Living With a Station Wagon in the US #blogpost

Americans just don’t seem to get wagons.

I guess they’re just missing out.

I bought myself a 2005 Dodge Magnum SXT in April 2013 at seventeen years old. And I’ll tell anybody how much I absolutely love my car. It seems like the entire population has divided opinions on my car, and not many people seem to understand it. No matter; it’s my car and not theirs. The most common opinion seems to be the constant “It looks like a hearse!” from my friends. I love my wagon (or “estate,” as our friends across the pond say) and the constant comments make me love my car even more.

History Lesson

My Magnum is one of the Chrysler LX platform cars along with its siblings, the Dodge Charger, Chrysler 300, and to a certain extent the Dodge Challenger. The Magnum was sold in Europe as a 300 Touring, which is a Magnum with a 300 front end and optional Mercedes diesel. In 2005 (what mine is) they came with three engine choices: a 2.7 liter V6 (which remains to this day a terrible engine), a 3.5 liter V6 (like mine, and remains to this day a wonderful engine) and the newly-released 5.7 liter HEMI V8 (the truly ‘Murican option). 2007 saw the addition of the Magnum, Charger, 300, and Challenger SRT-8, which brought a 6.1 liter HEMI into the spectrum. The 2.7s made 180hp and were known for oil problems. The 3.5s are known and praised as one of Chrysler’s best engines. They made 250hp from the factory, which is a good amount to get the big cars they powered moving, and just enough to keep ahead of your buddy’s Mustang (the V6 Mustang at the time only made 230hp). The 5.7 HEMIs made 340hp (now up to 375), and the 6.1s made 425 (now 475). The HEMIs get most of the aftermarket treatment but some companies have made parts for the 3.5s as well.

My Car

I bought my car three years ago with 140xxx miles. It now has 175xxx miles and runs like a champ. The addition of a true dual exhaust from a 5.7 car and a home built CAI matched with a nice tune has my car woken up and more responsive, and with firmer shifting to match. I like to estimate the power to be about 260 now, but I have no dyno results to prove it, and to be honest I really don’t care.

“Whoa, wait. He doesn’t care about how powerful his car is? But it’s American!” Astute observation, fellow CTzen. My car isn’t about power, despite its family resemblance with the SRT cars, which Jeremy Clarkson once described (the 300 SRT-8) as “appalling in every way…they’ve gone and put a Saturn 5 rocket in it without doing anything to the brakes or the suspension or anything.” I gave it those three little mods to make it peppier, yeah, but that’s about the driving feel. Who doesn’t want a peppy car?

Handling, and My Town’s First Look

Moving to the handling section of my car, and oh boy…is it strange. The steering is quick on this car, which is great. However, the body does roll quite a bit. This became extraordinarily evident to me during my first autocross. The slowest car at the that event in a Wal-Mart parking lot was…me, because boats are difficult to maneuver on asphalt. Two years later, however, I learned the trick; I had to steer with the throttle…IN AN AUTOCROSS. Every tight turn had to basically be drifted around, because I found the sweet spot where the body roll pulls the rear tires into the slightest bit of oversteer that helps get the car lined up for the next set of cones. This strategy put me on par with one of the inexperienced Mini drivers there and my friends Honda Civic. On top of this, those autocrosses were run on 215/60/17 tires; the car is currently wearing 235/55/18s up front and 255/50/18s in the back. It still rolls like an armadillo in the face of fear, but it goes where I tell it to with a right fxcking now attitude. Spectators told me they loved watching my car, and people have recognized it around town thanks to the news article above.

So if your car isn’t build for speed and can’t turn, then what good is it?

