Wagon Wednesday: Post Your Own Edition

"JGrabowMSt" (jgrabowmst) 08/05/2015 at 15:05 • Filed to: Wagon Wednesday, HEMIWagon, Post Your Own

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Instead of just following todays theme, we’re going to be today’s theme!

I know all you wagon owners hiding out there, join up!

spanfucker retire bitch > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 09:10

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Do hatchbacks count?

Grindintosecond > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 09:12

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Don’t have one but I did discover BMW does make a turbo diesel 320d sport wagon X-drive in Brown....and no manual option as far as i know. (Can’t get brown with the M-sport package however)

nerd_racing > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 09:16

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Love the Magnum! Those cop wheels add a lot to it too! Might have to get one once I start doing house renovations.

JGrabowMSt > spanfucker retire bitch 08/05/2015 at 09:17

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I guess I’ll give you a pass?

vwbeamer > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 09:19

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my 2001 525i, wishing it was a 540. but I got it cheap because it didn’t run when I bought it.

5-Speed Gangsta > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 09:20

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This is “I wish I had a wagon Wednesday” for me

OPPOsaurus WRX > spanfucker retire bitch 08/05/2015 at 09:21

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my insurance calls mine a wagon

OPPOsaurus WRX > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 09:23

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i’m lurking in the background

Svend > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 09:25

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My baby on the day we picked her up just over two years ago.

and April this year.

Eberle-Hills-Cop > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 09:28

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The insurance says it’s a wagon!

Aaron M - MasoFiST > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 09:31

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This is mine, a few years ago. It’s a little worse for the wear now, but 155,000 miles will do that to a car. That, and parking it in and around Boston.

JGrabowMSt > nerd_racing 08/05/2015 at 09:32

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We’ll say that it can haul a ton of crap at once. I loaded mine up (as set up in that pic above) with over 400lbs of gear in the back, and it did just fine. Helps having 390hp, but they’re great cars overall. Even the 3.5L v6 is no slouch. A good tune will make it pretty peppy. There’s also twin turbo kits starting to be hammered out for them. Not bad for a wagon.

The only thing that does catch you off guard is that the rear opening is not as wide as you would expect. It’s got a lot of space, I fit a set of 70 something inch long rails into the car with the hatch closed by sticking them over the shoulder of the passenger seat. All the windows were closed, it was just propped up on the seat. My Magnum has a couple neat features you wont find in any other Magnum, and it is set up for the track (KW V2 coilovers, poly bushings all over, slight drop), but it is my DD, so it’s fully streetable, and I do use it for work every day, so it’s my hauler. I don’t tow with it, but I know people who do and their Magnums are rock solid well into high mileage.

Only thing I would say is that if you buy a 5.7L Magnum RT that’s from 05-07, before putting any serious mileage on it, do a 6.1L head swap. I thought I would be able to take my motor well into 200k and ended up dropping a valve seat and wrecked the whole motor. Trans is still running strong at 156k, but the rear is showing signs of wear that I need to address before winter.

I couldn’t recommend the car enough, but do be prepared to catch up on maintenance that previous owners neglected. It’s absolutely awesome though, it’s the first car I bought myself, despite some of the maintenance problems I’ve had, the only thing I would do is use a couple different vendors to prevent shipping delays and wait times. Otherwise, car is awesome.

JGrabowMSt > Aaron M - MasoFiST 08/05/2015 at 09:33

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I’m at 156k myself.

JGrabowMSt > Eberle-Hills-Cop 08/05/2015 at 09:33

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Insurance calls mine an SUV. Go figure.

JGrabowMSt > vwbeamer 08/05/2015 at 09:33

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Looks beautiful!

JGrabowMSt > OPPOsaurus WRX 08/05/2015 at 09:34

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The Magnum?!

georgechristensen > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 09:39

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One day

Hiroku > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 09:39

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Wish I had better pictures of it!

Dusty Ventures > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 09:41

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In South Dakota during the coast to coast to coast road trip

Ash78, voting early and often > spanfucker retire bitch 08/05/2015 at 09:46

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Not as wagony as the previous gen, but still counts IMHO.

OPPOsaurus WRX > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 09:49

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i’m the WRX hatch(wagon)

that is a magnum next to me which is y I used that photo

JGrabowMSt > OPPOsaurus WRX 08/05/2015 at 09:52

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You had me! How do you like it?

LoveTheWagon > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 09:54

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Triple wagon. Mazda, Honda, and Subaru.

OPPOsaurus WRX > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 09:54

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I love the thing. Its so much better handling than the explorers I had before.

