Automotive enthusiasts?

@Flying Pancake  
the wagon would look sexy as heck with a Buick logo. the body lines look almost like an SUV… I wish it would be made in the USA, then I’d be truly wishing for one

@Flying Pancake  
The Avista could have been a great way to make US buyers give the brand a second look. The Avenir would have been good too but they reduced that to a trim level.
 
@Flying Pancake  
Chances are that if Buick brings a wagon to America it will be lifted and have plastic cladding like the VW Alltrack, Subaru Outback, Audi Allroad, etc. If, however, Buick keeps the wagon like that pictured Opel and offers it with a stout engine and AWD at a reasonable price, I’ll give it a look. If the quality is there it doesn’t matter to me if the brand’s average customer is twice my age.

@kleptomage  
Plastic cladding? yeah, lets confuse the Americans to think they’re buying a cool and rugged crossover! ‘Murica.
 
I think that’s a believable plan, it would be great to see a Chevy wagon to go along with the Colorado ZR2 in terms of off-road prowess.

@kleptomage  
I wouldn’t worry too much about the cladding, if the current Insignia Country Tourer (great name) is anything to go by:
 

 
That’s probably the most subtle and tasteful application of plastic cladding I’ve seen, and the ride height looks very car-like. (Also, ha, unintentionally funny license plate.)

@RainbowDash69  
I don’t know how this plastic cladding trend got started but it makes cars look cheap. If I was really worried about paint chips I’d get a wrap.
 
@Flying Pancake  
That’s not bad looking.

@kleptomage  
Didn’t GM plastic-clad their cars for a while now?  
They did plastic-clad their Saturn brand cars if I’m not mistaken.

@SeraphimDawn  
Everybody does. It used to be the mark of the base trim junk car but somehow it became widely acceptable.

@SeraphimDawn  
They did, but Saturn probably isn’t the best example. Some more over the top ones:
 
The Aztek:  
 
(Fun fact: only the first year Aztek came with black/gray cladding. All the rest had body colored.)
 
The Avalanche:  

 
And the king of all plastic clad cars, the Isuzu VehiCross:  
 
(This one’s so weird that I actually really like it.)

@Background Pony #76E2  
Ah, shoot, I clicked the anonymous button by accident, that was me.

Plastic bodies, also in the Chevy Lumina APV minivan I linked earlier, were a good gimmick also for being dent-resistant
 
the grey plastic cladding really looks the best in cars like the Jeep Wrangler, I still like it on the Aztec too. it fits the theme

Bump.
 
 
1973 Mazda RX-3
 
Beautiful!

@SeraphimDawn  
Nice, I’ve never seen one of those before. It kind of reminds me of the GSX:  
But at about 2/3 scale.

@Flying Pancake  
Looks a lot like those muscle cars.  
I wish Mazda would revive their retro aesthetics.
 
Here is a  
1963 Mercury Meteor  

@SeraphimDawn  
Not sure Mazda will ever try something that retro, unless retro styling suddenly becomes super popular (fingers crossed). I could more realistically hope for them doing something like the old RX-7:  
 
Clean, simple, attractive, and sporty looking.
 
Though honestly, I won’t complain about anything Mazda does with their styling now that they’re finally getting away from that ridiculous “Maximum Overdrive” looking face.

@Flying Pancake  
They’ll never bring back those frog lights.

@SeraphimDawn  
Frog lights? Is that another name for pop-ups? I know there’s no chance of those coming back (unfortunately), but even with normal lights that would be a good looking car.

@Flying Pancake  
The look of that RX-7 is basic in a good way. I like it.

@Flying Pancake  
Here’s a Nissan 300ZX Z32 from the 90s.  

 
Personally I think their earlier Z31 looked better.  

@SeraphimDawn  
Agreed. Round off the edges as much as the later model did and a car’s features start to blur together a little too much for my taste.

These Volvo 240 used to be so common in my childhood.  

@SeraphimDawn  
As a kid, I always liked those. I’d always been told Volvos were the ultimate in safety, which I somehow took to mean that being in one of those was roughly equivalent to (and just as cool as) driving around in a tank. That, and they were what I thought the cars in the Game of Life were supposed to be, so that was pretty neat.
 
You got the wrong one, though:  
 
Wagon is best Volvo.
 
(Side note: This one took me by surprise in the image search results. I’ve never seen one with this face before, but it’s a really good look.)

I wonder what Prius would have looked like had it been in the 1970s?

@SeraphimDawn  
Maybe something like this Citivan, but with four doors?  

 
It’s got “look at me, I’m different!” styling like the Prius does, and since this is an electric from the ‘70s, I’d assume that a hypothetical hybrid of the era would be styled similarly.

@Flying Pancake  
Were those really mainstream at one time?  
That looks like a warehouse vehicle.

@SeraphimDawn  
Mainstream? No, but there weren’t a whole lot of electric cars in the ‘70s, and that was the most successful make (4,444 total built). That one’s an old postal truck, so you’re not far off calling it a warehouse vehicle.
 
Their car version is a little different looking and a little more well known, you may have seen pictures of one before:
 

 
To be clear, these were not great cars. They were more like golf carts with aspirations; the fastest version had a 38 mph top speed, and around a 40 mile range.