It sure sounds like I’ve been dogging this car, with it’s impressive-but-not-that-special power rating and on-rails-made-of-carrot-sticks handling, but there’s something I haven’t gotten to yet regarding the car: everyone else’s perceptions. I’m only 20, and about 97% of my friends are NOT car people. Most of my friends think the car looks like a hearse, some think it’s badass and wonder how I’m single (ladies…wink wink). I met a man who builds hot rod hearses and has been featured in magazines just because I bought parts from him, as he has a car very similar to mine. At this point I’m trying to get my car in college-roadtrip shape, despite its 175xxx miles. The LX cars have LOADS of room inside, enough for three 6’6” adults in the back with leg room to spare. I just put in new speakers and a deck with an AUX cord to keep passengers entertained. The low swooping roof and high doorline make backseat riders feel like they’re in a tank, and the big hood gives the driver that “get out of my damn way” feeling, as if they were driving a battering ram. I’m building up the car’s atmosphere, because when you get in this car, you realize something…

Nobody knows what to think, because American station wagons aren’t SUPPOSED to be cool

Now, when you get down to it: station wagons are cool. Europe agrees because they got awesome station wagons. Americans…don’t really know what to think. Station wagons used to be big, ugly, dreary, and forgettable. This left a mark on many Americans who would never consider buying one. But this particular car makes people question that thought. It’s big, but in a demanding way. It’s not ugly, nor is it dreary. And it definitely isn’t forgettable. Americans don’t know what to think of the car because there isn’t any other car out there like they’ve seen. Audi wagons aren’t seen around where I live in northeast Ohio. There’s maybe one Mercedes estate in my town, and it’s something like a 2003 that never gets washed and has dirty yellow headlights. Besides, even if those cars were commonplace, they wouldn’t get a second look. Those are just cars. The Chrysler 300 is just a car. The Charger and Challenger of course get more attention thanks to their late 60s and early 70s namesakes, but are again, JUST CARS. The Magnum is “just a car” to many people but is a car that takes something that used to be a joke and makes it cool. My ex-girlfriend has a Subaru Outback, the only other station wagon owned by someone I’ve been friends with, which shares a lot of similarities with my Magnum…on paper. I’ve driven her Outback, and although it’s lighter, the 2.5 liter flat four doesn’t pick the front end up off soft springs, the all-wheel-drive (ignoring the fact that the LX cars also came with all-wheel-drive) doesn’t let you ever think you’re the next Steve McQueen, and the gentle slope of the hood reminds you that yes, you have a hood, but underneath isn’t nearly enough space for a BIG AMERICAN V8 THAT DRINKS GAS LIKE A COLLEGE KID DRINKS NATURAL LIGHT AND MAKES FLAT-FOURS SHUDDER IN FEAR OF ITS MIGHTY ROAR. There’s no questioning like there is with the Magnum. “Oh look, a Subaru. those are safe cars. Mhm, I’ve heard good things. My neighbor has one.” That’s your Subaru, as compared to the “It looks like a hearse.” “They still build station wagons?” and my personal favorite “That’s a cool car, dude.” I’ve been stopped by three different people just to talk about my car, even though it lacks the HEMI. Something about the car resonates even with non-car people. Here’s a quick and dirty list of the things I’ve been told about my “big ugly American wagon”:

“Your car rides so smooth!”
“Man, you have a LOT of space in the back” (followed by suggestive comments)
“Does this have a HEMI?” “No, it’s just the 3.5.” “Still, those are great motors.”
“I’ve been looking for one of these.”
“Are you sure you can put 25 large pizzas and seven people in there?”
“I like your car.”
“How do you NOT have a girlfriend right now?”
“How do you see over the hood?!”
“I wish I still had mine.”

My car invokes feelings in people that they don’t really understand. They question it. They look at it differently than other cars. Adults wonder why a station wagon is cool, and why a kid would want one. Kids ponder on its existence, amazed at this car that has a giant derriere. My Dodge Magnum has been a talking point many times, even with non-car people. It stands out in the parking lot, a metallic black eye-catching tank among a sea of dull sedans and pickup trucks.

I don’t think I’ll ever be able to buy a “regular” car. And I’m perfectly happy with that.