Fast wagons on the west coast

A hot wagon is like a secret handshake

Brendan McAleer

Jul 01, 2021 • July 19, 2021 • 5 minute read • Join the conversation

Photo by Robert Milacic

Fast wagons are like a secret handshake. Passers-by don’t expect or notice them, most hide their light under a bushel. Or at least a a hatch. In a sea of crossovers, some tuned for performance, a hot wagon is the exception to the mainstream. They’re rare, and often interesting. And, on the west coast, fast wagons are a whole secret society.

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Credit where credit is due: some thanks must be paid here to Mercedes. Alone among major manufacturers, Mercedes has been cranking out AMG versions of their wagons for years. If you’re a Formula One fan, you’ll often see driver Alan van der Merwe chasing the racers on the out lap in a C63 wagon.

Photo by Brendan McAleer

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We don’t get the full-strength baby AMG wagon in Canada, but we do get the C43 wagon that U.S. enthusiasts wish they could have. We also get both the E53 and E63 AMG wagons, the former with a smooth straight six that’s a little easier on fuel than the V8-powered beast.

You see a lot of E63 wagons around Vancouver, often running up the Sea-to-Sky with mountain bikes or snowboards strapped to the roof. It’s all the power and handling of a performance executive sedan, with just a little more space.

But what if you wanted all the power of Godzilla with the ability to haul sheets of plywood? That’s what owner Brendan Taylor has with his Nissan Stagea 260RS Autech. A rare machine made by a skunk works offshoot of Nissan, the 260RS incorporates all the go-fast parts of the mighty R33 Skyline GT-R, including a twin-turbocharged straight six that redlines above 8000 rpm. Taylor took it to Ikea.

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“I’ve used it before to haul tools and lumber for set decoration. I did a pandemic renovation of my house and took it to get plywood and doors. It’s just really unique, a car that no-one really knows about,” he says. “I don’t know what I’d replace it with.”

Canada’s fifteen year grey market importation laws allow West Coast enthusiasts to sample the world’s best wagons. Taylor’s Stagea is one of the first imported into Canada, and as it’s such a rare beast, it requires a patient and resourceful owner to keep it at peak performance. It’s also a bit thirsty, so he has a daily driver: an imported Honda Accord wagon.

Photo by Brendan McAleer
Photo by Brendan McAleer
Photo by Brendan McAleer

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Wagons aren’t the obvious choice, but their rarity makes them good investments. Audi RS2 owner Rob Stevenson, of North Vancouver, bought his turbocharged rocket-wagon slightly before it was admissible into Canada, then used it for touring around Europe before shipping it over.

It was an affordable dream car. Now that RS2 – the first Audi to wear the RS badge, and actually built by Porsche – is legal in the U.S. and highly collectible, prices have shot up dramatically. Stevenson doesn’t plan on letting his go any time soon.

Adam Trinder, a master machinist and customizer, often has incredible cars under the knife in his workshop. He recently sold his personal bonkers Mini Cooper (fitted with a Kawasaki litre-bike engine in the back, and converted to rear-wheel-drive), and bought a nice, sensible wagon for hauling the kids around.

Photo by Brendan McAleer
Photo by Brendan McAleer

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It’s a 2005 Mitsubishi EVO wagon, kitted out with carbonfibre accents and mesh alloy wheels. A one-year-only model sold only in Japan, this car blends wagon practicality with the rally-winning heritage of Mitsubishi’s nimble Lancer Evolution.

“I was going for the tarmac rally look,” Trinder says, adding, “And down the road, it should hold its value.”

Trinder didn’t have to import the EVO wagon himself, as it had already been brought in by a specialist shop. Any number of small boutique places cater to enthusiast owners, and there’s always a wagon or two around the place.

One such shop is Splendid Automobiles in New Westminister, which handles a lot of rare European fare. Alongside the Alpinas and Alfa-Romeos are often Saab and Audi wagons, and sometimes something seriously rare.

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Something like a 1994 BMW M5 Touring. BMW calls their hatchback models “Touring” rather than wagon, as it’s more genteel. Whatever you call it, the machine is stunning, and the second-rarest BMW ever made, after the M1.

Growing up at the base of Westwood Mountain, Robert Milacic was destined to be a racer. He cut his teeth at the old Westwood racing circuit, and his bodyshop business often sponsored racers.

But life changes when you have kids of your own, and Milacic bought a sensible Volvo family hauler. Boxy Volvos were almost a right of passage for many Canadian parents. Later, though, Milacic decided he needed another Volvo. Something fast.

His 2016 Volvo V60 Polestar is probably the fastest such machine in the world. Only twelve V60 Polestars were sold in Canada for the 2016 model year, and each was fast to begin with. As Milacic also runs a performance shop attached to his main business, he was able to have custom parts fabricated for a wagon that has almost no aftermarket support.

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“I’m a big fan of World Touring Car racing,” he says. “When I saw the S60 sedans winning, I thought, ‘what if there was a wagon like that?’”

Currently putting 400 hp and nearly 500 lb-ft of torque to the wheels, Milacic’s widebody V60 looks like some Swedish Viking’s wintertime project. Having maxed out the stock turbocharger output, he’s currently built a custom turbo that will bring peak power into the 500 wheel-horsepower range – far more than a current Competition Series BMW M3.

That’s a spicy Swedish meatball. And, like the rest of these wagons, it remains a practical machine that can haul cargo, dogs, and kids. It does pretty much everything a much more common Toyota RAV4 or BMW X3 does, just a heck of a lot faster.

More than that, it’s something special. Something that’d raise eyebrows at a cars and coffee, but only for people who are in the know. Fast wagons give you membership in an exclusive club. They’re not for everyone. But that’s the secret handshake.