Not that we really carry that much stuff, which was one of the reasons we decided the Landcruiser was just too much. Seventy-five percent of the time, it's just me in the car. Ninety-five percent of the time, it's just the three of us. We never really take the dogs anywhere most of the time, and if we really want to carry something large or dirty, we've got the pickup.

But still, a station wagon is useful for being able to simply open the back and toss in a few bags of groceries or carrying around a few packages and a stroller. Plus, due to the flat roofline, there's more room in the backseat than in a sedan. There's plenty of room for E in his seat and another person to stretch out in the backseat.

More people should drive station wagons. Particularly 227hp station wagons capable of acclerating fast enough to get your blood circulating. Particularly all-wheel-drive station wagons capable of neutral handling in virtually all weather conditions. The WRX is not your grandmother's old Estate Wagon. (Though there's something to be said for those old 500 cubic inch monsters)

It's difficult to appreciate a small station wagon when you're rolling down the road in a 3-ton monster SUV complete with 31-inch tires and enough seats for the entire Brady Bunch. There was even enough room for Alice back behind the third row of seats. Despite the nice smooth ride, the relaxed, lumbering handling, the elevated view of the road, they're hogs at the gas pump.

But really, my first clue that I needed to be driving something other than the Landcruiser was one afternoon while driving home from work. I was cruising down the main road in towards town and looked down and noticed I was doing almost exactly the speedlimit. The road was open ahead of me and there was a few cars behind me. "Gee," I thought, "The speedlimit's not so bad."