I owned the Orion XT8 scope for a few years and have since upgraded to the XT10. The XT10 is only slightly less portable than the 8". The mount is a little larger and heavier, the tube is as well; though it isn't much longer than the 8" tube. If you don't have any trouble moving the 8" around, IMO you should consider the XT10. Both scopes fit fine by laying the tube across the back seat in a Mazda 626 and a Subaru Legacy GT (both could possibly be considered as 'mid sized'). I don't think either of them had a 65" wide rear seat.

As far as accessories, I recommend a replacement eyepiece for the 10mm plossl that ships with the scope. The 25mm that ships with the scope is pretty good. I have the 9.5mm Orion ED-2 eyepiece, which is a nice upgrade over the included 10mm and isn't too expensive. I'd also recommend a barlow and a 7mm or so eyepiece for high power observing (when the atmosphere allows) as well as a 30 - 32 mm low power eyepiece for low power scanning. I have the Orion Stratus 30mm which is nice since it's a 2" eyepeice, you can take advantage of the 2" focuser. Speaking of focusers, I upgraded my focuser to this one: http://www.telescope.com/shopping/pr...oductID=228559. I don't know if Orion is shipping this focuser standard on the XT scopes now or not; if not, this focuser is much smoother and a lot less sloppy than the standard focuser.

I also recommend a Telrad. I use one and have since removed the standard finder scope.

There used to be an "XT users" group on Yahoo, you ought to join if it's still there. There are a lot of easy mods you can do to the XT. On mine I've done the following:

1) Telrad instead of the standard finder scope.
2) Flocking paper inside the tube
3) Plastic washers cut out of a milk jug around the bolt that holds the ground board to the mount, makes azimuth motions smoother
4) Cooling fan for the primary mirror
5) New focuser mentioned above
6) Added pads to the mirror cell to better support the mirror.
7) Verified the primary mirror clamps aren't too tight.