To Minivan or Not, That is the Question

3rd UPDATE: Thanks for the feedback. I'm unstickying the post. We'll continue to research, and I'll let you know what we end up buying.

2nd UPDATE: I'm going to sticky this, so I can get the most feedback possible.

UPDATE: I'm bumping this up in case it got lost in my flurry of posts. HaHa
Seriously though, I've gotten some good feedback in comments and email, but would still like to hear from more of you. We're not in a hurry because we're in the research stage. But, see, you are my research, so I really need your help.


Time for all lurkers to step up!

No, seriously, we need some help.

We have two more car payments to make on our car. Yippee!!! It's been fine, but it's now way too small. It will make an excellent 2nd car as our current 2nd car is a '92 Geo Tracker that Jim bought 10 years ago. It had over 100,000 miles then. It's actually a great car. We've never had any trouble with it at all, but time is not on its side. We're going to use it as a trade-in and buy another car. Our current main car will then become the back up car aka Jim's car.

I'd like to hold off a few months on the new car because life without a car payment sounds good for a few months. I don't know how long we'll be able to make it though. We've always carpooled to work. Our schools are five minutes apart, but that isn't going to work this year. Jim will be running an afterschool homework program. Things like that weren't a problem in the past. I always had plenty to do at school and would just wait until he came to get me. I don't think Sera will be as willing to wait. This means she and I will have to drive separately on days he runs the program, which will be Monday - Thursday for the most part.

Anyway, enough babbling, on to the dilemma. We are a family of three, but we take long car trips once or twice a year. Plus, we'd like to be able to have other people in the car if we want to road trip to Chicago or Detroit, or just load up at the IKEA in either city.

I'm a big wimp in the winter time. The only time I felt really safe driving on ice was the couple of years we had a Chevy Blazer. Now that Blazer was a huge lemon. We bought it used and are lucky it lasted as long as it did. It wasn't old, but it just fell apart.

I like the idea of a minivan. I like the three rows of seating. I like the electric sliding doors. I want a rear entertainment system (remember long car trips). And I like the gas mileage.

Jim would prefer an SUV. It's more manly, you know. I like how SUVs drive in ice and snow. I'm not thrilled with the gas mileage on them though. I also don't think it would give us more seating than a regular car: two in front and three in back. Unless we bought a Suburban or Yukon, but those are awfully big for our everyday use, and they're more than we can really spend on a car. The storage part is good. He would also like XM radio though we do currently use a car kit.

To sum it up, we need a vehicle that will hold a minimum of two large adults and one car seat with the ability to add additional passengers. We would like decent gas mileage, rear seat entertainment, and the ability to hold all our stuff when we travel without requiring a trailer.

Oh, and we'd like it to be cheap, please. Which leads to another question, new or used? I'd always bought new cars and had good luck with them until our current car, which has had some issues. Jim had always bought used cars and had good luck until the previously mentioned Blazer. I'm leaning towards used, just a year or two, due to the fact that we're looking at an expensive car and that way someone else gets the depreciation hit. Jim is leaning towards new because he doesn't want a car with hidden problems.

Oy! What to do? What do you drive? Do you love it? What do you recommend?