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Comment by mikeyouse | Hacker News Reader

Yep - own a 2020 Outback - it's great! But definitely larger than the Station Wagons of yore.

Pretty good mileage (over 30mpg highway) and very spacious for weekend trips or longer commutes (5 adults sit comfortably).

It's fairly capable towing - can easily pull a pair of SeaDoos or a small utility trailer and has all the "smart" bells and whistles as standard equipment vs. the Audi Allroad we were comparing it against where the lane-keeping/blind spot detection was only available on the +$15k trim.

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> But definitely larger than the Station Wagons of yore.

Hehe,

2020 Outback

    Wheelbase 2,750 mm (108.3 in)[3]

    Length 4,840 mm (190.6 in)[3]

    Width 1,840 mm (72.4 in)[3]

    Height 1,500 mm (59.1 in)[3]

Roadmaster Wagon (the one mentioned in the article article)

    Wheelbase 115.9 in (2,944 mm)

    Length 217.7 in (5,530 mm)

    Width 79.9 in (2,029 mm)

    Height 60.3 in (1,532 mm)

As you can see, Grandpa's old station wagon was a fucking beast compared to a modern Subaru. Two feet longer, half a foot wider, 1000lbs heavier and taller to boot.

People forget just how big old station wagons were. I used to roll in a B body, so it amuses me when people talk about how much bigger cars are today. Like, yeah, a Civic of today is the size of an Accord of the 90s, but those old full-sized GM cars were gigantic land yachts.

>1000lbs heavier and taller to boot.

About the same weight (4k per Google) and the road-master is shorter.

Hell, an Altima is pushing into 80s base trim half-ton curb weight territory.

>People forget just how big old station wagons were. I used to roll in a B body, so it amuses me when people talk about how much bigger cars are today.

Because the overwhelming majority of people who are saying these things were born to well enough to do families that they never got to live first hand the experience of the Country Squire that had to do it all. There was the minivan for kid hauling and the Accord (or whatever) for commuting.

You know how people today judge a Dodge Journey or used Chevy Tahoe. That's what station wagons were back then.

> About the same weight (4k per Google) and the road-master is shorter.

Not sure your sources, but a 94s Roadmaster weighed about 4572lbs according to the Owners Manual. Perhaps you were looking the sedan weight?

The Outback is 3753 in base or 3917 in turbo guise. So maybe not 1000lbs, but not far off.

That's wild.. the Outback just barely fits into our very average sized garage. I can't imagine a vehicle over two feet longer.

Now you know why people never used their garages for cars in the 70-80s.

As a kid I rode around in a bigger station wagon, the Mercury Montego, which was 223.1 in (5,667 mm).

Now I drive a Ford E350 that is 236.7 in (6,012 mm). It's 3.45 feet longer than your Outback. I think it's the smallest car that will hold my family. It looks like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ford_E-Series_wagon.jpg

how much of that is dedicated to the passenger compartment

For old wagons the front 2 rows of seats were always the same dimensions as the car they were based off. The differences were always purely in the very back section of the car behind the back seats onwards. In fact if you looked carefully you could pretty much always see the seem in these cars from where the top of the rear window would have been around to the floor as they were created by welding an extra section on the rear.

So basically think of the largest old sedan you've ever been in. It's that much room.

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