[johnny_261]

Thanks for the input guys - really appreciate it.

Selling the car is not really an option right now - I still need an SUV for day to day after the trip as I often am lugging stuff around. Also, the car is in extremely good condition and low km's so I know I'm not going to enough $ out of it's sale compared to what it will cost for a comparable condition/KM's more efficient car.

The reason why we need the extra storage (i.e the rooftop or cargo hitch) is because we will be sleeping in the trunk of the car - similar to the Prius video posted. We have to pack enough for 4-5 months, including supplies to camp, emergency supplies, tools, etc and we're probably going to be buying a lot of crap along the way, so we will need extra storage for sure. We did a 2 month road trip with a slightly bigger SUV a few years back and the car was packed full with stuff i.e. no room to sleep in the back. So I know from experience that we need the extra space.

I'm leaning towards the cargo rack right now, since I do think it will make a really big diff in MPG.

Also, one of the questions in the original post was should I remove the rear spoiler? Thoughts on this?

Again, thanks for the input. Getting so excited to hit the road.