LIKE MANY, WE SEARCHED FOR…
– Last Updated: Dec-16-10 10:43 PM EST –
...a Toyota Camry, a Honda Accord, or a Nissan station wagon. Heck, I'd even had a nice experience with a Ford Focus I'd had for a week on a business trip.
But back in '04 when we began looking, all of these but the Focus Wagon had already gone the way of the dodo bird...
So we checked out the Subie Outback, the VW Passat, the Audi A3 and A4 Wagon, and the Focus -and even considered used Bimmers an Benzes. The latter two were rare -few Benzes, fewer BMWs -and more money than we really wanted to spend, with more miles than we wanted to start out with, and the Focus and the A3 were a tad too small for what we wanted in a hauler. The regular Passat required premium fuel for its turbo, and the Passat diesel was pricey, and tho' the former drove well, at that time it had a pretty poor service record per Consumer Reports, and pretty bad recs from a few friends of ours that had had them. The Subaru Outback had -and still has -a world or admirers, especially among the outdoor set, and particularly among paddlers -but the straight 4 had little performance, and the turbo 4, or regular 6, with satisfactory performance, required premium fuel; additionally, I was quite underwhelmed by it's overall handling -it felt to me more like a plodding mainstream US sedan...
We'd just about given up when I saw an article in Car & Driver or Road and Track, not sure which, that noted how much fun and how pretty well-designed the Mazda 6 was, and how they really got that "Zoom-Zoom" stuff down just right. So we checked the M6 out, and lo and behold, they had... ...a station wagon!
So we took one for a test drive, and I was impressed with the handling, interior layout, roof height (nice and low, especially compared to our late, lamented, wrecked (by a friend...!) wonder hauler but getting taller every year Jeep Grand Cherokee), and the purchase cost was great after I'd finished negotiating for a brand new '04 early in the '05 model year.
We're soon to remove the kayak racks because we're prepping up now for our trek to the wintry north in Illinois as we take a 'Home for the Holidays' Christmas trip to Sally's family in downstate IL about 40 miles north of St. Louis. I look forward to another enjoyable trip in a car that does road trips very, very well.
We've had it 80,000 miles so far, and it's been a terrific car for us. I'd heartily recommend it, except...
...that Mazda, too, has stopped producing station wagons...!
So good luck with your search, may you find a nice ride and an even better hauler to take you around, and your boats to and from the water, when you
PADDLE ON!
-Frank in Miami