I sat behind one of these Honda Crossturds this weekend and was just mystified at the design decisions made in the construction of this abomination. How can you see out of a rear window that is practically parallel to the ground? How are you supposed to be able to get a stack of boxes from Ikea under that sloped roof?
Jalopnik has a couple posts exploring the etymology behind the term “station wagon” (hint: what would you need to take a stack of boxy luggage to the local train depot?) and clarify the difference between “wagon” and “hatchback”.
LINK: Why is it called a “Station Wagon”?
LINK: What makes a Wagon a Wagon?
Even though I’m not a big fan of this particular car, since I own a Mazda6 5-door liftback I frequently feel compelled to defend it from misinformed criticisms; e. g., I frequently see comments that it has tiny cargo volume when it actually has capacity similar to an Audi A4 Avant or even the Cadillac CTS Sport Wagon. How do you fit a stack of boxes from IKEA in the back? It’s got 51 cubic feet total, and it’s tall although Honda’s rear multilink design narrows the width between the wheel wells. There’s also a small well under the floor lined with a removable plastic bin. My Mazda6 has 58 cubes (only 2 fewer than the Mazda6 wagon) and I’ve carried all the pieces of a 12 ft long, 4 foot tall IKEA Princip shelf system several times, with room left over for more stuff–GVW is usually the limit rather than volume. How do you see out of it? The vertical aperture of the backlight is the same as many coupes and sedans; better, actually, since it’s split and continues down between the tail lamps, just like on a Prius. There’s a small discontinuity, but it’s no worse than a car with stand-up spoiler (which was standard on the Mazda6 liftback). The rear quarter windows are larger than some compact CUVs (e. g. Hyundai Tucson) and not upside down with the wider side along the roofline (e. g. newer Toyota RAV4).
I wish Honda had not been motivated to use lifted suspension to accommodate AWD, otherwise it would be a good replacement for my aging Mazda6.