When we first got to Halifax, Kirsten's car was on a train somewhere between Edmonton and Antigonish. In order to get to Antigonish ourselves, along with all of our luggage, we had to rent a car. I decided it would be best if we kept the rental car the entire time I was there, so Kirsten wouldn't have to spend 5 hours getting me to the airport and getting back when I left.

I had reserved a mid-size car, knowing that we'd have a fair bit of luggage to haul up there. I had hoped we would get something decently large enough to carry everything. We ended up getting the Dodge Magnum.

I wasn't sure what to expect with the car at first. The first 20 minutes driving it from the airport to the hotel were hard to gauge because it was in the dark. In the light of the next day, however, I got a better feel for the car and was very impressed by both the comfort and the performance.

The Magnum doesn't look like a comfortable car. It has been given a chopped look with the short windows and - visually at least - looks heavy. When you actually get inside, however, it is extremely comfortable. The short windows don't actually make much of a difference to visibility because you're actually quite low when seated. Visibility is almost as good as in Kirsten's Focus wagon. One thing that does take a little getting used to is the length of the hood - but you get used to it pretty quickly. Kirsten said that the passenger side was very comfortable, even when she had a couple of suitcases crammed behind her, preventing her from moving the seats.

Speaking of suitcases, we managed to place four large, heavily packed suitcases, two carry-on cases, a boxed bike and two laptop bags into the rear of the car. Storage is plenty in the Magnum.

The performance of the car is likewise impressive, powered by a beefy V6. Though the car looks visually heavy, it is very responsive in both acceleration and handling. I had no issues moving around parking lots in the car, nor was highway/street performance an issue. The car is very comfortable at any speed - on the way back to Halifax, I often found myself at 140kph without noticing.

The only real downside with the car is that, having a V6, it's not as fuel efficient as other cars out there. the Magnum has an average fuel economy of 20mpg compared to the Focus' 25mpg. It's also, surprisingly, rated as a sport-utility vehicle by the EPA, rather than a station wagon.

Overall though, the Magnum is a very nice, comfortable car that I'd be happy to own. It starts at $24,000 for the basic model. I tested the Magnum SXT, which starts at $27,000.

Of course, that's $24-27,000 more than I have to spend on a car these days, so I'll just have to have fond memories of the rental.