JGrabowMSt > OPPOsaurus WRX 08/05/2015 at 09:56

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Without a doubt, explorers are very floaty cars. Then they rust out.

Saracen > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 09:58

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ESSSIX GmbH - Accountant/Wagon Thumper > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 10:01

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My 1995 Audi S6 Avant. Tis an oldie, but a goodie!

ESSSIX GmbH - Accountant/Wagon Thumper > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 10:01

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Yes. Mad style points.

Haase > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 10:02

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This is my dad’s 1996 Buick Roadmaster Estate...Oneof the last 8,000 produced. Found it 2,000 miles away in Arizona. Mint.

MonkeePuzzle > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 10:11

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I’ve had a couple

the parents now own 2, and have previously had 3 others of the 2002-ish generation of Legacy/Outback. Wagons are just so handy

TheRealBicycleBuck > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 10:24

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Not my wagon, but spotted the other day....

TheRealBicycleBuck > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 10:25

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The paperwork calls it a wagon, but I think it’s more of a hatch.

THShorn92 - Left his car in America > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 11:01

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Mine. This was the day after I got it. Had it almost a month now.

CompactLuxuryFan > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 11:07

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nerd_racing > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 12:03

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I would definitely be looking at a 5.7L option. I will take your advice and see what is out there and also look at the head swap options. Are the twin turbo kits for the V8 or the V6 cars?

LodestarRunner > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 12:17

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My UKDM E30 Touring now calls New Jersey home.

JGrabowMSt > nerd_racing 08/05/2015 at 13:09

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twin turbo kits are for the V6s, they’re hard to find, and I’ve only seen pictures of a couple of them. Really only for if you want more power. If you go for the 5.7L, just do a head swap and leave the rest of it stock. You’ll end up needing to do the heads, pushrods, and then you may have to also shim the rocker arms because the 6.1 head clearances are different, but the head is much more durable, and the issue I had was a valve seat dropped from the 5.7L head which was just catastrophic.

If you get a 5.7L, it will also have MDS, where it shuts off 4 cyl for light driving between 18-55mph I believe. makes a really big difference on gas mileage as well. I wouldn’t do much to the stock motor either, if you want to make more power you can get superchargers, cams and a tune, but I would leave it as is, personally. They’re torque happy motors, rev pretty low, and red line starting at 6k. They make plenty of power in their stock form, more power is more fun, but the HEMIs are expensive to do fully built.

nerd_racing > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 13:18

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The car would basically be a hauler for building supplies and such. If I were to get one today this is what I would buy:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2006-Dodge…

JGrabowMSt > nerd_racing 08/05/2015 at 13:24

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That’s a decent price considering the mileage, and it also has the awesome police interceptor column shift. Overall a cool car, but I’d be wary about buying one with that much mileage sight unseen. Granted I bought mine with 142k, but as a police vehicle it’s hard to say whether it’ll actually have a lot of life left or not. A lot of the officers do tend to push the cars pretty hard. But more than anything, at that mileage, that motor should really stay stock, modding at that mileage could get bad if it’s too worn and you can’t tell from the outside.

nerd_racing > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 13:46

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I would leave it stock minus the head change for reliability reasons.

John_Harbinson > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 13:47

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Still haven’t washed it yet since we got back, here’s the (family’s) wagon.

JGrabowMSt > nerd_racing 08/05/2015 at 14:08

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If you get one, definitely let me know!

nerd_racing > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 14:36

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I will. Probably won’t be until after winter as I am working on closing on a house. Can’t wait to have my own garage that no one can kick my cars out of.

JGrabowMSt > nerd_racing 08/05/2015 at 15:03

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I certainly know the feeling. I’ve got two cars, and am constantly shuffling them around. Not only that, but I don’t have a place to put the hard top off the SL, so I haven’t been able to put the top down once this year....

Sportwägen, Driver Of The Red Sportwagen > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 15:11

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YES! THIS IS MY CHANCE!

I actually cleaned the car last night, so its now clean and sparkly :)

2011 Jetta Sportwagen TDI 6 speed lowered on Koni Coilovers with 17” GTI wheels

OPPOsaurus WRX > Aaron M - MasoFiST 08/05/2015 at 15:11

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i may have asked before but where are you?

Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 15:11

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My lifted, 4wd, truck chassis’d wagon

Mercedes Streeter > Svend 08/05/2015 at 15:11

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Sexy wagon plus awesome license plate. Too bad I can’t send more than one starrr :)

JGrabowMSt > Sportwägen, Driver Of The Red Sportwagen 08/05/2015 at 15:12

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Go take a nice picture of her all shined up!

