In the world of luxury station wagons, there isn't much sense in trying to justify the price tag. Normally, a wagon is a practical choice for families looking for utility with improved mileage versus a similarly sized SUV. If, however, you're shopping the all-wheel-drive 535i xDrive or its competitors — the Audi A6 Avant and Mercedes-Benz E-Class wagon — you clearly have an entirely different set of priorities.

Those probably include a high level of luxury, features, performance and, yes, some utility thrown in. BMW's 5 Series wagon provides plenty of each and elicited raves from our staff, my family and even me. It's hard to fathom why anyone would purchase a $55,000-$75,000 station wagon, but if you're going to, it would be hard to go wrong with this one.

The 5 Series wagon comes only in all-wheel-drive 535i xDrive form. Its sedan counterpart can be had in 528i, 535i or 550i configurations; the 528i and 550i are covered separately in Cars.com's Research section. Click here to compare the whole lineup.

• Performance
• Exterior
• Interior
• Cargo
• Features
• Safety