The Asphalt Jungle: Sweet & Low

Back in the Paleozoic Era--when trilobites flourished, the first amphibians squiggled from the seas, and I was a boy--American families drove station wagons. Our tribe of six jumped right on the wagonwagon, sweating through the late sixties in a Volkswagen Squareback, briefly living large in a used 1974 AMC Ambassador Brougham, then downgrading to a new Ford Fairmont so utterly lacking in curves and decoration it couldn't be seen on radar.

The thing is, back then this actually mattered; being seen in the right wagon carried serious prestige. And our lowly Fairmont was not theright wagon. I'd drool with envy whenever myfriend arrived at school stretched out in thethird row of his mom's Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser,a wheeled plesiosaur so extravagant it had anactual-size photograph of a redwood tree gluedto each flank, a windowed roof dome liftedfrom an Amtrak observation car, and so manypower conveniences the driver's door had amail slot for receiving electric bills. Someday, Ivowed, I'd be Vista Cruising, too.

Then, like "Miami Vice" pastels and MichaelDukakis, wagons disappeared. From roughlyone million wagons sold in 1980, U.S. salesplummeted to just 400,000 units in 1990 and amere 120,000 last year. A host of worthy modelshave ceased production--including the ToyotaCamry, the Mazda6, the Dodge Magnum, andeven the Subaru Legacy. Compared with thepitiful approval ratings for wagons, the presidentseems beloved enough to run for president.

Much of the blame for the wagon's demise,of course, owes to the SUV boom. In the early1990s, for reasons Freud could probably bestexplain, people who had no need for truck-basedsport/utes --- they never drove off-road,never towed large trailers --- started snappingthem up, mostly in a bid to keep their headsabove each other ("I'll see your Chevy TahoeEmpire State Edition and raise you a FordExpedition Sears Tower Series"). Rising gasprices have since purged many pretendersfrom the SUV-buying pool, but Americans stilllike to see eye-to-eye with bus drivers. Today,though, most can be found in the tall saddles of"simulated SUVs," aka car-based crossovers, salesof which nearly tripled (to 2.8 million annually)from 2001 to 2007.

The public's penchant for sitting in adulthigh chairs is curious -- especially since, asany driving enthusiast knows, a lower seatingposition and center of gravity provide superiorcontrol and responsiveness. This point hit homerecently when I spent a week driving the new2008 Volvo XC70, one of a handful of wagonsstill available stateside. True, the XC70 has someSUV-like features --- including four-wheel driveand 8.3 inches of ground clearance --- but itsports unmistakable wagon styling and, at 63.1inches high, it's three inches shorter than, say, a Lexus RX 350 crossover (the regular V70 is morethan two inches shorter still).

It takes only a few moments behind thewheel of a car to appreciate how nice it is todrive, well, a car. Trucks have their utilitarianroles to serve, and crossovers become morecarlike every year, but only a true automobiledelivers that satisfying, hovering-over-the-roadride and the ability to arc into swift cornerswithout leaving your roofline a generous tip.What's more, a nice car cabin looks betterthan most SUV cockpits. Not only is the XC70gorgeous inside (picture a Bang & Olufsenstereo with a steering wheel), it offers tons ofcargo room --- more than 72 cubic feet --- and alow, easy-access load floor.

Even a Michigan snowfall didn't make meyearn for an SUV. In fact, judging by the XC70,wagons have never been better. They're evencompletely free of trilobites.