Aaron M - MasoFiST > OPPOsaurus WRX 08/05/2015 at 15:13

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Boston area. I’ve been moving around but as of this year I’m in Boston proper, in Dorchester. Picture was taken when I was still living in Newton.

nerd_racing > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 15:14

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I am pretty sure I need to do a headgasket on the AW11 MR2, but I don’t want to do it on the side of the road at my apartment. Haven’t driven it in a month, e brake stuck and when it broke free it makes a brake clunk now. Time to service those too...

OPPOsaurus WRX > Aaron M - MasoFiST 08/05/2015 at 15:15

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o ok. I grew up in Weymouth, lived in Boston for my time at Northeastern, spent a year in Quincy, back to Weymouth, then bought a house in Hanover. We’re looking to move to a nicer place (not that Hanover isn;t nice, we’re on a busy road, no garage) We’re looking at Hanover, Marshfield, Norwell, or Pembroke

Your boy, BJR > LodestarRunner 08/05/2015 at 15:18

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Where in NJ?

Sportwägen, Driver Of The Red Sportwagen > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 15:18

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Wait, did it not upload the picture?

JGrabowMSt > nerd_racing 08/05/2015 at 15:18

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My wagon needs a new power steering cooler, I have to finish wiring the interior LEDs, I need to get the police center caps, and I also have to get the SL new turn signals and replace all of the plastic fluid reservoirs, change the fan clutch, coolant and coolant pressure cap.

If it ever ended, I don’t know what I’d do with myself....or my wallet.

JGrabowMSt > Sportwägen, Driver Of The Red Sportwagen 08/05/2015 at 15:19

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I see some very dirty wheels there, good sir.

Tripper > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 15:21

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My first “car”, my first stick, and my first (and only) wagon. A Mazda Protege 5.

Aaron M - MasoFiST > OPPOsaurus WRX 08/05/2015 at 15:22

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Ah cool. I’m looking to buy eventually, but need to finish off the loans from grad school first. For now, rent is cheap, I have off-street parking, and all of my tools are in my parents’ garage out in Carlisle.

MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 15:22

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JGrabowMSt > Tripper 08/05/2015 at 15:24

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I actually saw one of these in traffic a few days ago, and I really like how they look. I think they’re really cool, and that red is a great looking color on it, the one I saw was a boring white.

Sportwägen, Driver Of The Red Sportwagen > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 15:24

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JGrabowMSt > MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig 08/05/2015 at 15:25

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That thing looks awesome! Any more pics of it?

LodestarRunner > Your boy, BJR 08/05/2015 at 15:25

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Sussex County.

P5guy now GTIguy > Tripper 08/05/2015 at 15:31

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The protege 5 that’s my avatar was also my first in all those categories. I miss it so much.

Sportwägen, Driver Of The Red Sportwagen > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 15:31

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What is your Oppinion on my “Stance”, good sir?

Tripper > P5guy now GTIguy 08/05/2015 at 15:38

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Yea it was a great little car, I miss mine sometimes too. I forgot to mention that it was also my first head on collision lol. I got wrecked by a speeding 93 explorer full of old people not wearing their seat belts (we hit drivers corners). Only one wheel was left on the car!. My passenger and I walked away from it with little more than burns on our neck from the seat belts, and a face full of whatever propellant they use for airbags. We were super lucky, wear ya seat belt!

HoosierHorses > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 15:40

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Yeah Wagons! Snow tire/wheel set on this pic.

JGrabowMSt > Sportwägen, Driver Of The Red Sportwagen 08/05/2015 at 15:41

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I think it’s really good, I think we’re running about the same drop as well. Initially my rear wheel was slightly tucked, but it ended up putting too much camber on the rear wheel, so it screwed it up a bit, and the shop ended up raising the rear about 1.5”. Your drop looks like it has similar clearances around the wheel, and I’d leave it right where it is. The springs will settle, it may go down another half inch at the most, but it’s really really good. I’d debate maybe swapping the front bumper for a GTI one, along with the grill, for a little more aggressive look, but only if it were a direct swap and you found same color parts. Paintwork is expensive, I don’t need any reminders about that...

Do you scuff anywhere? When I first drove the Magnum on the drop, it ended up scuffing when I would leave my work parking lot, but since being re-adjusted (and I take the turn much slower), so far so good. At home I scraped the exhaust tips on the bottom of my driveway, but only because there’s a big dip (oddly enough, it only happened leaving, not when I backed in). With the raise, I should be fine now.

