Best estate car?

[white_goodman]

My wife would probably like an SUV or an MPV as our family car but I would much rather drive an estate. Just as much space, better looking and cheaper to run but which estate is the best? On which criteria do you decide?

I would suggest:
Alfa 156/159 (best looking)
Audi RS2/RS4/RS6 (coolest)
Volvo (most practical? - although I gather the newer Volvo estates i.e. V50/V60 aren't that large)

Does anything combine these qualities better? An old-shape Legacy estate perhaps? I know this is a bit subjective but what's the best estate car out there, old or new?

[white_goodman]

Matt UK said:

Budget?

No budget, just speculating!

[white_goodman]

aberdeeneuan said:

The legacy is the car that always come up in this type of search for a reason. Big, well equipped, but a bit thirsty and the servicing schedule means that they can be expensive to run from what I recall when I looked at them. Wish I'd bought one instead of the a4 to be honest.

Surely the diesel Legacy is fairly economical?

[white_goodman]

aberdeeneuan said:

I had one for two days on a test drive and got about 35 out of it on mixed driving, mid 40s on the motorway.

Fair enough. Probably not as economical as the Audi then but still a big improvement on the low to mid 20s that I get from my WRX!