Estate cars have been on the wane for many years as enthusiasm for the practical family load-lugger was replaced by a huge appetite for SUVs, which combined practicality and a raised ride height.

MG had quite the following for a while as the only manufacturer offering an electric estate car with the MG5. Not only did it favour taxi companies, but families found it to be a practical, efficient allrounder.

Volvo, once synonymous as the maker of the best, and safest, estate cars and even had the 850R estate racing on the Touring Cars event in the 90’s has abandoned them in favour of SUVs. There is a smidge of hope as they returned the outgoing V70 estate to the U.K. and was recently reviewed by Jim, but they don’t appear to be making a comeback with estate EVs despite some fans desperately urging Volvo to do so.

There are a few brands that never gave up on estate cars, although most have shrunk their range such as Skoda to just the Octavia and Superb, and they have yet to launch a true electric estate car, although one is coming - more on that below.

However, it’s sister brand Volkswagen launched the brilliant ID.7 Tourer and also have the Passat as the only estate cars in the range.
Surprisingly, the latest iteration of the Volkswagen Golf has yet to spawn an estate variant. Remember their Golf R estate - where are they now Volkswagen?

Peugeot and Vauxhall have estates too, but most have ditched their D segment family saloon and hatchbacks and with it, their estate cars, but all have a comprehensive line-up of SUV’s.

But why is this, because estate cars represent great value for money. Often sharing the same or similar footprint to their SUV counterpart, there is no compromise in internal space, but they are considerably less expensive to buy, and the savvy buyer would save many thousands of pounds by choosing an estate over an SUV.

Take for example the Vauxhall Astra Sports Tourer; it has 597 litres of boot space and with the rear seats folded, it opens up to 1634 litres.

Its SUV counterpart, the Vauxhall Grandland shares a similar footprint to the Astra estate and has a similar sized boot at 550 litres and 1645 litres with the seats folded.

But here’s the killer. The Astra costs from £29,010 and the Grandland starts at £35,700. So you must ask, is having an imperious driving position worth the extra £6,690?

And this is where estate cars excel because they represent such great value. You essentially get the same space, if not more, for much less money. And this is why estate cars are so underrated and underappreciated.

But, is it the right time for the estate to make its return? Well, as budgets have to stretch further people will invariably need to look at saving some hard earned cash. Some manufacturers think the same and there are some new estate cars launching as EVs.

Our very own Jim Starling test drove the Audi A6 Avant e-tron recently and you can see what he thought about it here.

To rival that, BMW have their own rather lovely i5 estate touring and following the reveal event of the brilliant new BMW i3, BMW announced that a touring version would be coming.

And mercedes will launch a Shooting Brake version of their brilliant, if not sparkling, CLA promising up to 469 miles of range, 800v charging and a starting price well under the Expensive Car Supplement of £50,000.

Subaru is launching an electric version of their pumped out Outback (yes please), although there are no details to share yet, but we will keep you informed when they do launch it.

And it maybe down to Volvo’s sister brand Polestar to launch an estate with the rumoured Polestar 4 estate launching later in 2026, although this could be a sort-of estate-SUV crossover.

Looking ahead to next year, Skoda will enter the room with the electric Octavia estate as a replacement for the outgoing model. And this could set the benchmark for Volkswagen to launch an ID. Golf estate at a later date, too.

And supporting 1.5 MW Flash Charging with a 10%-97% charge time in 9 minutes is the Denza Z9 GT from BYD with its Taycan-like sports shooting brake. No official announcement yet, but it has been confirmed that it will enter the U.K. market - we’ll keep you posted.

Popularity of estate cars will be down to demand from the public, but there is a huge potential to save money and access all the practicality a family needs without forking out a premium for an SUV. There are upsides and downsides to choosing an estate car, though.

Downsides are a lower driving position, less choice compared to SUV’s and they’re less popular as they are far from being on-trend.

Upsides are the savings can be huge as SUVs command a premium. They will be lighter, more efficient and handle better, too. And there’s no compromise on storage.

I hope with a trickle of electric estate cars available with more launching soon, that people will see the true value they offer.

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About the Author

Graeme Cobb is a lifelong car enthusiast with a passion for writing about cars, EVs, industry updates and more.

You can find Graeme on 𝕏 at @graeme_cobb or YouTube @REV-EV.

Are Estate Cars About to Make a Comeback as an EV and Challenge the SUV?

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