The board seems kinda slow, and today is Boston Marathon day, so there are few people at work here today.

My parents picked up their new Volvo XC wagon this past weekend. I both liked it and hated it. I liked it for what it offers. On paper it looks great, and in a way it is great. It's just how it delivers it that I don't like. The looks are ok, not good, not bad. It looks large and I don't much care for all the plastic moldings. Here is what I love about it. It is incredibly functional. Lots of room, comfortable seats, tons of fold-out thingies for extra space/storage, and very ergonomical. I wasn't able to judge its AWD/off-road prowess, but I'll assume it will do it's job well (it does have good ground clearance). So as a family wagon that can accomodate a lot of people in relative comfort in any weather or road, it should be great. To my parents, who couldn't care less about handling, braking, or any other measure of enthuasiatic driving, the car will easily satisfy.

But here is why I don't like it. The engine, rated at 247 hp (turbo), simply sucks (though it has power). It's rough (my fiancee said "what the hell is THAT noise?"... she thought something was broken), power delivery is non-linear, there is lots of throttle delay (MUCH worse than with a 2001 330Ci I test drove), and the auto is good but not great given today's autos. The brakes felt terrible too. They had lots of power, but it felt like there was a block of foam at the bottom of my shoe. In general the car was awfully numb and isolating.

To give you an idea, when I got back on my 1990 190E, my car felt incredibly nimble, agile, responsive, and everything reacted and felt much better. And my car is no enthusiast's car. Basically, I came away thinking, when I buy a wagon to replace my benz in a couple of years (we want an Automatic, AWD wagon for bad weather, trips, kids, etc), Volvo's wont be in the mix. I am just not willing to give up THAT much. I also don't think I'll need that much room for several years. So that narrows it down to these choices:

1) 325xiT
2) A4 Avant 1.8T
3) A4 Avant 3.0
4) Passat V6 4-motion
The C-320 is out because it's too pricey and too fancy. I want something functional, not luxurious, and I think M-B's are all about luxury. I have a feeling I won't like the Passat after driving the Volvo, but I wont know until I drive it. I also have the feeling the A4 1.8T may be too wimpy for an AWD wagon with auto and a full load. That said, the BMW may be weak as well, but it has a great 6-cylinder (very smooth... I don't like 4-cyl engines.), and I will already have a E46 sedan (so I will know a fair amount about the car when it comes down to maintainance, etc). I have not driven the new A4 Avant, nor a 325ixT to be able to say more.

Since both my fiancee and I can drive stick (and like it), we may go with a manual, but since it's the family car for trips, etc, we think an auto will work best. Also, everyone in our families except for my dad will rather die than drive a stick, so that's another aspect to consider. But it hasn't been ruled out yet.

So what do you guys think, what do you suggest, etc. Sorry for the long post, but I rather say it all than keep having to clarify things afterwards.