Video: The 7 best fast estates of all time

15th March 2024

Ethan Jupp

If you’re even a semi-regular reader of GRR and watcher of our YouTube channel, you’ll be familiar with our slight obsession with fast estates. Our Managing Editor, Ben Miles, would have one – probably an Audi RS6 or a BMW M3 Touring – over most if not all supercars. So it was only expected that we’d see him put his all into a video rounding up seven of the best.

High performance only began to permeate the station wagon class in the 1990s, hot on the heels of the sports saloon of the 1970s and 1980s, so we’re not going too far back into the past. When it did catch on, though, the class absolutely exploded, with the big German trio going hell for leather, arguably culminating in Audi’s twin-turbo Lamborghini-engined C6 RS6 that was good for 186mph all day, five-up with a full boot.

Naturally a breed of car with such performance and versatility caught the attention of the police, both as customers and in terms of what they were up against on the road. For two decades our motorways were covered by the watchful warbling eyes of hopped-up undercover and liveried Volvo 850Rs and T5s.

Anyway, here’s our round-up of our very favourite fast estates from across the decades, from the aforementioned V10 RS6, to a Mustang-engined Rover 75, to titans from BMW M and AMG and more. Let us know your thoughts…