6 Times Estate Cars Went Racing

BMW recently broke the automotive corner of the internet with news that it’s made a previous April Fools’ joke real and built a racing version of the brilliant M3 Touring. This isn’t just some static show pony, either – it’s going racing, and at one of the most demanding events around, no less: the Nürburgring 24 Hours.

Not only that, but with the highly successful M4 GT3 as its bases, it could well challenge for the top positions in the endurance classic, proving once and for all to the doubters that estate cars are cool. While it’s rare to see a longroof like this go racing, though, it’s not totally unheard of – here are six other times estate cars (or station wagons, to our American readers) defied all logic about what a race car should be by competing on the racetrack or rally stage.

Subaru Levorg BTCC

The last time, to our knowledge, an estate car raced in any high-level motorsport was when the otherwise-forgettable Subaru Levorg was entered by the Japanese manufacturer’s UK division in the British Touring Car Championship. Making its debut in 2016, the BTCC Levorg took advantage of a rule that allowed all-wheel drive base cars to run with either front- or rear-wheel drive to send all its power to the back.

Although its initial season was a mixed bag, the Levorg was a formidable contender in 2017, with Ash Sutton using it to win his first of four driver’s championships. The quirky Levorg was eventually retired when Subaru pulled out of the championship at the end of 2019.

Honda Civic Tourer BTCC

Just a couple of years before the Levorg debuted, the BTCC was graced with another racing estate. For 2014, after years of running successive generations of the Civic hatchback, Honda’s factory team decided to get some eyes on the newly-introduced Tourer estate model by taking it racing.

It may have been a delight for car nerds – especially those with memories of the next car on this list – but as a racer, it wasn’t the best platform. It racked up a few race wins, but Honda ultimately lost out to MG in the manufacturers’ standings – the first season since 2009 it hadn’t won. That’s perhaps part of the reason why the Civic Tourer only lasted one season, being replaced by the then new FK2 Civic Type R for 2015.

Volvo 850 Estate BTCC

Of course, neither of those two cars are the most memorable estate to race in the BTCC. That honour goes to the Volvo 850 Estate that ran in 1994, during the series’ Super Touring golden era. Volvo picked the wagon partly on the basis that it actually had slightly better aero properties than the saloon, but mainly as a good old-fashioned PR stunt.

It worked. Images of the boxy 850 – about as estate-y as estate cars get – incongruously wheel-banging and kerb-hopping its way around Britain’s circuits remain ingrained in the memories of motorsport fans over 30 years later. In reality, it was uncompetitive and Volvo only managed eighth in the manufacturer’s standings, achieving much better results when it switched to the saloon from 1995 – but it’s the estate that everyone remembers.

Skoda Octavia Estate Hillclimb

Skoda’s best-known motorsport exploits come on the rally stage, but the manufacturer has previously dabbled in other forms of racing – or at least, regional divisions of it have. In 1999, the manufacturer’s Italian dealer network decided to promote itself by building a car for the Italian Hillclimb Championship – and the model it chose was the Octavia Estate.

According to Touring Car Times, this is, effectively, an Audi A4 Super Touring car with an Octavia Estate body on top. Almost all the parts came from the Audi, including a high-revving, 310bhp four-cylinder, and the whole car weighed just 870kg. That, unsurprisingly, made for an effective package, and the screaming Skoda dominated the championship in 1999 and 2000.

MG ZT-T X15

MG has a long history of going for speed records at the iconic Bonneville Salt Flats, and it decided to reignite that history during the last years of the brand in its original form, when it was essentially selling slightly sportier rebadged Rovers.

That, in 2003, led to it turning up at the flats with a modified MG ZT-T estate dubbed the X15. Packing a selection of drag-reducing mods and a mighty 6.0-litre V8 pushing roughly 765bhp, the X15 duly went out and hit 225.609mph – a still-standing estate car speed record.

Subaru Impreza Estate JTCC

Despite using the ubiquitous Super Touring rules, the Japanese Touring Car Championship was fairly distinct from other series in the mid ’90s thanks to plenty of local teams entering unique cars. They included Subaru tuner SYMS Racing, which decided to field a first-generation Impreza in estate guise.

It was, sadly, not a success, failing to even reach the grid for five of the 12 races in its inaugural 1996 season. The team took a year out for 1997 and returned in ’98 with an improved car, but it stood no chance against the field of highly-developed Toyota Coronas and Chasers, only entering three rounds before the team called it quits.