If you've spent any time on German roads, one thing you'll notice – right after the speed limit signs with a slash mark through them – is that station wagons are popular.
Nearly every manufacturer builds multiple models ranging from sub-compacts to near full-size behemoths. Mercedes-Benz E-Class and C-Class wagons are everywhere. Ditto for BMW 3 and 5 Series Tourings. Volkswagen, Fiat, Citroen, Seat, Skoda and Peugeot all sell lots of wagons. Perhaps it's a legacy of the Lamborghini Espada or the undeniable fact that the current M-B E63 AMG wagon is seriously cool, Europeans like wagons.
Americans, on the other hand, don't. Our country's collective notion of station wagons is stuck in Clark W. Griswold-land. Too bad. Most Americans have no idea what they're missing.
You know the Cadillac V-Series well, and what we think of the 2011 CTS-V Coupe. The V Wagon is simply the coupe with better visibility and room for water skis, snowboards, mountain bikes and more (thanks to the roof rack). Could performance come in a more practical package? (Subaru WRX hatchback drivers... you understand.)
Plus, the V Wagon is a sleeper in comparison to the V Coupe. The unexpected nature of a supercharged 556-horsepower 6.2-liter V8 wagon with the top speed of a Porsche 911 is stupendously brilliant. The irony of the four-second 0-60 mph time ain't bad, either.
From the A-pillar forward, all three V-Series body styles are visually identical – a good thing because the V's face has serious street presence. Unfortunately, the mesh grille is American pomposity in wire form – vaguely cliché in a JC Whitney kind of way. And Cadillac dealers installing look-a-like aftermarket grilles on non-V CTSs hasn't helped matters.
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