Station Wagon Recommendations Needed

Hi all,

I need some opinions about station wagons, and which ones people would recommend.

This is a nice forum for 'general opinions about general subjects', so I figured I'd post here and get some opinions.

My parents own a 1995 Audi A6 quattro wagon, that after 10 years and 165,000 miles of fine service and generally good reliability, has started to show it's age, and it's gotten to the point where consideration for a new car is needed.

My parents are the type of people that hold onto a car until it has died from use or old age. They're not the leasing kind, both in habit and because their yearly milage approaches 20,000mi-year. They take good care of the car(s), performing the preventative maintenance at required intervals.

As much as I try to talk them out of a station wagon and try for a "cross over" vehicle, my Dad doesn't understand the cross-overs (Nissan Maurano, Infinity FX series, Acura MDX, etc. because they seem to offer less cargo space than a good wagon. They need a station wagon, and I know that not too many manufacturers make wagons.

My Dad is 6'4", so that is an issue. My mom is a foot shorter.

They're looking for something that doesn't suck gas like an SUV.

This being said, here are the requirements they need from the car itself:

1) Safety 2) All Wheel Drive 3) Reliability

The first 7 years of the Audi were relatviely problem-free, the last 2.5-3 years not so. New axels, some other things, totalling about $3,500 in repairs over the last 3 years.

My Dad is leaning toward Japanese just because of the reliability (he's had Ford's, Audi's, Volkswagens, and Nissans---the only cars he had go through life without major problems have been the Nissan's, but Nissan doesn't make a wagon.)

Wagon's I've told him to consider are: 1) Subaru Outback Wagon 2) Dodge Magnum RT AWD

He sat in an Outback a few years ago, and he didn't fit in it comfortably. The model has been redesigned since then, and he knows this and wants to sit in one again.

He hasn't set foot in an American car in a while (since 1995), but he likes what the Magnum offers as long as the reliability is there.

Power between those two models is significantly different, yet price is similar. (Subaru is a 250hp V6 and the Magnum is a 340hp V8).

Any ideas besides those two? He's trying to lean away from European models (Saab, Audi, MB, BMW) because they are over-priced and less reliable.

Thanks Jeff