Are you looking for a real all-rounder for work and leisure, then you simply cannot ignore the station wagon. And if the costs also have to remain a bit transparent, you will soon arrive at the station wagon in the popular c-segment, also known as the Golf class. Then you immediately know what size car we are talking about here. That VW is certainly in this list of five recommendations.
In fact, the station wagon is an early form of a crossover. The concept was once developed as a handy combination of a passenger car and a van. Until the 1970s, most cars had a sedan body, two- or four-door. Not really practical for the small entrepreneur with, for example, a bakery or butchery. The station wagon changed that. Deployable for trips with the family and with the rear seat folded flat, a large loading space is created.
To illustrate how spacious the five compact packhorses from this overview are, we compare them with much more expensive models from the well-known three German premium brands. Take the luggage space. It remains below 500 liters for the Audi A5 Avant and Mercedes-Benz C-Class, where the BMW 3 Series Touring just manages to reach that value. Four of our five favorites go through the 600-liter mark and even the Mégane, which does not reach that, comes to 521 liters. The Skoda Octavia Combi and Ford Focus Wagon – the longest two here – come with their 4.67 meters quite close to the BMW 3 Touring, which is only 4 cm longer. Our five favorites (in alphabetical order) are the Ford Focus Wagon, the Kia Ceed Sportswagon, Renault Mégane Estate, Skoda Octavia Combi and the Volkswagen Golf Variant.
Ford Focus IV Wagon (from 2018)
Ford has a rich history when it comes to station wagons. These were once marketed as Turnier, for the first time in 1960. Here we focus on the fourth generation of the Ford Focus, which came on the market in 2018. The fact that the Focus should not be missing in this list, the Ford owes for a large part to its driving characteristics. There is no other car in this class that provides so much driving pleasure. Even someone who may not have that on their priority list is usually pleasantly surprised by the steering feel of the Focus. The engine version that you come across most often is the 1.0 EcoBoost, a three-cylinder with 100, 125 and even 155 hp. In addition, there is the 1.5-liter four-cylinder with 150 hp and the fast 2.3 (280 hp) in the sporty ST.
If you want a Focus with SUV looks, there is the slightly raised Active with, among other things, black edges on the wheel arches. Diesels are also available: a 1.5 with 120 hp and a 2.0 with 150 hp. Automatic transmission is available in combination with the 125 hp 1.0, the 1.5 petrol and diesel and also the 2.3 petrol. Another asset of Ford is the excellent standard equipment, especially with the many Business versions. The top model in terms of luxury is the Vignale, while the ST-line is a bit sportier, also in terms of chassis. A disadvantage of the 1.0-liter engine is the low towing weight (1,000 kg). If you want to tow a heavier load, you are dependent on the 1.5, which may tow 1,500 kg. At the end of 2021, this generation Focus gets a facelift and production is completely stopped in 2025.
Kia Ceed III Sportswagon (from 2018)
The still fairly young Korean brand Kia managed to climb to the leading position in the sales ranking in 2024 and Kia is again proudly at the top in 2025. Who would have ever thought that? The EV3, Niro and Picanto are the toppers, while the Ceed only has to tolerate the VW Golf in front of it in its segment. In 2006, this model was introduced as Cee’d, still with the apostrophe in the name. That punctuation mark disappeared with the arrival of the third generation in 2018. The abbreviation CEED stands for Community Europe European Design, with which the Koreans want to emphasize once again that they really developed this car for the European market. With an important trump card: a rich standard equipment and of course seven years warranty. Stronger: it has been increased to 10 years, provided that the car in question has been maintained by the dealer and has driven a maximum of 150,000 km.
And the Kia Ceed Sportswagon knows how to beat its competitors on another part: the luggage space. It measures 625 liters, the largest of this group of five. That is not at the expense of legroom in the back seat, which is sufficient. We are less happy with the sound insulation, which could really have been better. Then we are referring to the rolling noises of the tires, which are clearly audible. The driving characteristics are modal, steering and shifting goes without saying and the 1.0-liter three-cylinder performs well. In addition, there is a 1.4 four-cylinder (from 2021 a 1.5) and there is even a plug-in hybrid. Kilometer eaters can consider the 1.6 diesel. In the summer of 2021 it is time for the facelift and in 2025 the Ceed will get a successor in the form of the K4.
