Is it a wagon, or a minivan, or a hatch? All three, maybe? One of Honda’s most important but least heralded 1980s moments came when the Mk3 Civic arrived in the fall of 1983. This was the first total re-think of the car, and it brought two new and very different family members as Honda branched out into new markets. One was the sporty Ballade CR-X, and the other was the Civic Shuttle, which in the U.S. was usually called the “Civic Wagon” and in Japan, sometimes “Wagovan.”

Nissan was the first Japanese company to launch a “tall wagon” of this sort, the Prairie, in 1981; however, a host of similar vehicles were already far along in the design stage. Minivans ultimately eclipsed them in the U.S., but from around 1983-91, there was quite a global market for “tall cars,” and one that kept growing outside the United States. Honda’s was the smallest of this primarily Japanese crowd but also one of the best.

The Prairie (Stanza Wagon), Mitsubishi Chariot (Colt Vista/Space Wagon), Honda Shuttle, and Tercel wagon were all riffs on the same idea. All were strongly influenced by ItalDesign’s 1978 Lancia Megagamma. That tall, roomy MPV concept debuted at the 1978 Turin show riding a repurposed Lancia Gamma Berlina platform. Although the Gamma itself was definitely not the wave of the future, this front-drive, roomy people mover certainly seemed to be, particularly for crowded Japanese streets.

Man Maximum, Machine Minimum

Honda’s ideas, however, were already flowing by then. Though it bombed in the marketplace during a sharp decline in 360-cc Kei car sales, the 1973-74 Honda Life Step Van later found an audience in Japan as a used vehicle. Its “tall boy” layout directly informed the Honda City project being created by designer Hiroo Watanabe and his staff in the late 1970s.

Watanabe characterized the approach as “Man-maximum, machine-minimum,” just like the MegaGamma. The City was dimensionally smaller than a Fiat 127 or Chevy Chevette but felt much roomier thanks to its tall layout, and many buyers liked this setup.

The City, which is a well-loved collectible today like its optional MotoCompo scooter accomplice, clearly demonstrated a way to make a small car feel big. When it came time to expand the Civic lineup, the former Civic Wagon and five-door hatchback were combined into the Shuttle/Wagovan. The same ideas that informed the tall-but-small City were applied to the new wagon.

The Shuttle was four inches taller than the Civic sedan and six inches taller than the now three-door-only hatch. For a small car—it was six inches shorter than a Civic sedan and marginally narrower—it felt huge inside, in sharp contrast to the outgoing Civic Mk2 wagon and its ultra-tight back seat. The angular styling was partly done by Yoshio Ui and Tsuyoshi Nishimura, but exactly who penned what is unclear.

The shape created lots of cabin space, and Honda’s designers filled up the extra room with clever storage features. It also made for a cavernous cargo area. When the rear seats were folded, it had as much room as a much larger Saab 900 hatchback.

The mechanical pieces were from the regular Civics. It was a sharp-handling car, if not a fast one. It came only with a 1.5-liter four, early on with 75 carbureted horsepower and later with 91 after fuel injection was added in 1986. Given that it only had 2,000 lbs. to haul around, it got amazing fuel mileage—35 mpg on the highway if driven gently—and wasn’t bad to zip around in.

Four Wheelin’

But there was also another dimension to this wagon. It wasn’t just the first Honda MPV, but also its first all-wheel drive vehicle. The gold 1987 model featured here is unique because it has the later full-time viscous coupling four-wheel drive system. It was only offered only that year on this body, but continued on the second-generation model. Before that, the Shuttle/Wagon offered a part-time shfit-on-the-fly all-wheel drive setup.

It was also Honda’s first six-speed manual car, though the “sixth” gear was a crawler, not an extra top-end ratio. With only seven inches of ground clearance, this wasn’t an off-roader, but it was remarkably sure-footed (light vehicles have an advantage off-road) and spacious. It earned many buyers in snowy, rust-inducing climates, which is part of why they’re rare today.

Though rust-prone, these wagons were more or less bulletproof in terms of build quality and cost little to run. The little wagons made many Honda buyers happy when they were new. A larger, sleeker, more powerful Civic wagon bowed in 1988, again to good sales, but the tall cars began to fade soon after and the Wagovan’s last U.S. model year was 1991.

Whatever happened to the Wagovan?

Minivans and SUVs killed off the “tall cars” in America. Only Mitsubishi (and, via captive import, Eagle) still offered one after 1992. Toyota’s Tercel wagon became more conventional and part of the Corolla line after 1988, Nissan’s Mk2 Prarie, the Axxess, was only briefly offered in the USA in 1990.

Honda did not include a “Wagovan” in the 1992 Civic redesign but continued selling the Mk4 Civic wagon/Shuttle in Japan into 1996. When it came time for a proper replacement, it just upped the size and scope of the idea into the original CR-V, spawning a line that’s still with us today.

“Tall cars” of this type never formally returned to the U.S. despite being hugely popular in other countries (see the sale-dominating late 1990s Renault Scenic for reference). Still, starting with the Scion xB in 2003, similar cars, including the Kia Rondo, Mazda5, and Ford C-Max began to appear. As late as 2013, Fiat was trying with the 500L. All these attempts again failed to chart with two exceptions: the xB and the Kia Soul. The latter soon outsold the former, and the Kia is the only one left today.

Honda did not give up on the idea, just on marketing in the U.S. The Shuttle name was later revived on an international version of the Odyssey, and in 2011 the automaker created the Wagovan-style Fit Shuttle. This little wagon was similar in concept but as with many modern cars, bigger. It was ultimately replaced by the more minivan-like Freed.