Buick Roadmaster Estate

Model years: 1991?1996,Behold the last of the big American station wagons. This General Motors behemoth offers an appealing combination of reliable, modern(ish) technology and retro looks. In the later years of its production, the Roadmaster was armed with a honking 5.7liter V8 closely related to the Chevy Corvettes to help it move all that mass. Rearfacing thirdrow seats, wood paneling on the sides, shifter on the steering columnits all there. You can even fit a third passenger up front when the ruckus in back gets too loud. Cheap to insure, says Kevin Cullinane of Bethesda, Md., who has owned two of these big boys as well as a lot of other older American iron, and parts are cheap and plentiful. With a gentle foot on the gas, Cullinane gets 17 miles per gallon in town, and 23 to 24 mpg on the highway. Quite a feat for a car this weight and size, he says. The wagons seem to have outlasted their mechanically identical sedan brethren, such as the bulbous Chevy Caprice that was a fixture of police and taxi fleets in the 1990s. Lowerstress suburban living may be the reason. Closely related but scarcer: the Chevy Impala Wagon and Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser.