Help gladhands pick out a whipped wagon

First: Congratulations! You might consider the Subarus as they offer good value in that sort of vehicle. I considered them recently. If you're looking at Audis, you might also consider BMW, though I think a 3-series wagon is a few steps up in price over the A3. Be aware the A3 is not all that huge, though it's a nice vehicle. The 3-series wagon is fantastic but they are hard as hell to find. Overall, I still think Subaru is a good place to start.

does it have to be brand new? You can often get good deals on some great wagons if they're used, and when I say used, I mean in hunter green over tan, driven by old rich people who did service at the dealers. I'd rather buy a mildly used 535XiT than get either of the two you mentioned.

They make it for sure, but as I said they're hard as hell to find. You might have to order it, which means long waits and full boat list.

Congrats !

Look at the Ford Edge, the newer ones are better on gas, they also have a generous back seat to fit the car seat plus all the other baby necessities. They are also rather quiet.

To throw something out there that hasn't been mentioned, how about the Jetta TDI SportWagen? edit - crap, not 4WD/AWD.

Just my opinion but you'll want to get something as roomy as possible relative to wheelbase. Nixing SUVs limits your choice at that point. Check out Volvo.

Right, god forbid someone buy proper snow tires. My wife drove our Blizzak-shod Odyssey like f'ing Juha Kankkunen this winter around dopes in useless SUVs on no-season tires. Tires. They're where it's at.

x2 Love seeing big trucks and SUVs in the ditches as I go right on past with my little fwd hatchback.

+1 LOVE and recommend Subarus.

You're preaching to the choir; I buy snow tires for all my vehicles. Just going by the requirements listed in the OP.

Rotate seasonally, with each set on a spare set of rims. I put my snows on Dec. 1 and pull them off March 18. Just mark them with chalk when you pull them off (RF, LF, RR, LR) so you know which is which (and can rotate as appropriate). If you have them on a spare set of rims and a floor jack, it's a 15-minute job. If you haven't driven a front wheel-drive car with real snow tires, you're in for a treat. So long as what you're driving on can reasonably be described as a "road," you'll have no trouble. The safety and control increase is tremendous.