And despite what a lot of people say, I wouldn’t space the wheels out at all. I’d leave them right in there because it leaves for plenty of wiggle room during body roll so you don’t screw up the fenders or inner wheel well. Too many people want me to space the wheels on the SL out, but I just don’t see the point, it just doesn’t look right to me on some cars, and I certainly don’t want it on my cars.

What size wheels are yours, 18x7 or something right around there? They do look great on the car. I have a co-worker with a near identical Jetta Sportwagen, I wish the Toffee Metallic Brown was available in the US, because it could have changed my mind, definitely. That with the GTI front end, some black and brushed metal Detroit wheels and mostly de-chromed would have looked really awesome. Maybe one day....

JGrabowMSt > HoosierHorses 08/05/2015 at 15:43

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You really have a CTS-V wagon?! Is it by chance, (dare I ask) manuel?

Sportwägen, Driver Of The Red Sportwagen > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 15:46

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The Toffee Brown Metallic was available on the MK6 sportwagen... someone on here has one.

The wheels are 17x7.5 with 225/45zr17 Pirelli P Zero all seasons

I would do the GTI bumper, but it would be like 600 for all the parts... unpainted. More for a good condition used one :( and I’m in college and the car is technically my parents :/

I dropped it from around 26.75 Fender to ground to around 24.75 or so all around :D and it only rubs on steep driveways and when I take a corner too fast (I need bigger sway bars...)

HoosierHorses > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 15:48

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I do indeed have a CTS-V wagon. It’s an auto. I concede nothing - I daily drive this thing, and many other people in my family rely on it to be a viable mode of transportation. This isn’t to say that manuals can’t or aren’t viable forms of transportation, it’s just when you’ve got a wife who can’t drive stick, a carseat in the back, grandparents who may need to use it from time to time as they watch the kiddo, etc...having an auto transmission becomes just “one less thing” to worry about.

I am typically the only one at the Indy cars and coffee with a carseat installed, so there’s that.

HoosierHorses > Tripper 08/05/2015 at 15:49

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A Mazda Protege was my first car as well. Looks great in red.

JGrabowMSt > Sportwägen, Driver Of The Red Sportwagen 08/05/2015 at 15:55

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When I looked up the Toffee Metallic Brown, the configurator I was using was for Canada, as the US one didn’t have the color as an option. I had a very sad face.

Sportwägen, Driver Of The Red Sportwagen > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 15:56

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When was this? I know for 2013 at least they had that color

JGrabowMSt > HoosierHorses 08/05/2015 at 15:58

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That is fantastic. I met a guy who also had an auto CTS-V wagon, his is the silver one, also a DD, so he went for the auto.

Thing must be one hell of a DD though. The Magnum RT is enough of a handful, and it’s at least 150hp shy of the CTS-V.

I have plans to manual swap the Magnum in the future, but like yourself, my other half doesn’t bang the gears herself, but at the same time, she prefers little cars as opposed to my big monsters.

Bonus points for the car seat though. I think the most impressive thing I’ve seen car seats in was a Challenger SRT8. I guess I was most impressed that they were able to get two car seats back there.

Sportwägen, Driver Of The Red Sportwagen > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 15:59

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BROWN MANUAL DIESEL WAGON!

linky

JGrabowMSt > Sportwägen, Driver Of The Red Sportwagen 08/05/2015 at 16:00

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I was actually looking late December, early January this year. They may have also stopped offering the color in preparation of the Golf Sportwagen takeover...such is life. I already had the Magnum, but I could have been convinced to at least see the trade in value, as I was waiting for the motor swap to be finished at the time, and was getting really impatient.

JGrabowMSt > Sportwägen, Driver Of The Red Sportwagen 08/05/2015 at 16:01

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Jesus, that’s not even all that far from me.....stahp it!

O[][][][][][][]O ™ > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 16:05

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The state calls it a 2 door wagon.

HoosierHorses > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 16:06

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You know, the V is surprisingly well mannered when it’s driven with a light touch. That’s why I don’t typically have trouble in the winters - not that Indiana winters are too rough anyways. You have to ask it before it lets out the muscle.

JGrabowMSt > HoosierHorses 08/05/2015 at 16:11

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That’s just awesome. When you bought it, were you cross shopping with anything else, or were you pretty set on a CTS-V wagon?

It’s too bad you’re not in NJ, I’m organizing a wagon meet in the coming weeks, and it would be awesome to have one of these join...

Sportwägen, Driver Of The Red Sportwagen > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 16:15

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Well, I would keep the Magnum because you just sank all that money in to it...

Svend > Mercedes Streeter 08/05/2015 at 16:22

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Unfortunately that plate is not it’s assigned licence number but my ‘detailing plate’, a show plate for when I clean a car so I don’t have to edit the real licence plate out and lose picture quality and I’m free to upload the pictures to the Internet straight away.

