Why is it so hard to find a good, affordable station wagon?

[NickB79]

I've been searching for 2 weeks and still can't find anything I like to replace my wife's totalled Chevy Malibu. The Chevy Malibu Maxx doesn't seem to offer much more cargo space than the sedan version of the Malibu, oddly enough. The only Subaru Outback and Legacy wagons in our price range ($8000) have over 100,000 miles on them. Same thing with VW Passat wagons. Other than than, all we're finding are smaller hatchbacks like the Matrix or Pontiac Vibe, crossovers that are mostly out of our price range, and small SUV's that are also either out of our price range or over 100,000 miles. The Saturn Vue small SUV looked good pricewise and MPG-wise, until I read that their CVT tranny had reliability issues over 100,000 miles.

Why did the station wagon become such an endangered species in the US? If we get a used SUV, we get hosed at the gas pump, but if we get a sedan we lose out on cargo space that we kinda need (our other car is a subcompact Scion xA, and while it is a great car for 1-2 people, trying to carry a toddler and all her stuff in the back can be an adventure in ergonomics). Plus, we live in Minnesota, where we often get dumped on by snowstorms where it would be nice to have a larger vehicle.