Although lots of other types of cars that have been around for a long time appear to be dying a slow, prolonged death in the face of the steady creep of the crossover into every corner of the market, the good old-fashioned estate car is somehow clinging on.
Not only that, but it seems to be having a bit of a renaissance. BMW is, for the first time, doing Touring versions of the M3 and M5, Audi has started selling the once forbidden fruit RS6 Avant in the US, and VW is building the new Passat in wagon form only. From sensible family haulers to supercars disguised as them, then, there’s still a surprising number of decent estates to choose from on the market – here are our favourites.
Until 2022, the BMW M3 Touring was something that only existed in the feverish fantasies of car nerds, only occasionally escaping into the real world as homebrew custom builds and one official E46 prototype that tragically went no further.
With the current-gen M3, though, the almost mythical M3 Touring finally became a reality and, surprise surprise, it’s brilliant, blending all-weather traction with typical M car handling deftness and an added dash of practicality. Well worth the wait, even if we have to live with that face.
Acres of space. Class oozing from every understated but beautifully finished pore. Subtle intent visible only to those that know what they’re looking at. The uninitiated will see a nice-looking Audi estate, but we know about the 4.0-litre V8 and the 600-odd horsepower. Is the RS6 Avant the ultimate factory-built sleeper? We can’t say for sure, but yes, yes it is.
Okay, that sort of goes out of the window if you opt for the pumped-up, limited-run GT version with its IMSA-inspired graphics, but… you just would, wouldn’t you?
To some people, ‘Volvo’ and ‘estate car’ are pretty much synonymous, but in 2023, the Swedish brand announced it was dropping its wagons from the UK in the face of slipping sales. The response to this was so overwhelmingly negative that Volvo said ‘only kidding!’ and brought them back last year.
You can choose between V60 and V90, but for maximum Volvo-ness, it has to be the massive V90. It may be getting on a bit, but it’s almost five solid metres of ultra-chill Scandi ambience, finished off in top T8 guise with a 449bhp plug-in hybrid powertrain. Lovely.
Volkswagen’s doing something a bit unexpected with the new seventh-gen Passat: it’s only building it as an estate. We won’t complain, though, because a fine estate it is: big-booted, super relaxing to drive, and with a far better-resolved interior than a lot of the nonsense VW was putting out a few years ago. It may not be what the masses want, but we’d take it over a Tiguan any day of the week.
The Passat’s nice, and we get the appeal of a VW badge, but if it were our own money, we’d actually be going for its close relative, the Skoda Superb Estate. These two VAG cousins are basically identical underneath, but the Skoda would be our choice for three key reasons.
One, it’s cheaper spec-for-spec than the VW. Two, though the Passat’s interior layout is good by recent VW standards, it’s still not as thoughtfully laid out as the Superb. Three, and most importantly, you can get the Skoda with the 261bhp engine from the Golf GTI, paired up with all-wheel drive, in which guise it really is one of the most complete cars on the market. You could almost call it… excellent.
‘Just buy a Golf’ may be the stock response to many a car-buying question, but truthfully, those in the know and less prone to badge snobbery have long been served just as well – if not better – by just buying a Skoda Octavia.
The Golf’s value-friendly Czech cousin has just been facelifted and, in sporty vRS guise, now comes with a GTI-matching 261bhp. Except there’s never been a GTI estate, but, as always, you can get the hot Octavia as a load-lugger. The less powerful versions are lovely too but, y’know, this is Car Throttle.
The Octavia vRS isn’t the only sporty estate based on Golf underpinnings. If your go-to pint is an Estrella rather than a Staropramen, you might be better served by the Cupra Leon Estate, which brings the added bonus of two ways of going rather fast: a 268bhp plug-in hybrid, or a 328bhp pure petrol setup.
The latter even gets a torque splitter system that will allow you to indulge in some skiddy antics when you find yourself in an empty car pa… sorry, on a private race track.
It may have gained a new moniker from Audi’s ill-fated and short-lived plan to give all its EVs even model names and its ICE cars odd ones, but the new A5 Avant – which, for reference, is essentially the new A4 Avant – is otherwise pretty much by-the-book for Audi estates.
That means lots of comfort, lots of tech – arguably too much if you go for the ridiculous option of a third touchscreen for the passenger – and a pleasant if not exactly pulse-raising drive. Go for the warmed over S5 Avant, and there’s a little more fun to be uncorked, topped off by a surprisingly sonorous V6 engine.
Was the world asking for a very fast electric estate car from Porsche? Probably not. Is it even that practical by estate standards? Definitely not. Is it one of the best electric cars on the market right now? Yup.
With the Taycan’s recent facelift, the top Turbo S version of the Sport Turismo now delivers a face-melting 939bhp with its launch control system active, helping it get to 62mph in 2.4 seconds. Ridiculous. Plus, it’s a Porsche, so it’s lovely inside and handles very well for a big, heavy EV too.
‘What about *insert car here*?’, you’re probably yelling at your phone. Or maybe not. We don’t know what you get up to. We’d have dearly loved to include the very pretty and, in PSE guise, rather fast Peugeot 508 SW, but Peugeot has dropped it in the UK. The charming dinosaur that was the Jaguar XF Sportbrake has been laid to rest too, along with the rest of Jag’s range ahead of its grand electric reinvention.
The Audi RS4’s never quite been a firecracker in its current guise – although we’re yet to try the run-out Edition 25 Years – and anyway, it, along with the wider A4 range, is on its way out to be replaced by the new A5.
You couldn’t go far wrong with the BMW 5 Series Touring, but there’s not yet been a version that’s properly piqued our interest. Maybe that’ll change when we’ve had a go in the very fast but extraordinarily heavy M5 Touring.
We'd also commend the VW Golf Estate, especially in R guise, although at that point, we're a little more swayed by the mechanically identical Cupra.
None of Mercedes’ long-roof offerings quite whet our whistle at the moment either, especially the fast versions that we’re the most keen on.
Ford Focus ST Estate? Nice, but quite old, and won’t be around for long. We also applaud the approximately six people who went for a Genesis G70 Shooting Brake while it was on sale here. Then again, they’ve been hit rather brutally with the depreciation stick if you fancy yourself a lightly used posh estate bargain.