The family ride

Brian Jones’ parents drove a car that was so uncool, he used to make them drop him off four blocks from school.

Blame it on the station wagon — a big, lumbering Ford station wagon, the thought of which still makes Jones cringe.

“We hid whenever they pulled up,” recalls Jones, now a sales manager at Spokane’s Dishman Dodge.

The station wagon’s back. But — and here’s good news for school kids everywhere — it’s certainly not your father’s station wagon.

This new generation of wagons is sporty, speedy and, in some cases, downright sexy. Car makers aren’t even calling them station wagons anymore. Now, they’re simply “wagons” or, if they’re really hip, “sport wagons.”

“It’s totally a marketing thing,” says Matt Stone, executive editor of Motor Trend magazine. “They’re trying to get away from the stigma of ‘my mom and dad’s station wagon.’ “

Sure, there’s still some nostalgia for those old, wood-paneled land cruisers. But car companies are now flooding the market with an updated generation of wagons, based largely on the stylish sporting vehicles so popular in Europe.

The new wagons are designed to appeal to a growing market of buyers looking for more cargo room than in a traditional car, but without the trappings of an SUV.

They’re geared toward young parents facing the chilling realization that their days of driving cool cars are over. It’s tough to jam a baby, a car seat, a stroller and a diaper bag into a sporty two-seater, but it’s even tougher to spring for a mini-van if your heart’s set on a Mini-Cooper.

“Maybe they don’t have the charm of a ‘51 Ford woody,” Stone says of the new breed of wagons.

“But they’re trying to make them modern and sporty and cool.”

There’s the sleek Mercedes E320 Wagon. The zippy Mazda 6 Sport Wagon. There’s Chrysler’s retro-looking PT Cruiser and Pontiac’s fuel-efficient Vibe, among many others. And now there’s the Dodge Magnum, which is a little like “your mom and dad’s station wagon” on steroids.

The Magnum’s got a soccer mom-friendly exterior and a 345-horsepower engine that would make any NASCAR dad swoon. But the Magnum, which just went on sale a couple of weeks ago, still looks more family car than muscle car.

“People have to get into it and drive it,” Jones says. “That’s what’s going to change their minds.”

So, why the wagon rejuvenation? Some say it’s because SUV owners are finally getting practical.

“They never tow boats. They never go off-road,” Stone says. “A lot of people are not using their Tahoe 4X4s for those reasons. They just need something to go to The Home Depot.”

And then there’s the all-important issue of gas-mileage.

A big SUV might get 17 or 18 miles to the gallon while a wagon, such as a Subaru Outback, can log closer to 30 miles per gallon.

That’s one of the reasons Char Lawrence of Airway Heights opted for a Mazda Protege 5 Wagon late last year.

“No. 1 is gas mileage,” says Lawrence, who has also owned SUVs.

“It fits all three kids. It was a reasonable price. Plus, it looks sporty and cute … You can be a parent in one and you can still look kind of cool in them, too.”

Even as other wagons landed in the great car graveyard decades ago, a couple brands have lived on all these years, notably the Volvo wagon and those made by Subaru.

If it seems you can’t drive around the block here without seeing a Subaru Outback or Forester, you’re just about right. The all-wheel-drive Subarus are more popular in the Northwest than anywhere else, says Butch Taylor, a sales consultant with Select Subaru in Post Falls.

“It’s a versatile car,” Taylor says.

“The people who buy Subarus seem to have a need for the wagon. They’re families going skiing, families going on vacation into the mountains.”

No one’s sure whether these new wagons will enjoy the long life of their predecessors.

“They make sense as really good transportation,” Stone says. “Are they going to become collectibles? I’d be surprised.”

But the boom of these hipper station wagons might have one unintended consequence: Fewer embarrassed kids.

When Lawrence first pulled up at her 7-year-old son’s school in the new Mazda wagon, he didn’t even think to hide, she says.

Instead, Lawrence says, “He’s like, ‘Wow, mom. Where’d you get that? That’s awesome?’ “