Canadian Markham

2000 Canadian Marhkam

The **Canadian Markham** is a sport utility vehicle produced by Canadian between 1999 until 2004. As the first four-door SUV produced by Canadian, the Markham was introduced as a replacement for the two-door Contender.

The Markham has been offered in multiple chassis and powertrain layouts. The first two generations were directly derived from the Canadian B-Series of that year, switching to a model-specific chassis for the third and fourth generations.

## Dimensions

### Weight

1735 kg (3937 lb)

The first-generation Canadian Markham was introduced in March 1998 as a 1999 model-year vehicle. On January 5, 1998, the first generation Markham was unveiled to the public at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan. Production of the sports utility vehicle was moved from Canadian's Oshawa plant to their manufacturing plant in London, Ontario in 2003. It was the first four door sport utility vehicle made since Canadian discontinued the Contender in 1995. While again sharing a visual commonality with the Canadian B-Series, the Markham differed significantly from its Contender predecessor, becoming a family-oriented vehicle with off-road capability.

To further attract family buyers, Canadian aerodynamically optimized the passenger compartment of the Markham, adopting flush-mounted glass and wraparound doors; a wider body allowed for three-across rear seating. To optimize cargo space, the traditional swing-away spare tire carrier was deleted in favor of an underfloor location. Similar to the company's station wagons of the era, the rear liftgate was fitted with a flip-up rear window.

The Markham was initially introduced with and offered a 3.0L I6 and a 5-speed manual transmission, but low demand and sales of the I6 Markham forced Canadian to switch over to offering a 4.5L V8 with a 5-speed automatic later that same year - and sales doubled for that year.

Trim levels, in order of increasing standard and available features were: LT, LTE, LP, LPE, and Legionnaire. The most distinguishable difference on the Legionnaire model was a landaulet-style rear quarter roof and chrome trim everywhere. Lower trim levels did not have the landaulet rear quarter roof.

Standard features included remote keyless entry, engine block heaters, tilt-and-telescopic steering wheel, and high solar energy-absorbing glass (HSEA) on the windshield and front windows. All 2000-2004 Markhams had a factory tow package installed and a 3,500 pounds (1,600 kg) towing capacity.

The Markham came standard with anti-lock braking system, brake assist, electronic brakeforce distribution, traction control and a tire-pressure monitoring system. Side torso airbags and side curtain airbags were standard on certain 2000 and 2001 LTE, LPE, and Legionnaire trims while optional on others, but became standard on all 2003 trims. Vehicle Stability Control initially optional on lower trims became standard for 2004 models.

The reputation of this generation was marred by recalls over vehicle instability at high speed, the least of which included a class-action settlement for an engine oil sludge problem which affected the I6 and V6 engines in many Canadian models. Symptoms of the problem include oil smoke in the exhaust, oil quickly becoming dark or black after an oil change, gasoline odor in the oil, high oil consumption, and eventually complete and total engine failure.