A station wagon, also called an estate car, estate or wagon, is a car body style which has a two-box design, a large cargo area and a rear tailgate that is hinged to open for access to the cargo area. The body style is similar to a hatchback car, but station wagons are longer and are more likely to have the roof-line extended to the rear of the vehicle body (resulting in a vertical rear surface to the car) to provide ample space for luggage and small cargo.
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| Ford Mondeo. Courtesy of automexico.com |
The first station wagons, produced in the United States around 1910, were wood-bodied conversions of an existing passenger car. During the 1930s, car manufacturers in the United States, United Kingdom, and France began to produce similarly-styled models, and by the 1950s the wood rear bodywork had been replaced by an all-steel body. Station wagon and estate models sold well from the 1950s to the 1970s, after which sales declined somewhat as minivans and SUVs have increased in popularity.
Station wagons and hatchbacks have in common a two-box design configuration, a shared interior volume for passengers and cargo and a rear door (often called a tailgate in the case of a wagon) that is hinged at roof level. Folding rear seats (in order to create a larger space for cargo) are also common on both station wagons and hatchbacks.
Design Characteristics
Distinguishing features between hatchbacks and station wagons/estates are:
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D-pillar: Station wagons and estates are more likely to have a D-pillar (hatchbacks and station wagons both have A-, B- and C-pillars).
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Cargo volume: Station wagon and estate designs place a priority upon passenger and cargo volume — with windows beside the cargo space. Of the two body styles, a station wagon roof (viewed in profile) more likely extends to the very rearmost of the vehicle, enclosing a full-height cargo volume — a hatchback roof (especially a liftback roof) might more likely rake down steeply behind the C-Pillar, prioritizing style over interior volume, with shorter rear overhang and with smaller windows (or no windows) aside the cargo volume.
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Typical pillar configurations of a sedan (three box), station wagon (two box) and hatchback (two box) from the same model range |
Other differences are more variable and can potentially include:
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Cargo floor contour: for maximum cargo capacity, a station wagon or estate often has a fold-flat floor, whereas a hatchback is more likely to have a cargo floor with a pronounced contour.
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Seating: Station wagons and estates may have two or three rows of seats, while hatchbacks typically only have one or two. The rearmost row of seating in a station wagon is often located in the cargo area and can be either front-facing or rear-facing.
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Rear suspension: A station wagon or estate may include reconfigured rear suspension for additional load capacity and to minimize intrusion in the cargo volume.
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Rear Door: Hatchbacks usually feature a top-hinged lift-gate for cargo access, with variations ranging from a two-part lift-gate to a complex tail gate that can function either as a full tail gate or as a trunk/boot lid. Station wagons and estates have also been equipped with numerous tailgate configurations. Hatchbacks may be called Liftbacks when the opening area is very sloped and the door is lifted up to open. A design director from General Motors has described the difference as "Where you break the roofline, at what angle, defines the spirit of the vehicle", he said. "You could have a 90-degree break in the back and have a station wagon."
It has become common for station wagons and estates to use a shared platform with other body styles, resulting in many shared components (such as chassis, engine, transmission, bodywork forward of the A-pillar, interior features and optional features) being used for the wagon, sedan and hatchback variants of the model range.
