Could a station wagon wreck your marriage?

The term "station wagon" is seemingly radioactive in Detroit.  No one wants to apply that label to their vehicles, as though it is the kiss of death.  The reason for this is analogous to what's happened to the minivan.  It has gone from being something that has an innovative architecture to being dismissed as a "mom mobile."  Several moms avoid minivans for that reason, and these are not desperate housewives.  Minivans just aren't "cool."  Historically, station wagons suffered the same fate.  They became the "dad mobile."  And the "dad" in question was along the lines of Ozzie Nelson.  Not the sort of image that many would deliberately aspire to.  Functional.  Underpowered.  Boring.  The sort of thing that Chevy Chase's character in Family Vacation would roll in.  The official vehicle of Bermuda shorts-wearing breadwinners.

Which brings me to the Dodge Magnum.  I would argue that it is a station wagon in terms of architecture.  But a station wagon thoroughly transformed.  Transformed into something hot.  (The folks at Chrysler classify it as a "sport tourer."  Wrong.)

I talked to three men about the car.  Two out of three said, "I really like it, but my wife wouldn't let me get one."  Do you think that that could be said of any of the traditional station wagons of days past?  (One of the two, incidentally, had just purchased a Volvo XC90 for his wife—she didn't want a minivan.  I would argue that the XC90 isn't an SUV, but a station wagon.)  The third said that he was so taken with the Magnum that he was going to get out of his Ford Explorer and into a Magnum.  He didn't mention his wife.

Here's the thing to know: If you are looking for utility (fold down the rear seats and get 71.6-ft³ of cargo space) and superb performance (the RT trim level comes with the 5.7-liter hemi), you'd be hard pressed to find anything better than the Magnum at any price point ($33,180 as driven, and that includes optional goodies like a sunroof, side curtain air bags, and more; the car is available in three trim levels, with the RT in the middle; in addition to the hemi, there are two V6s and a four-speed automatic in addition to the five-speed automatic on the RT.).

Consider: Chrysler Group has taken a car type that no guy would want to proactively buy and turned it into something highly desirable.  No small feat, that.  Although it is a sizeable vehicle (wheelbase: 120 in.), the ride and handling are top-drawer—in part because of the Chrysler engineers availing themselves of the Mercedes parts bin (E-Class components here and there are certainly a good thing).  While the vehicle is most desired because of the combination of sinister good looks (platform mate with the Chrysler 300 sedan, it shares the same high belt line and small green house, but with the advantage of the long roof sloping sleekly down toward the backlight so as to have an aggressive appearance) and the 340-hp engine, I found the low-speed maneuverability (i.e., slipping into a narrow parking space) superb.

The interior fit and finish are the kind of thing that one would expect in a quality vehicle. . .but which one rarely finds in many of the products that had their genesis in southeastern Michigan.

Power.  Looks.  Capability.  What else is there?  Well, there is the issue of domestic harmony. . . .