But thank you she is a very sexy wagon.

HoosierHorses > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 16:22

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It’s funny - I’d be interested to hear how you ended up in the wagon market as well...

When I started, I had just sold an e60 M5, which I loved but was a headache on the maintenance side of the things. That V10 was something else though...

Anyways, I knew I wanted to get back into the monster-sedan/wagon segment...I actually test-drove 4 CTS-V’s (2 sedans, 2 wagons) over the period of a year before I found this one. I cross shopped G8 GXPs (couldn’t find any nearby...), the SS (ditto mostly - didn’t want to order straight from dealer), and the Volvo Polestar wagon (had to drive to OH for that one). In the end, the lure of 556hp and owning a GM LS V8 block won out. I went to the dealer looking at another vehicle - a CTS-V sedan I saw online - and saw the wagon I currently drive sitting in the lot. They had just taken it in, and I groaned because I knew as long as it was clean, I was gonna end up buying it. I haven’t looked back.

Ike > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 16:38

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JGrabowMSt > Sportwägen, Driver Of The Red Sportwagen 08/05/2015 at 16:48

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Oh, at this point I’m much happier with it. I was just reaching Wit’s End with part delays, shop delays, it was turning into a nightmare. A job that I anticipated taking two weeks took nearly 4 months, and a couple of decisions ended up costing me a lot more money than I’m happy about, but you can’t turn back time....But the Magnum isn’t going anywhere. My Magnum is the only one like it, and it will stay that way. I only know of one other Magnum on the suspension I have, I think I’m the only person crazy enough to go through with the seat swap (full writeup coming soon!)...it’s going to be one of a kind, and it’s certainly my forever car, without a doubt. I wanted it bad enough to get one, and I kept wanting it enough to write the check, so there’s that.

JGrabowMSt > Ike 08/05/2015 at 16:48

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Dat blue

JGrabowMSt > HoosierHorses 08/05/2015 at 17:01

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Well, mine was a mix of “practicality” and pure desire. I knew I wanted a wagon. I wanted a four door hatch and missed the chance at having that (just a little KIA Rio, but it was an early return lease with less than 10k and still under factory warranty), so I needed to have a wagon. Then came the bigger desires....

I absolutely wanted a V8, and I wanted rear wheel drive, no all wheel, very specifically rear wheel. Then I wanted two valves per cylinder because of the noises it makes. Turns out, the options are severely limited when you want a RWD, V8 and wagon body. I searched for Magnums for a while. Saw plenty of scams on craigslist, and a few really bad ones, but on a whim, I emailed the previous owner of mine, and ended up getting a response that he was on vacation, but I could come look at it when he got back. Not only that, but I went to where he worked to look at it. This just meant that he was serious to me, because it wasn’t just a mutually convenient location, I knew where I could find this guy if I got stiffed with a lemon.

After a little back and forth about some of the ugly about the car (3 different tires, moonroof wouldn’t close properly, etc), we settled on a price and here it is.

The even deeper story is that it’s the first car I flat out purchased for myself. I bought it as a graduation present for myself (graduated college last May), and it was time I bought myself a toy to celebrate with. I picked it up two weeks before I graduated, and haven’t looked back since. It hasn’t been all sunshine and butterflies , but it’s my car and it’s what I really wanted. My dad hates the fact that I’ve sunk so much money into it, had so many delays with parts and getting work done, but I just had to have it, and I don’t want to give it up. Being my first car I also insured on my own, it had to be affordable. I could have bought myself a Corvette (for my age I’d say I’m well off enough to do that), but the insurance would have been ridiculous. I talked to a lot of Magnum owners about the insurance, and it turns out it’s a very safe car and I pay less a year than some of my friends, and I insure the Magnum and an SL600 Sport (SL with full coverage, Magnum with only comprehensive).

I try to tell myself it was sensible, and I get in the car and absolutely love it every day. I always turn around and look at both of my cars in parking lots, but the Magnum I can’t help but turn around and look at, thinking “this car just gets badder and badder the closer I get to finishing it.” I just finished swapping in new seats, which I’ll do a writeup on soon, the KWs make it handle like it’s on rails, and as a whole, like my SL, I was not going to let it get away.

Ike > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 17:09

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Dupla color spray on wrap blue, looks good from afar but far from good lol

OPPOsaurus WRX > Aaron M - MasoFiST 08/05/2015 at 17:27

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The down payment is the real killer in buying

MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig > JGrabowMSt 08/05/2015 at 23:27

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