i went through some of this a few years ago, buy a car for the first time in ~20 years. it was going to be our only car, at least for a while, and so had to perform multiple functions: Easy for my wife to drive fun for me to drive plenty of space to hall kids but not so big it felt like a tank dives like a car, not a truck the 2nd and last bulletss effectively ruled out an SUV, even a midsize, although i took a long look at the Mazda CX5. the 3rd bullet ruled out most sedans, so we started looking at "sport wagons", which seemed to tick most of the boxes. not having owned a car for so long, it didn't make sense to me to lock ourselves into something longterm, since our needs might change, and there were probably things we didn't realize we needed until we'd spent some time with the car. Since we were also buying a house, i was also concerned about initial cash outlay (there are so many unexpected closing and other costs associated with buying a home.) leasing seemed to make the most sense. So, i wanted something nice, safe, fun, and good for trips to lowes or kids soccer practice, and that we could get all our stuff in for a holiday trip to the in-laws. i'd owned Hondas in the past, and they were reliable and relatively sport (CR-X, Acura Integra), so a Honda Sport Wagon would have fit the bill, if one'd existed. Honda made an Accord Wagon for a while in the 90s, maybe even early 2000s, but they were a little too old used. an Audi A4 wagon would be ideal, they were only available used. I'm not a Subaru kind of guy, and I knew some folks who'd had bad experiences with Volvo wagons (lots of service issues). Merc and BMW wagons were out of my price range. The Volkswagon Jetta Wagon looked perfect, particularly in its TDI variant, which i drove, and which felt like a pocket rocket if you chose to take advantage of the turbo. tons of fun. i couldn't get a workable deal on a lease however, with a reasonable monthly, the term was too long for me (5 years!), and with a shorter term, the monthly was beyond what i was prepared to spend. about 2 weeks before we moved i was driving down the NJTurnpike (in a rental) and saw what looked like a cross between the Jetta and a 3 series wagon up ahead. speeding up i found it was an Acura TSX Sportswagon, which didn't know existed. A Honda Wagon! Liked what I read (here's a decent review: Spoiler <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cqfyLJDjh94" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> ) and my dealer worked a solid deal for the tech package, which includes upgraded sound, rear view camera, and navi system- and as it happens, my company has a logo on the dash associated with the infotainment system. i've been really happy- it's got excellent pickup, despite the relatively small engine, particularly in sport mode, if not quite what the Turbo Diesel provided on the Jetta. it's a little bigger than the jetta, but not much, and has almost every upgrade/feature you'd want. mileage is good, and my wife is comfortable driving it, which makes me comfortable. all of which is to say, don't sleep on the wagon- the TSX went out of production this year, but Volkswagon just introduced the Golf Wagon, which starts ~$22k. http://www.caranddriver.com/volkswagen/golf-sportwagen
