Classic estate cars.

[jeremyc]

cjb1 said:

Please define 'classic'. There seems to be an inordinate amount of modern cars on this thread, Stagea, Galant, Audi RS2, Alfa 156? Are they really classics? Lynx Eventer, Allegro, W123 Merc’s, various Woodies yes.

Good question.

Would you have considered a Morris Minor Traveller a classic in 1992?

Because the Audi RS2 is as old today as the Minor was in '92 ...

[crosseyedlion]

I love mine...slowly trundling towards being a classic. (I hope)

[cjb1]

jeremyc said:

cjb1 said:

Please define 'classic'. There seems to be an inordinate amount of modern cars on this thread, Stagea, Galant, Audi RS2, Alfa 156? Are they really classics? Lynx Eventer, Allegro, W123 Merc’s, various Woodies yes.

Good question.

Would you have considered a Morris Minor Traveller a classic in 1992?

Because the Audi RS2 is as old today as the Minor was in '92 ...

Good point and a valid one that I accept;)

[lufbramatt]

Leins said:

E24Man got there before me with the Alpinas, and they really are masters of the estate car

Other favourites of mine though are the AMG C43 and the B5 RS4

Did VW ever put the G60 or VR6 engines in the B3 Passat estate, or with Syncro 4WD? Always thought they were quite a nice looking car

Edited by Leins on Wednesday 8th January 01:05

Yep, the B3 was available in both 2.8 VR6 and G60 Syncro flavours. The G60 was a very rare car indeed over here with only 3 ever being imported (LHD only). Lots sold in scandinavia and Canada though. Apparently there are less than 10 B3 VR6's left on the road over here too- they were mainly autos which have all died by now, the VW autobox of the era was pants.

They are decent wagons, loads of legroom in the back and pretty solid, after 23 years mine is virtually rust free. Mine has the 2.0 16v lump with 150bhp and its as quick as the VR6 due to less weight to carry around. With decent shocks and springs they handle just like a corrado.

[Hugo a Gogo]

williamp said:

lets be honest. Most modern estates are dull compared to the older, true "shooting brakes":

not a shooting brake

where would the shooting stuff go?

[Nors]

jeremyc said:

good question.

Would you have considered a Morris Minor Traveller a classic in 1992?

Because the Audi RS2 is as old today as the Minor was in '92 ...

When I saw the title of the thread, I automatically thought (being PH)'classic performance estate'.

IIRC, Estates were never really considered desirable or performance orientated prior to....??? Purely functional machines primarily bought by the Farmer or Shop owner or those with large families.

Say, pre 80's, was there a deliberate take on a specifically performance orientated estate?

[carinaman]

Nors said:

Say, pre 80's, was there a deliberate take on a specifically performance orientated estate?

[Nors]

carinaman said:

Good one!!

[carinaman]

Nors said:

Good one!!

You're welcome. It's an interesting thread.

MacD1 said:

Audi B5 S4. My neighbour has a left hand drive 94 C4 S6 with a V8:-)

Is that the silver one in your profile photo beside the 911?

lufbramatt said:

Yep, the B3 was available in both 2.8 VR6 and G60 Syncro flavours. The G60 was a very rare car indeed over here with only 3 ever being imported (LHD only). Lots sold in scandinavia and Canada though. Apparently there are less than 10 B3 VR6's left on the road over here too- they were mainly autos which have all died by now, the VW autobox of the era was pants.

They are decent wagons, loads of legroom in the back and pretty solid, after 23 years mine is virtually rust free. Mine has the 2.0 16v lump with 150bhp and its as quick as the VR6 due to less weight to carry around. With decent shocks and springs they handle just like a corrado.

Thank you for that. I've always liked those, the information was useful. I should imagine that 16V ones are almost as rare as the VR6s now?

Matt UK said:

For me its the C5 Audi RS6. Such a menace..

Such a great looking design, I don't feel the RS flared arches add much. Sometimes less is more? The less obvious C4 S4/S6 don't make much of a play about their performance in their styling.

Regarding the C43, I remember Monkey had one as a LTT car so I'll always associate some level of 'cool' with them.

We need whoever bought that 3.3 B10 manual touring for £6K from the classifieds a few weeks ago to check in.

Edited by carinaman on Wednesday 8th January 09:44

[KrisP]

Leins said:

E24Man got there before me with the Alpinas, and they really are masters of the estate car

Other favourites of mine though are the AMG C43 and the B5 RS4

Did VW ever put the G60 or VR6 engines in the B3 Passat estate, or with Syncro 4WD? Always thought they were quite a nice looking car

Edited by Leins on Wednesday 8th January 01:05

They did the Passat in G60 and VR6 both in 2wd and syncro versions, for both the B3 and B4

[Dave200]

In proportional terms, it never got better than the E36 Touring with the M-Sport kit for me. There's something very well-resolved about that back end...

[lufbramatt]

carinaman said:

lufbramatt said:

Yep, the B3 was available in both 2.8 VR6 and G60 Syncro flavours. The G60 was a very rare car indeed over here with only 3 ever being imported (LHD only). Lots sold in scandinavia and Canada though. Apparently there are less than 10 B3 VR6's left on the road over here too- they were mainly autos which have all died by now, the VW autobox of the era was pants.

They are decent wagons, loads of legroom in the back and pretty solid, after 23 years mine is virtually rust free. Mine has the 2.0 16v lump with 150bhp and its as quick as the VR6 due to less weight to carry around. With decent shocks and springs they handle just like a corrado.

Thank you for that. I've always liked those, the information was useful. I should imagine that 16V ones are almost as rare as the VR6s now?

There's not many, I'd estimate less than 20. Most of the remaining ones are 1.8 8v or diesels. Lots of them had the engines taken out to stick into mk2 golfs. The GT spec ones (like mine) had a plastic "bodykit" which is very hard to find now and they go for lots on ebay. 4-5 years ago parts were very easy to find, recently they have become much harder as the number of cars being scrapped has dwindled and the ones that are left have become "keepers". Mechanically they are very similar to mk2/3 golfs, mk1 Seat Toledos and corrados so once you have a "complete" one they're not too bad to keep running and service parts are very cheap.

[Nors]

carinaman said:

The less obvious C4 S4/S6 don't make much of a play about their performance in their styling.

True, however, they also had a discreet flared (front only)wheel arch.

[daytona111r]

FakeConcern said:

brilliant! love the XM for all it's madness, in estate form surely has to have one of the biggest loading bays

[cologne2792]

daytona111r said:

brilliant! love the XM for all it's madness, in estate form surely has to have one of the biggest loading bays

It's smaller than the CX but as far as we can determine only the E-Class Merc is comparable.
We tried an E39 estate - that's not meant to be taken seriously is it ?

[nobrakes]

Mark 3 Cortina estate!

Utilitarian L spec please. Infact I think there may even have been a sub L spec in early Fords?

[GazV70R]

morgrp said:

Most Volvo "R" models

I'd be inclined to agree!

[vixen1700]

[Rob175kks]

Audi A6 Allroad. Always had a thing for them, would love one to tow the track car (that I don't own) to track days.

[16plates]

RS2