Renault Mégane IV Estate (from 2016)
The Renault Mégane was extremely popular in the era that economical diesels were allowed to receive substantial government support. For business drivers, that meant only 14% addition, so that the Dutch importer registered more than 21,000 copies in 2012, mainly the Estate with 1.5 dCi. And despite its modest diesel, this Mégane can tow 1,500. Now that we’re talking about that: the version we have in mind here is the one with the 1.3-liter four-cylinder engine and with that you can hang no less than 1,700 kg on the tow bar. That’s really seriously much.
We are talking about the fourth generation of the French c-segmenter, which debuted in 2016 and is no longer available. Where other brands mount three-cylinders, at Renault you got the 1.2 four-cylinder TCe, with 100, 115 and 130 hp and only the latter is available with automatic transmission. Then comes the 1.3 with 140 or 160 hp, followed by the 1.6 with 205 hp. The 1.5 diesel is available with 110 and 115 hp and there is a 1.6 dCi with 130 or 165 hp. The Mégane has a beautiful interior and depending on the version a large vertical screen in the middle. As you can expect from a French car, this Renault sits and drives just a bit more comfortable than the rest. In 2020, the Mégane gets a facelift and the program is expanded with a plug-in hybrid. A year later, he does get the three-pitter: the 1.0 TCe with 115 hp. Meanwhile, the production of the Mégane has stopped and this name is on the fully electric version.
Skoda Octavia III Combi (from facelift 2016)
Simply clever. That is the pay off of Skoda and indicates the ease of use and the many smart features. What we also associate with the Czech brand is space, with the Superb Combi as the absolute king. But its slightly smaller brother Octavia Combi also does not have to be ashamed of its cubic meters of loading capacity. Under the skin, costs have been saved, for example with the application of semi-independent rear suspension instead of multilink. The average Skoda driver is not looking for a car that can outsmart a cloverleaf at Verstappen pace. No, he or she wants a lot of value for the money and that is exactly what a Skoda is strong in, as is the Octavia.
As part of the Volkswagen Group, Skoda uses the technology from Wolfsburg. Thus, the 1.0 TSI (that was first a 1.2 TSI four-cylinder) also found its way to the spacious Octavia Combi and that is a fine base engine, which can be combined with the 7-speed DSG automatic. Lots of torque that is available early, quiet and vibration-free and all that pleasantly economical. If you find that a bit too meager, there is the 1.4 TSI (from mid-2017 a 1.5) with 150 hp, a 1.8 TSI with 180 hp and in the RS a 2.0 TSI with 245 hp in the fast RS. For the diesel drivers there is a choice of the 1.6 TDI with 115 hp and the 2.0 TDI with 150 hp. In 2020, the current Octavia took over, which received a facelift in 2024 and now we are waiting for the arrival of the electric Octavia.
Volkswagen Golf VII Variant (from facelift 2017)
The Volkswagen Golf is the most popular used car year after year, followed by the Polo. Once the Golf also led the list of newly sold cars, but that time is far behind us. That has everything to do with the total decline in sales in the c-segment, which has more than halved compared to 10 years ago and Volkswagen also notices that. Anyway, the Golf remains immensely popular as a used car, and especially the hatchback. Volkswagen waited until the third generation Golf with a station wagon, which at VW has been called Variant for years. Number 7 came in 2012, the Variant in 2013. He got the facelift in 2017, recognizable by, among other things, slightly different headlights.
The engine range starts with the three-cylinder 1.0 TSI, including a basic version with 85 hp, but you rarely see that, it is usually the 110 or 115 hp. Then comes the 1.5 TSI with 130 or 150 hp, a 1.6 TDI with 115 hp and a 2.0 TDI with 150 or 184 hp in the GTD. Special versions are the R with two-liter TSI and 310 hp and the SUV-like Alltrack with the 180 hp 1.8 TSI and four-wheel drive (4Motion). The five-door Golf hatchback is also available as EV and as plug-in hybrid, the Variant not. But what exactly is the appeal of the Golf? Probably the reasonably timeless design, the above-average beautiful interior and the driving comfort. It is a car that leaves no stitches anywhere and all that translates into solid used car prices. At the end of 2019, the current Golf was presented, the facelift came in 2024.