If you make it attractive enough, buyers will come. Cars like the CTS wagon and the TSX wagon look exciting and aggressive, not mommy-mobile boring. Also, with a marketing spin like "Practicality of a sedan, utility of an SUV" people will become interested. Most buyers like the utility their crossovers or SUVs give them. When companies demonstrate wagons can bring home bags of mulch and a wet dog, they might open their eyes.

There is a small following for them... unfortunately small. We have been watching used Mazda6 wagons for a while. They seem to get snapped up as soon as they hit the market. I do remember when the Taurus wagons came out. It seemed like everyone had one.

I applaud Cadillac's and Acura's entries. Unfortunately, they will probably be short lived. It seems unless it has a diagonal cross bar with an iron symbol in the grille, wagons just don't sell here in the U.S.

For me, I'll take a Mazda5 please. I just wish you could get a Grand Touring model with a manual tranny... I'll settle for the automatic if they put some more power in it. Say, a Volvo turbo 5-cyl. If Ford can stuff it under the hood of the Focus RS, I'm sure it can fit in the Mazda5. Wasn't one of the magazines trying to put the Mazdaspeed3 engine in a Mazda5?

"Wasn't one of the magazines trying to put the Mazdaspeed3 engine in a Mazda5?"

That would be awesome. I already really like the 5, but I would probably buy one if Mazda did it.

"Wasn't one of the magazines trying to put the Mazdaspeed3 engine in a Mazda5?"

I believe you are referring to this?

http://www.caranddriver.com/features/09q2/return_of_the_boss_wagon_mazdaspeed_5-project_car

I think wagons are coming back, they just like to call them other names. All the new crossovers are just tall wagons and they seem to be getting lower all the time.

The Outback is clearly a wagon but they are marketing it as a crossover or SUV.

People need wagons, they just don't want to admit it.

the TSX/Accord is a world car, and since the American TSX is already being shipped from Japan, there wouldn't be much increase in cost to Honda to add the wagon... unless the wagons don't move at all and stockpile on dealer lots.

But I don't see this working because the fuel economy sucks at 21/30 mpg for a 4-cylinder.

The Jetta wagon with the TDI sells really well. I'm sure that has more to do with the engine than the wagon, but people who love high mpg tend to enjoy the practicality of the wagon. Personally, I'd love a 4-cylinder 6-speed manual TSX wagon. Or better yet, the turbo 4 from the RDX. I bet it will only come as an automatic though, which is why I never got a Mazda6 wagon.

Billt, by then Honda/Acura may have the 6speed auto in the TSX, which should add a mile or two for the EPA figure obsessed.

I really wish this would succeed. The failure of the Lexus IS300 sportwagon makes me worried. Maybe failure would be good, I could pick one up a few years later for a bit less!

bepperb,

a Chevy Equinox, which is a much bigger and more practical CROSSOVER, with both more space and more mpgs and more ground clearance to avoid bottoming out damage... has more mpgs!

Which makes wagons far inferior.
Wagons don't save gas and wagons get damaged easier.
That's why crossovers will own this TSX.

Billt9,

First off I'm more than impressed with the Equinox, but the Equinox weights about 3,750 doesn't it? I really don't believe it can maintain higher mpgs than much lighter wagons with better aerodynamics. But all this I think is getting lost in a larger observation I've made... read on...

I swear Chevy is somehow gaming the EPA system. I highly doubt an Equinox with 400-500 more curb weight could get 4 mpg better than a CRV on the highway. Or 1 mpg less than a Honda Fit 5 speed manual for christ's sake!! I'd like to know more about the EPA tests and if GM is somehow gaming the system.

Because I was interested in the Fit, I looked for real world mpg numbers on it, and as expected in a car that size, there were plenty of people that could get 40 mpg on the highway, with the manual rated at a pathetic 33 (21% increase). Meanwhile, you've got ford and chevy trucks rated at 20-21 mpg highway. Are you seriously telling me that it's as easy to get 21 in a highway in a pickup as it is to get 33 in a Fit?

Yes, I'm a Honda guy, so I'm coming in biased, but I just simply don't buy it. I think the current EPA system is being gamed by certain car companies.

NoSpinZone,

As the government still has high involvement in GM, why not give the benefit of the doubt to them in their EPA numbers?

I was a huge Chevy fan up until the bailout business.

Slicker,

I realize my accusation sounds asinine, but I am not about to give GM the benefit of the doubt, especially since the government has a vested interest in their cars selling.

I was never much of a chevy fan, but I'm more impressed by their recent quality improvements than I am angry about the bailout. That being said, Ford's quality is easily better and they didn't take a bailout, so they're currently my favorite domestic.

Hell, I'll be taking advantage of the $8K housing credit soon. I'd hope people wouldn't hold it against me despite their feelings about the credit itself.