Unicorn Hunting: Comfy wagon/SUV with great mileage

[Lynn McGuire]

Greetings! I'm shopping for a car that may not exist. My requirements

list isn't long, but it's hard to find them on the same car.

1) Absurdly comfortable front seats. I'm 6'2" and get back pain
2) Good winter traction. We live in rural New England and have a 400-
3) Great gas mileage. As you can tell from the fact that one of our
3a) Manual transmission. I have never owned an automatic and I don't

I've got two suggestions, both not yet available:

1. Volkswagon Tiguan Diesel (May 2008 in USA ?)
http://www.tiguan.nl/
http://www.casanovacars.com/volkswagen/2008_volkswagen_tiguan_diesel.php
http://www.vwvortex.com/artman/publish/volkswagen_news/article_2032.shtml
140 hp 2.0L diesel, 35/45 mpg ?

2. Honda CRV Diesel (August 2009 in USA ???)
already available in the UK since 2001 ?
http://www.channel4.com/4car/di/honda/cr-v/1022/1
150 hp 2.2L diesel, 35/45 mpg

Lynn

 

[John Horner]

Greetings! I'm shopping for a car that may not exist. My requirements
list isn't long, but it's hard to find them on the same car.

1) Absurdly comfortable front seats. I'm 6'2" and get back pain
whenever I drive any of my current cars for more than 30-60 minutes. I
"only" weigh 190, but have long legs for someone by height.

2) Good winter traction. We live in rural New England and have a 400-
foot sloped gravel driveway. 4WD isn't a requirement (our FWD Passat
is adequate for example), but better ground clearance would be great
(our current cars frequently scrape on the dirt roads around here --
including one recent event that broke TWO catalytic converters).

3) Great gas mileage. As you can tell from the fact that one of our
cars runs on waste vegetable oil (see below), we care a lot about
reducing emissions. This is actually more important, to us, than fuel
savings. That is, we don't mind paying $5,000 extra for a car that
will save us only $3,000 in gas costs over the life of the vehicle.

3a) Manual transmission. I have never owned an automatic and I don't
like them. They have worse mileage and I don't enjoy them as much (I
also like how manuals force me to pay attention to my driving --
neither my wife nor I have ever had an accident in over 30 combined
years driving 5-speeds).

You can get the Volvo V70 wagon with a manual transmission. It is one
of the very few vehicles which hits your requirements.