What are these clips for just under the side windows... I'd think they'd be for the usual cargo area nets, but there are no corresponding 'lower' clips.

And what in the ham sandwich were they thinking with the two lower access panels... could they have made them any more irritating?

http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/7880/wagquest.jpg

I don't think they're for a cargo net. I think they are just what you would call 'grocery bag' clips.....and I didn't even know I had them until I looked just now.

I use those clips to hold bungie cords that keep my tools in place.

Yes, the little covers are annoying, but you need those access holes to be able to change out rear lamps without having to remove the lens. I suppose there might be a way to install velcro to hold the pieces in there- but mine don't fall out so I haven't given it much thought.

I'll have to post some Focus wagon abuse pics sometime. I frequently use the ZXW as a second work van. I think I've worn out my rear springs in only 85k miles. I cut down a rubber bedliner that was an option on some older F-150's to fit the cargo area.

I just had camber adjustment bolts installed in the rear. Don't bother with the control blades- those don't work on wagons.

Don't bother with the control blades- those don't work on wagons.

How can you NOT bother with control blades? It's my understanding that the wagon uses a modified control blade suspension -- only slightly different from the other models.

^^ Because the "slightly different" design is longer, and has a stark bend in it so that it won't fit. You can try if you want. The idea is the same, and it works the same, but it's not the same part. It would be like taking a rocker arm from a Chrysler engine and trying to put it in a 390. Same basic idea, but doesn't fit.

Now on to more fun things- WAGON ABUSE!!! I totally abused the wagon today, which is not the first time, just the first time I took pics. I had a pallet of 12 1000' rolls of 14/2 fire alarm cable delivered to the job today. The truck driver was shocked when I said I was going to load them all in my little car. Here's the pics. Oh, and there's another partially used 1k roll of 14/2, and 1k of 18/2 in a box, my tools, and a case of plastic boxes, topped off with a 4' ladder in the back, and 8' on top.

Here is a pic of the rt side loaded- not too bad, horrible phone pic though, look at the wheel wells.

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c285/whynotthinkwhynot/Image052.jpg

I didn't want to stack them on top of each other in the back.

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c285/whynotthinkwhynot/Image054.jpg

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c285/whynotthinkwhynot/Image057.jpg

And the left side. It didn't show as much at the rear wheels, making me think that the right side spring is more shot than the left.

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c285/whynotthinkwhynot/Image059.jpg

I love Ford's small wagons. Yours looks nice. Too bad they stopped building them, or I'd have bought a new one instead of a Focus sedan.

Friends don't let friends... buy sedans. [:)]

My '92 Escort wagon is still in the driveway; I don't want to be without a small Ford wagon. But I needed a more reliable car for travel, and couldn't find a 2005-07 MTX Focus wagon after five months of searching, so...it was the SES sedan or forget buying Ford.