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Big Muscle Shows Off Modern Family Haulers: Video

Kurt Ernst

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2 3,020 views May 18, 2012

The family hauler has come a long way since the days of the Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser and the Ford Country Squire. In fact, big station wagons are all but relics of the past, replaced in popularity by SUVs and crossovers.

That’s not to say the wagon is dead, and those with the need to get their family from coast to coast in a hurry have a very intriguing option: the 556 horsepower Cadillac CTS-V wagon, which Big Muscle’s Mike Musto points out is really just a muscle car in a family car disguise.

Even that’s not a fair analogy, since the CTS-V wagon handles better than any muscle car or 1970s station wagon we can name, thanks to the Delphi-developed Magnetic Ride Control suspension and the miracle of electronic stability control. Push too hard in a corner, and the CTS-V’s electro-nannies are there to save your bacon.

As good as the CTS-V wagon is, there may be a better choice for families living in snow belt states. BMW’s X5 M offers a similar amount of thrust, with the added stability of all-wheel-drive, in a market-friendly SUV wrapper. Sure, it costs significantly more money than the CTS-V wagon, but it’s quite a bit less costly than a Cayenne Turbo.

For those of us who grew up taking cross-country trips at 55 miles per hour, either choice is a winner when you want to get where you’re going with all due haste.

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Comments (2)

mishmosh Posted: 5/19/2012 8:59am PDT

Muscle era is dead. Long live the new order.

BTW, the CTS-V should not even be compared to an X5-M. Not even the same kind of car.

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Kurt Ernst Posted: 5/19/2012 10:47am PDT

@mishmosh, I thought I did an admirable job of cramming them into a single "family haulers" category...

The simple truth of the video is this: rain washed out Mike Musto's shoot of the Coronet, so Monticello loaned him the use of a track-school CTS-V instead. Matt Farah happened to be on hand for shake-down laps in the X5 M, as that was the car that Mike and Matt drove in this year's One Lap of America. Call the video a marriage of convenience.

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