Need to move lots of stuff in a hurry? Buy one of these wagons

Estate cars are cool. Not only do they carry shed loads of stuff around, bringing versatility to those of us who don’t want a big, potentially brash SUV, but they often look nicer than their saloon siblings. Sometimes they’re more aerodynamic – aka quicker – too.

Happily, an estate car does not need to be a wilfully sensible diesel-powered appliance, either, with many carmakers sticking their maddest powerplants in them. So join us, on a whistle-stop tour of the ten fastest estates you can currently buy.

If you need to move many things from A to B quickly (and don’t worry, we shan’t ask why), you need one of these cars…

BMW 535d – 0-100kmh in 5.4 seconds

Alright, so it isn’t a wild, nutty performance wagon that gets us started, rather a fairly sensible diesel car from BMW.

The 535d could be the ‘one car to cover all bases’ winner, though, with subtle, classy looks, a stonking, 309bhp six-cylinder diesel at its core and some of the sharper dynamics in its class.

There’ll be a new 5-Series in the not too distant future, yet the current generation car continues to fight with the class leaders.

Audi A4 Avant 3.0 TDI – 0-100kmh in 5.4 seconds

As quick as the Beemer is this less powerful (268bhp) but smaller A4 Avant. Helping its speed off the line is the standard fitment of Audi’s Quattro four-wheel-drive system.

We’ll be honest, it’s not the consummate all-rounder its Munich rival is. The Audi offers little to please very keen drivers. What it does do, though, is cosset like nothing else in its class, with the refinement of an A8 limo matched to all of Audi’s latest infotainment and driver assistance tech.

If your conversations never involve treadshuffle or apices, then this will do just about everything you ask of it.

Volkswagen Golf R – 0-100kmh in 5.1 seconds

We’re big fans of the hot hatch estate niche here at TG. And while the Ford Focus ST is the lairiest, and the SEAT Leon Cupra R the best on track, the all-rounder of the bunch – and the quickest off the line – is the VW Golf R.

You can thank four-wheel drive for that, the transmission also responsible for the R actually being a mild hooligan if you’re willing to throw it into corners with loutish abandon.

It uses the same 297bhp 2-litre turbo four-cylinder as the Golf R hatch, and while its extra weight makes it 0.2secs slower to 100kmh, its 250kmh top speed is identical.

BMW 335d xDrive Touring – 0-100kmh in 4.9secs

You could probably predict this. Stick the 535d’s stupendous engine in a smaller 3-Series, add the grip of four-wheel drive, and you end up with a car half a second quicker to 100kmh.

The 3-Series is newer, too, and arguably the better looking car. The addition of xDrive should also ensure you don’t end up becoming an unfortunate meme when the three days of snow grasp Britain next winter.

And while you’ll get away quickly, you can expect to keep going too, with BMW claiming nearly 50mpg combined.

Volvo V60 Polestar – 0-100kmh in 4.8 seconds

Cars get little more specialist. They also, to our eyes at least, barely get cooler. The V60 has a lot going for it – quirky Swedish looks, a turbo- and supercharged engine, and some very geeky ten-way adjustable Ohlins dampers to ensure it rides and handles properly.

There’s one snag: Volvo used to sell it with a sonorous six-cylinder engine, but has now fitted a downsized 2-litre four-cylinder. But thanks to that twin-charging, it produces 362bhp – more than its predecessor – which helps yield that 4.8-second sprint, 0.2secs quicker than before.

And crucially, you can still buy it in Rebel Blue. It costs nearly £50,000, but with 120 making it to the UK, you can expect it to remain sought after.

Mercedes CLA45 AMG – 0-100kmh in 4.2 seconds

The first of a mild onslaught of AMG-powered wagons starts with an estate car that – bear with us – is actually the estate version of the four-door coupe version of a hatchback.

Yes, in the weird old world of German carmaking niches, the CLA Shooting Brake is as odd as they come. But it actually looks terrific, which might make you forget it’s little bigger than a Focus estate inside.

The AMG uses the same 2-litre four-cylinder as the A45 AMG, so the hard-edged soundtrack and ballistic performance all intact. Here, don’t forget, is a small estate car that’s as quick to 100kmh as a V12-powered Ferrari 575M.

Mercedes E63 S AMG – 0-100kmh in 4.2 seconds

The bigger E63 AMG estate may use a 5.5-litre twin-turbo V8 engine, one with 577bhp. Yet thanks to its behemoth size, it will accelerate from 0-100 at the same rate as its little four-cylinder sibling.

But it will do so in a more fun, raucous and downright uncouth manner. It will skid all day long if you have the requisite skills and tyre supply. And with nigh on 2,000 litres of load space, it will carry more stuff than any of the other estate cars on the list.

Mercedes CLS 63 S AMG – 0-100kmh in 4.2 seconds

Like the sound of that E63, but want to sacrifice some of that luggage space to get swoopier styling and something you can call a ‘Shooting Brake’ rather than an unglamourous estate?

Step this way. The CLS is the CLA’s bigger, posher relation. Though as with the E63, its stonking V8 engine doesn’t make it quicker, at least not to 62mph, anyway. We know which we’d rather haul all of our belongings down a derestricted autobahn in, though…

Mercedes C63 S AMG – 0-100kmh in 4.1 seconds

It’s the final AMG, promise. But it’s yet more evidence that if you need a quick, loud and downright silly estate car, there’s one company who’s rather committed to your very specific cause.

The quickest of Merc’s unruly lot is the latest, the mid-sized C-Class estate with a distinctly unsensible 503bhp V8 at its core.

It’s a lovely thing: fun to drive, classy to sit in and very, very practical. And blooming fast. But not as fast as…

Audi RS6 Avant Performance – 0-100kmh in 3.7 seconds

No, that’s not a misprint. Audi makes a ginormous estate car that does 0-100 in the mid threes. The German lot are notorious for underestimating their performance figures, too. Get a flat straight on a dry day (on track, of course) and we reckon 3.7secs may just seem pessimistic.

Yet there’s so, so much more to the mighty RS6 than its Top Trump-ability. It’ll swallow just about all of your things, it’ll travel with unstressed, indecent haste everywhere, and with its subtly blistered arches, it’ll look impossibly cool doing so.

“Settle it into a corner, squeeze the pedal, and it will balance neatly and scoot out like it’s been fired from a spud-gun,” said we, when we drove the RS6 Performance recently. The RS6 is the quickest estate on sale, and a class act.