I've been looking at an 02 outback on a local car lot. However, I routinely carry a few hundred pounds of gear for work in the back of my vehicle on a daily basis (the space behind the rear seat in the Outback is one of the attractive features for a vehicle of that size). On my previous vehicles, I've typically ended up beefing up the rear suspension by adding a leaf to the rear leaf springs, or on the last one, installing air bags in addition to the stock springs, to avoid the rear of the vehicle sagging under the weight. I'm not familiar with the strut suspension setups used on these vehicles, though.
Does anyone have experience in how easily the Outback will tolerate carrying that much extra weight in the back on a regular basis, preferably without upsetting vehicle balance, headlight aim, making the rear bumper drag on bumps, etc? Or if the suspension needs add-ons to handle that much weight, what sort of things need to be added/modified to handle the weight?
Hmm, would a Baja be a better choice for such use? Do the Baja have any heavier rear suspension/more load carrying capacity? Thanks in advance for any ideas.