It's my turn now. What car?

I think that Saab is your answer if you are looking for Euro/Cool/Upscale/ manual wagon. Though, I am guessing your part of the country doesn't have a lot of Saabs.

I had a Volvo 850 manual wagon and loved it. Be forewarned, if you find one that has A/C issues, the entire dashboard (ENTIRE dash, including front seats and center console) has to be removed to get to the AC evaporator.
Here is the 23 page document on the procedure:
http://www.woodjoiner.com/volvo/VolvoEvapReplace.pdf

I would then recommend a minivan as the right tool for the job.

If your wife hates minivans more than you hate SUV's the I would recommend a Saturn Vue with Ecotec 4 cyl and 5 speed manual. These are really quite easy to find and will stay well below your budget.
Sample: http://bloomington.craigslist.org/cto/5028047975.html
Here is the GRM Saturn Vue buyers guide.

We have an 8 month old baby and my wife drives a Mazda5, I drive a Saturn Vue. Similar in size but the Vue is a little larger. I am 6'1" tall, I can not get the rear facing baby seat behind me as the driver in the Mazda5 but can in the Vue.

codrus wrote: How big are the dogs? It might work with small dogs, but fitting two German Shepard-sized dogs into the back of a small wagon with the rear seat up sounds pretty iffy to me. The big problem with car seats is the longitudinal length they require, most cars just don't have enough of it to put a rear-facing child seat behind a 6-foot adult. With one kid, you can sometimes put the baby bucket in the middle of the rear seat and have it poke through the space between the two front seats, but with two that's no longer an option. Once the kids outgrows the baby bucket, it's time for a rear-facing "convertible" seat, and those are the real space killers. Currently, most states require rear-facing seats up to age 1, some kids can stay in a baby bucket and go straight to front-facing, but others (like my son) outgrow the bucket at 6 months old and need the convertible seat. There's no way to fit one of those in a B6 S4 Avant and also carry a second adult -- I've tried. From 6 to 12 months he went everywhere in the minivan. (BTW, they're talking about changing that 1 year rear-facing requirement to 2 years.) There's a reason people with kids buy minivans, and that's because it's pretty much the only vehicle type that's expressly designed for child seats. They are so much easier to deal with in a minivan than in a sedan. (SUVs are really no better than a sedan in this regard, BTW)

Damn! Good points, and I almost forgot:

We can haul 3-dogs (one Husky, one lab-ish, and one mutt only slightly skinnier than the lab) to the park no prob in my wife's Saab (93 sportkombi). They fit, and they can lay down, and that's about it.

Rear facing car seat was no prob. We used it until the kid was almost 2-1/2 years old. It's a big one with straps that go to the floor (because it works with the lap-belt in my Impala). Front leg area was a little compromised, but I'm 5' 11" and I lived

2 adults in the back seat with the car seat is tight. But no worse than three adults in a Toyota pickup.

We had a 2004 Audi A4 wagon at one point in time. I would say it was similar in size to the Saab, but I didn't like the front seat so much with the baby seat behind me in that one. Also, everything in the Saab is just a "little" better thought out than the Audi was. (but the Audi was diesel and got insanely great gas milage)

Great suggestions everyone. I might be picking up a really, really cheap Volvo V70 that I found locally. It's an auto trans, so I might just do some minor repairs and flip it. We'll see.

My only question is about the Saab 9-3. That's got the GM ecotec engine, right? Does the Saab version also eat timing chains like candy?

In reply to 16vCorey:

As far as I know they do not. Though I would bet if the oil changed were neglected there may be an issue.

Unfortunately, it looks like it's a semi-common problem in the Saabs too, according to the internet. It's probably not nearly as common as the GM cars, only because there are a lot fewer Saab 9-3s out there, compared to the gazillion GM ecotec powered cars on the road.

At the shop I used to work for, we could do as many early ecotec engine swaps as we could find good used engines. We probably averaged at least one a week over the last several years.

16vCorey wrote: Great suggestions everyone. I might be picking up a really, really cheap Volvo V70 that I found locally. It's an auto trans, so I might just do some minor repairs and flip it. We'll see. My only question is about the Saab 9-3. That's got the GM ecotec engine, right? Does the Saab version also eat timing chains like candy?

Good opportunity to drive one a bit and see if you like the platform. I really want a Volvo V70R.

This is what they did to me asking the same question: http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/yep-a-what-thread/98667/page1/

After 3 months with the van, I'm qualified to say it road trips better, drives better, and is more comfortable than an small suv or wagon. Our odyssey is more suv than our suv was. It hauls groceries, bicycles, lumber, mulch, dogs, kids, etc. It's a plus to own a minivan from a manufacturer with F1 heritage, not many can claim that. And most importantly, I get about the same amount of lovin' from my wife as before.