Looking to buy a new wagon next year.

Nobody except Subaru makes a ready to rumble wagon, and I don't want a Subaru, but it has to be a wagon because I'm short. I would like AWD, good ground clearance, vinyl seats (and a floor I can flush but that's really out of the question) and a method for tying down my canoe underneath the front and rear bumpers. That's all I want. Did you know that you can't do that with the new Saabs and Volvos?

Anyone have any suggestions?

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

I would look at a Honda CRV.

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Jim

Aren't those kinda high? Can I raise a W124TE couple inches?

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

Why not just use a roof carrier for the canoes? A friend does this and it works fine.

I’m holding out for a diesel engined awd. VW is the best competitor at the moment but I heard a rumor that MB is coming out with a diesel c class wagon in ’07.

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...Tracy

'00 ML320 "Casper"
'92 400E "Stella"

Honda Element.

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

I just bought some Yakima racks and fittings to carry a 17' canoe on the roof racks of my S124. I'm hoping I can avoid lashing down the bow and stern with this setup. If I had to opt for a 4WD wagon (never needed it) I'd look to Audi, VW, Volvo and Mercedes--in that order.

Take another look at the Subarus. Someone gave me one last Fall and I drove it through the Maine winter. I wouldn't have bought one before that but I liked it so much I sold the first one and bought another. I drove it back to the gulf coast for Mardi Gras.

Avoid the 2.5 engine between '96 and '99 unless it has had a proven headgasket replacement. Avoid an automatic with mismatched tires, wrecks the AWD. All of the engines after '96 are interference engines.

I consider cars driven on salted roads to be sacrificial and disposable.

Dodge Magnum AWD 5.7L Hemi ???

What is it about canoes that turns people into leftist liberals?
I just bought a 96 Suzuki Sidekick Sport to pull behind my motorhome. I'll be putting my canoes on top. It's the earlier iteration of the Vitara. My main criteria was towable 4 wheels down, and relatively inexpensive.

Canoe tie downs are not that hard to install. You can burn a hole thru a loop of webbing and put it under a bolt and you're all set. I usually do that using one of the bolts on the hood hinges. The webbing lays under the hood when not in use and I pull it out thru the side of the hood when I need it. The big advantage of tying down at the back of the hood is that the tie down line goes forward therefore stopping the boat from flying forward in a collision or when braking hard. It's very hard to get tie downs that stop this kind of motion without a front tie down that goes backwards. The only other way I know of is running a line from the bow back to the roofrack, but then you're depending on the roof rack attachments. I always tie my boats down to the rack and to the car in the front and back. We once rolled a Land Cruiser FJ55 with the canoe on top and it was still in place, kind of, when we landed upright. You could see the impression of the canoe in the dirt where we landed upside down.

The new FJCruisers are pretty sharp looking. Do they come with diesels?

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Volvo off road.

Howdy Kuan,
Jeep Liberty with gas or diesel engine. Also the new Jeep Comander.

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Frank X. Morris
17 Kia Niro
08 Jeep Wrangler 4 door unlimited

I have a rack, but I still need to tie down the bow and stern. I have the VW still but I need a dirty car and a clean car.

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

Volvo makes some fancy off-road wagon...you should consider that...I heard good things about them...

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1995 black pearl/black Mercedes-Benz E420 :

I need something I don't have to clean, cheap enough to leave out in the boonies for days on end.

KE, you're right about the tie downs. Thanks for the tip.

I guess a trasher wagon is what I'm after.

__________________
You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

maybe something like this with some Nokia WRs?

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...Tracy

'00 ML320 "Casper"
'92 400E "Stella"