Wild wagons: classic estate cars with supercar pace

These load-luggers are mad, bad and dangerous to know

You get big cars, fast cars and, quite often, cars that are a combination of the two. But you don’t often get cars with four-door, big-boot practicality and the power to smoke a sports car.

When you do get all of those things, you’re in the realm of the super estate: a rare breed of machine with brawny performance belied by station-wagon looks and the spacious utility to match.

From racing models to custom builds to special editions with modern-day descendants, these load-hauling speed demons are truly in a class of their own – and many are verging on iconic. Here are 11 of the best.

Volvo 850 T-5R

When the Volvo 850 appeared in 1991, it set a fresh benchmark for practicality and safety in an estate car, with an all-new Side Impact Protection System and a whopping internal capacity. Basically everything the Swedish firm’s cars are known for today.

But it wasn’t all sense and sensibility: when the pepped-up 850 Turbo arrived three years later, it was clear that Volvo wasn’t just about practicality. Then came the T5-R.

Volvo 850 T-5R (cont.)

Launched in 1994, the revised turbo estate deployed an extra 2psi of boost pressure to add 18bhp to the warbling five-cylinder engine’s peak power figure (now 240bhp) and slash the 0-60mph time to just 5.8 secs. 

With a top speed limited to 152mph, this hustling hauler became a mainstay of the UK traffic police, while an iconic and much-publicised cameo appearance in the British Touring Car Championship made it so popular that a second production run was released in 1996, this time rebadged as the 850R.

Bentley Val D’Isere

In 1989, British designer Robert Jankel was commissioned to craft a luxurious Bentley estate that would be as at home on the Alpine slopes as on Bond Street, with enough load space for a week on the white stuff. Fittingly, it would be called the Val d’Isere.

Under the stately hood sat a 6.75-litre V8 mated to an unusual, low-speed four-wheel-drive system: the front wheels were powered by motors that, in turn, were driven by a hydraulic pump connected to the transmission via a toothed-belt drive. All-wheel drive kicked in when reverse or low gears were selected – ideal for steering around snowy town centres – before disabling automatically at 30mph.

Alas, the conversion's price tag was a long way off-piste and just 11 examples were made.

Alfa Romeo 156 GTA Sportwagon

What better way to celebrate the turn of the millennium than by reviving a body concept last seen in the mid ’80s? And so it was that Alfa Romeo brought back the Sportwagon, an estate-shell style not deployed since the Alfasud-based 33 range.

Penned by Walter de Silva, the 156 Sportwagon launched a few years after the saloon variant, with the most desirable version – the GTA – breaking cover at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2001.

Alfa Romeo 156 GTA Sportwagon (cont.)

The 156 GTA’s party trick was a 3.2-litre Giuseppe Busso-designed V6 engine, good for 247 free-revving horses and a soundtrack that brought to mind legendary models from the firm’s past – not least the SZ. Build quality, too, was impressive, with each of the 3651 GTAs being hand-assembled.

Handling, alas, was less refined, but what the 155mph Alfa estate lacked in finesse, it made up for in character – and, while the rest of the 156 range received a Giugiaro facelift in 2002, the GTA stuck with de Silva’s excellent styling until it went out of production in ’05.

BMW M5 Touring

By the early ’90s, BMW’s M5 super-saloon was already a legend, its place in Q-car history cemented with the arrival of the updated E34. It was in 1992, though, that we got the car we’d all really been waiting for: the first-ever estate version of an M-car – the M5 Touring.

Most of its underpinnings were shared with the saloon, including the wonderful S38 straight-six engine: bored out to 3.8 litres, it was good for 335bhp and blistering performance. Shrugging off its 1730kg kerbweight, the M5 Touring could crack 60mph in just over 6 secs, blasting on to an electronically limited top speed of 155mph.

The E34 would remain king of the autobahn until 1998, when the E39 arrived with a 4.9-litre V8 – but there wouldn’t be another M5 Touring until the V10-powered E60 of 2005.

Nissan Stagea 260RS

Keeping the best for themselves, Nissan never sold the Stagea in the UK. Which was a shame: essentially a Skyline with a (much) bigger boot, the estate shared the majority of its mechanicals with the firm’s high-performance two-door, including its range of six-cylinder engines. 

A variety of two- and four-wheel drive versions were offered, but the pick of the bunch was the 260RS edition.

Tuned by Japanese firm Autech, it shipped with the fire-breathing 2.6-litre twin-turbo motor from the GTR and a five-speed manual gearbox, as well as upgraded brakes, better suspension and body reinforcements.

Nissan Stagea 260RS (cont.)

Why the strengthening? Because the all-wheel drive machine was an absolute beast: claimed power output was 276bhp, but if you believe that then you might need a tune-up yourself.

Each car wore 17in forged BBS alloys and an Autech bodykit – complete with all-important tailgate spoiler – while the interior included the steering wheel from the R33 GTR, a subtle reminder to not plant your right foot too firmly on a damp roundabout, lest that horsepower figure implicate itself.

MG ZT-T 260 V8

When people talk of Q-cars or ‘sleepers’, they generally think of understated German machines that can smoke anything on the open road. Turns out they’re missing a trick: this MG estate from early in the new millennium was dogged by the genteel reputation of the Rover 75 on which it was based, yet the engine was anything but staid.

Pop the bonnet of the range-topping ZT-T 260 and you’d find the 4.6-litre V8 power unit from the contemporary Ford Mustang, good for a thumping 256bhp, a 0-60 time of just 6.3 secs and a top speed rated at 155mph. Hardly your average Sunday driver, then.

