I have a GTI and so far it's been the most reliable vehicle I've ever owned. Maybe my experience hasn't been representative of VW vehicle ownership in general, but I think my car is amazing and I look forward to driving it for at least another 106k miles.

Wait..... so I can tie my car up to another car that I don't own and just pull it around anywhere I want?

Sure, but there’s being an asshole, and there’s being a criminal. One is worse than the other. So while the asshole maybe deserved to have something like this happen to him, the criminal deserves to be arrested.

Oh.... excuses, you say? What I’m seeing are excuses for buying smaller, mediocre handling, poor accelerating, less useful, less flexible option for their family so they can enjoy that sweet, sharp, white knuckle Nissan Altima action. You know, like in the commercial where all those folks were fooled by how grounded…

I wish to lodge a formal request: send them back to Watkins Glen. please

I would love a wagon. Sell a proper Honda Accord wagon and that’d be my family truckster. Unfortunately I’m effectively limited to the Golf Sportwagen and Subaru Outback.

Because of the lack of wagons my next purchase is probably going to be a minivan.

I wish more people would respond with "I wanted it" when asked why…

CUVs are wagons for people who can’t buy wagons because manufacturers don't sell them in their market anymore.

Are Europeans making do with a Golf for their three kids because it’s what they want or are they doing it because there aren’t many reasonably priced alternatives that are of the same quality as a Golf?

Also, stroller + trunk = screwed

Also also, clearly people can manage just fine in a Camry. It’s perfectly adequate.…

SUV wagon? Is this an Australian term? Because we don’t use that in the US. In the US the terms SUV/CUV tend to mean “large hatchback vehicle” with SUV’s typically based on truck frames and CUVs typically ssharing a unibody platform with a car.

It’s great that you can make-do with an i40 wagon or a Commodore wagon, but…

Yeah, I'm not saying it can't be done. As a child in a family of four we drove cross country in a 1984 Toyota Celica. But..... I think the trip would have been more pleasant in something better suited to the task.

I'm on your team, I plan on getting a minivan and rocking it like it's the coolest vehicle on the planet. They're the perfect small family utility vehicles.

I’m not sure if “assholery” is a real word, but I’m happy to accept it now that you’ve used it in such a way.

It’s not so much that as it is the size of the stuff baby/children tend to need. Traveling with a newborn is the worst for a variety of reasons, but trying to cram all the little crap you need to take care of it is tough.

If all your kids are over five years old and you have two or fewer, okay I can see how you can get…

It's not so much the "amount" as it is the size of the things you need. Have you seen the size of strollers these day? Just throwing that in the trunk by itself without any of the other crap makes road trips in a sedan with one baby a challenge.

I don't disagree. But the wagon market isn't exactly booming right now. There's a distinct lack of choice here, and wishing that more manufacturers sold wagons doesn't change the situation.

Absolutely, I guess if I had to only have one vehicle I would deal with driving the larger CUV/SUV for my daily commute, but in my case it'd spend most of the time parked in the garage for my stay-at-home wife to use as she needed it. My daily driver would be a small, sporty hatchback.

Yeah but it's not like that $50,000 Tahoe is really necessary. You can meet the basic need for under $30,000 if you must buy new. Used is, of course, even cheaper.

The sliding door thing on vans is a totally under-rated feature. Trying to lean into a sedan, working around the door in a tight garage or parking space to get a kid into his car seat is just not fun. One slip and you just became the asshole who put a dent in the side of another car.

Yeah, but it's there when you need it. It's not a "need", it's just nice to have the flexibility.

This is totally true. Which is why my next vehicle purchase is probably going to be a minivan.