These are the ten fastest estate cars you can buy
We’d have the estate, though. Because estates are cool. Not only do they carry shed loads of stuff around, bringing versatility to those of us who don’t want a big, potentially brash SUV, but they often look nicer than their saloon siblings. Sometimes they’re more aerodynamic – aka quicker – too.
If you need to move many things from A to B at great speed (and don’t worry, we shan’t ask why), you need one of these cars…
10. Mercedes-AMG C43 – 0-62mph in 4.8 seconds
Mercedes is committed to the art of fast estatery. The semi-skimmed C43 doesn’t get the big V8 of the AMG 63s, but it does get a biturbo V6 and all-wheel drive. That means 0-62mph in under five seconds, and that’s not shabby.
9. Volkswagen Golf R – 0-62mph in 4.8 seconds
We’re big fans of the hot hatch estate niche here at TG. And while the Ford Focus ST is the lairiest, and the SEAT Leon Cupra R the best on track, the best all-rounder of the bunch – and the quickest off the line – is the VW Golf R.
You can thank four-wheel drive for that, the transmission also responsible for the R actually being a mild hooligan if you’re willing to throw it into corners with loutish abandon.
It uses the same 306bhp 2-litre turbo four-cylinder as the recently updated Golf R hatch, and while its extra weight makes it a fraction slower to 62mph, its 155mph top speed is identical.
8. Volvo V60 Polestar – 0-62mph in 4.8 seconds
Cars get little more specialist. They also, to our eyes at least, barely get cooler. The V60 has a lot going for it – quirky Swedish looks, a turbo- and supercharged engine, and some very geeky ten-way adjustable Ohlins dampers to ensure it rides and handles properly.
There’s one snag: Volvo used to sell it with a sonorous six-cylinder engine, but has now fitted a downsized 2-litre four-cylinder. But thanks to that twin-charging, it produces 362bhp – more than its predecessor – which helps yield that 4.8-second sprint, 0.2secs quicker than before.
And crucially, you can still buy it in Rebel Blue. It costs nearly £50,000, but with 120 making it to the UK, you can expect it to remain sought after.
7. Audi S6 Avant – 0-62mph in 4.6 seconds
The Audi S6 used to be quite interesting. One generation used the 5.2-litre V10 from the Lamborghini Gallardo, but looked no different to a typical 2.0-litre TDI. It wasn’t the sharpest of tools in the box, but it was quick and brilliantly subtle. The current car is also subtle. You hardly see any around – we can’t quite work out whether it’s because Audi don’t sell many, or that we can’t tell them from Adam. We suspect it’s the former. No matter – like the S4 Avant, fast, capable and comfy, but not the most involving.
6. Mercedes-AMG CLA45 – 0-62mph in 4.3 seconds
The first of a mild onslaught of AMG-powered wagons starts with an estate car that – bear with us – is actually the estate version of the four-door coupe version of a hatchback.
Yes, in the weird old world of German carmaking niches, the CLA Shooting Brake is as odd as they come. But it actually looks terrific, which might make you forget it’s little bigger than a Focus estate inside.
The AMG uses the same 2-litre four-cylinder as the A45, so the hard-edged soundtrack and ballistic performance are all intact. Here, don’t forget, is a small estate car that’s as quick to 62mph as a V12-powered Ferrari 575M.
5. Mercedes CLS 63 S AMG – 0-62mph in 4.2 seconds
Like the sound of that E63, but want to sacrifice some of that luggage space to get swoopier styling and something you can call a ‘Shooting Brake’ rather than an unglamourous estate?
Step this way. The CLS is the CLA’s bigger, posher relation. Dies soon, so buy while you can.
4. Mercedes C63 S AMG – 0-62mph in 4.1 seconds
Another C-Class, this time with a distinctly unsensible 4.0-litre 503bhp V8. A lovely thing: fun to drive, classy to sit in and very, very practical. And blooming fast. And drifty. But not as fast as…
3. Porsche Panamera Turbo Sport Turismo – 0-62mph in 3.8 seconds
Porsche’s first estate is a booted Panamera. All but the base car deserve a spot on this list, even the diesel (one Panamera is enough, no?), but the Turbo is the fastest. Two tonne kerbwight is shrugged-off by a turbo V8 with 550bhp.
2. Mercedes-AMG E63 S – 0-62mph in 3.5 seconds
We’ve not driven it yet, but if the saloon is anything to go by, the E63 wagon should be an incredibly capable thing. AWD means 0-62mph in the mid-threes, but buy the S and you can tell it to send every last drop of power rearwards for maximum drift. We’re looking forward to this one.
1. Audi RS6 Avant Performance – 0-62mph in 3.48 seconds
Audi are notorious for underestimating their performance figures. Get a flat straight on a dry day (on track, of course) and we reckon 3.48secs may just seem pessimistic.
Yet there’s so, so much more to the mighty RS6 than its Top Trump-ability. It’ll swallow just about all of your things, it’ll travel with unstressed, indecent haste everywhere, and with its subtly blistered arches, it’ll look impossibly cool doing so.
“Settle it into a corner, squeeze the pedal, and it will balance neatly and scoot out like it’s been fired from a spud-gun,” said we, when we drove the RS6 Performance recently. Until recently, the quickest estate on sale. Still a class act.
Source: TopGear.com