MG ZT-T 260 V8 (cont.)

The only visual clue that this was a discreet muscle car and not Grandad’s retirement present? Its quartet of tailpipes and the noise they made when you gave it some welly. 

Alas, even with racing outfit Prodrive doing the conversion from front- to rear-wheel drive, and even though MG took an upgraded example (pictured) to Bonneville Salt Flats and set an estate car speed record, that fusty image continued to beleaguer the ZT-T. Just 153 were built, alongside 16 Rover 75 V8 Tourers.

Aston Martin Lagonda V8

Sometimes the wildest designs require the determination of a visionary owner – as with this unique Lagonda Shooting Brake.

Based on a 1987 Series III Aston Martin V8, the modification of William Towns’ design was carried out by Swiss specialist Roos Engineering between 1996 and 2000, extending the saloon’s roofline while retaining the futuristic design cues that made the original so striking. 

The addition of fuel injection means a power output of 300bhp and a potential top speed of 142mph. Not the quickest estate, then, nor the most beautiful, but it leaves an impression like nothing else.

Audi RS2 Avant

Audi’s incredible range of supercar-shaming wagons – including the mighty RS4 Avant of today – can trace their entire lineage back to this magnificent mid-’90s machine.

The product of a joint project between Audi and Porsche, it was put together on the same production line that once spawned the groundbreaking 959 – and it was almost as seminal.

Based on the 80 Avant, the RS2 was powered by a revised version of that car’s 2.2-litre engine, complete with beefier KKK turbocharger, hotter cams and a power output of 311bhp. 

Audi RS2 Avant (cont.)

Audi’s quattro four-wheel-drive system naturally came as standard, as did the Porsche-tuned suspension set-up, which gave the RS2 Avant all the ingredients it needed to become the stuff of legend: Autocar timed it at just 1.5 secs to 30mph – quicker than a McLaren F1 – and clocked an electronically limited top speed of more than 160mph.

Demand for the high-performance estate well outstripped supply, and the original production run of 2000 was extended by almost half – though very few were specified in right-hand drive.

Vauxhall Vectra VXR

What could be better cover for a performance model than the definitive salesman’s car in estate guise? Nothing, it would seem, based on Vauxhall’s decision back in 2005 to take the Vectra and equip it with a turbocharged 2.8-litre V6 engine.

With a target market, presumably, of businessmen with both a battery of stock and no regard for their licences, the upgraded Vectra posted a staggering 252bhp, enough to fire the estate variant to 60mph from a standstill in just 6.7 secs and all the way on to – wait for it – 158mph. Economy figures were, predictably, less impressive.

Vauxhall Vectra VXR (cont.)

Stability control, traction control, understeer control and all sorts of other controls were fitted as standard to keep the estate on the straight and narrow, even if the suspension was notoriously stiff, while red cabin flourishes were a subtler way to say ‘performance’ than skirts and spoilers.

Not content with its curious creation, though, Vauxhall then went even further with an update in 2007, tweaking the V6 for another 24bhp, 3mph more at the top end and a 0-60 time that was 0.4 secs faster. Random or not, at least you'd never be late for a meeting.

Mercedes-Benz 500TE AMG

How do you improve the world’s finest station wagon? You hand it over to AMG and squeeze in an enormous V8, of course. Which is precisely what Mercedes did with a handful of its executive 123-series machines back in the late-’70s.

Worked over by AMG while it was still a small tuning operation separate from the German marque, just five cars received its fabled attention, only two of which were estates – and they became arguably the ultimate ‘sleeper’ model: the 500TE AMG.

Mercedes-Benz 500TE AMG (cont.)

Under that square and relatively understated hood went a whopping great 5-litre V8 with, naturally, an equivalently massive power output.

The example pictured was found in 2013 by Henric Nieminen, who discovered tubular manifolds and a raft of engine trickery under the hood, as well as cast aluminium rear suspension, Recaro seats and that all-important (but not too loud) body kit.

Even in the absence of a paper trail, that all pointed towards it being the real, monstrous deal and the since-restored machine duly sold at the RM Sotheby's Essen auction in April for €144k (£125k).

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution Wagon

Japanese marques clearly had a thing for the super estate: besides Nissan’s Stagea, rival Subaru offered the Impreza WRX Wagon for those in need of turbo power, boot space and a hefty hood scoop. Then, in 2005, Mitsubishi got in on the act with the Lancer Evolution IX.

Yes, the very same meaty saloon famed for its hurtling rally antics and horsepower output well above the stated figures – but reimagined as a station wagon.

Gloriously boxy and only a fraction slower than its saloon car sibling, with its ‘276bhp’ more like 300bhp on the road, the Wagon had the front end of an Evo, the middle of the standard Lancer Wagon and the back of, well, we’re not sure what.

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution Wagon (cont.)

A Japan-only special edition launched in 2005, built in numbers guaranteed to make it rare – fewer than 3000 examples across all models.

The four-wheel drive Wagon shipped in both five-speed manual (GT) and automatic (GT-A) guises. Both got Recaro buckets up front, reinforced rear shocks, lightweight alloy engine hoods, tailgate spoilers and turbocharged 2-litre motors, but it was the manual variant that got the bigger turbo, making it the model of choice for feisty family fun (with all the baggage).

Then, in 2006, came the even meaner ‘Mitsubishi Racing’ version, complete with 6-speed manual ’box in GT guise, alongside variable valve timing, improved turbo response and an identical official power output.