - you buy the M3, fk it you only live once. And a coupe is more grown up than a hatchback.
30 - you buy the family wagon, maybe a nice 5 series Touring. Something you can stick the surfboards or mountain bikes in easily.
35 - You buy the RS4 or RS6, maybe an E63 estate. You want to get to the beach/mountains quickly!
40 - You get bored and buy an X5, RR, something comfy.
50 - Your kids have left home, you don't need the estate, you don't surf anymore, you have no reason to buy anything other than a saloon, all you have left is your other half moaning in your ear, if they offered the saloon with just a drivers seat you would take one, but they don't.
55 - Your divorce comes through and you buy the 911.

So what about the 25-45 year olds you see in the saloon?
"Boss, can I have the estate?"
"is it more money?"
"Yeah but nicer and more practical."
"£10 a month more? No, you're having the saloon. You only carry copier paper in your boot anyway, plenty of room."



Of course, that's only the way I see it.

[RobinBanks]

I always think that about estates though. A more practical, less stylish version of the saloon.

The appeal is greater load space.

[Leins]

I have probably the most impractical estate of all time, the BMW E30 Touring - a Polo these days has more load room, you can't get anyone in the back seats, the tail-lights don't lift with the rear door leaving a high sill, hell there are even separate buttons on the dash for the rear wash and wipe. And I absolutely bloody love it!

Edited by Leins on Saturday 23 May 17:21

[PoleDriver]

If only!

[pad58]

RobinBanks said:

I always think that about estates though. A more practical, less stylish version of the saloon.

The appeal is greater load space.

And this ladies and gents is a guy who traveled in the back of mine for a thousand miles.
Didn't complain once.

[Moley RUFC]

I love mine. I think the Octavia looks better as an estate anyway and then it comes with the practical advantages too with a huge 600+ litre boot.

[g3org3y]

Echo the comments on page 1 regarding SUVs taking over at the 'family/lifestyle' car of choice.

I'll admit that I never really considered an estate. However locating a decent E36 328 coupe proved difficult as such I considered alternatives, subsequently ending up with a Touring. I'm now a big fan. It's not the last word in load lugging ability (compared to others) but it's very practical for Ikea or dump trips (yes, I'm of that age now) and seems much more under the radar to others when making 'assertive' progress. If BMW made an M3 Touring in E36 or E46 flavour I'd have bought it by now.

[Caruso]

It used to be the case in the premium sector that the only body style available with a hatchback was the estate. SUV models have been an option for a while, but now there are also proper hatchbacks from the premium brands.

[MarshPhantom]

SUVs and people carriers are both far more practical, and a lot of estates these days don't have that much extra space over the saloon/hatchback version.

Also the days when a lot of company cars would be estates are gone, with much more choice available and people taking car allowance too.

[Brian Trizers]

iambeowulf said:

E220 Merc estate. Good choice. (Unless...

Why, thank you. And no, ours is from 2009, by which time MB had pretty well sorted the gremlins - except the rear parking sensors, that is; they work when they feel like it, which nowadays is never. Doesn't really matter when I can see all the way to the back end anyway.