I need a new car. SRSLY, a new car.

[FloridaBorn]

I drive a 1996 RAV4 with 309,000 miles on it. Yes, you read that right. My grandmother helped me to finance this car when I first started college.

A couple years ago, I got a lot of maintenance done on it while I had the money, major stuff I had been putting off. It cost about $2,000 and I vowed that I wouldn't pay for more than an oil change, tire rotation, that sort of thing... that I would spend money for major servicing of the vehicle towards a new car in the future.

Well, that time has come. My car is *officially* a rattle-trap. That is because it makes a rattley noise. And a squealy noise. And it stinks because my mom drove the neighbor kids in it and they left their empty chocolate milk cartons in the hot sun one day.

I really need something bigger than this car. Even though it's an SUV, it's dinky, and the carseat barely fits in the back. When my mom and I buy groceries once a week (she is sans vehicle right now, so we do a lot of shopping/errands/what-have-you together) all our stuff barely fits in the back.

DH and I went to look at cars. I have my heart set on a Suburban. Throw sticks at me for wanting a gas-guzzler, but I'm tired of not having enough room. I need something that will be just as comfortable for adults sitting in the back seat as the front seat.

Problem: My car has been paid off for so long that now I have no credit. DH has F'ed up credit due to burning up credit cards during grad school. I can't get the size vehicle I need financed. PLUS, obviously I'm not too keen on making car payments again. I don't know what to do... right now it looks like I should just bite the bullet and get the old jalopy fixed. So sick of my stinky old car. She's served me well, but I'd like to retire her.

[SubliminalDarkness]

Are you only looking at "new" cars?

And there really is a middle ground between a tiny vehicle and a Suburban. Have you taken into consideration the expense of gas for a vehicle like a Suburban?

[FloridaBorn]

Well, considering how long I had my last new car, yes I'd like something new! Realistically, no more than 3-4 years used, though. But even used I still have the no credit problem.

I looked at the smaller Chevy SUVs and other than the Tahoe (which DH says is not enough trunk space to haul his band gear around in... another factor which I left out in my big long ramble of a post) they all seemed not much bigger than my RAV!

If an adult is sitting in the back and his/her knees are hitting the seat in front of them, it's a no go. Neither one of my parents have cars and we do a lot of outings together and I'd like them to be comfortable. Front seat for parents, 2nd row for grandparents, 3rd row for kids.

[SubliminalDarkness]

I ask, because a year ago we bought a 2007 Chrysler Town and Country for $8,000. It only had 30K miles on it. It has tons of space, would fit plenty of gear if you folded the backseat, doesn't use exorbitant amounts of gas, doesn't cost an arm and a leg, etc. And you may be able to find financing for something like that whereas you couldn't with a much more expensive vehicle.

[grisandole]

I would go with a new used car, one that is still under factory warranty. Have you tried to finance yet? You might be okay. When I financed my car, I had not great credit and the only place that would do it was Ford credit, every other bank turned me down.

[grisandole]

Forgot to add,
I had a Suburban and aside from the gas issue, I really liked it. You can get one that is a few years old for a decent price, or if you have the money you can get one from a private party for a great price since many people are ditching them right now due to the $ gas.

[MaddieMay]

Originally Posted by SubliminalDarkness

I ask, because a year ago we bought a 2007 Chrysler Town and Country for $8,000. It only had 30K miles on it. It has tons of space, would fit plenty of gear if you folded the backseat, doesn't use exorbitant amounts of gas, doesn't cost an arm and a leg, etc. And you may be able to find financing for something like that whereas you couldn't with a much more expensive vehicle.

Wow-you got a great deal!

As much as I hate mini-vans, we have one as a second vehicle. We bought it used for around 6K and it runs great and is very roomy. We can take out the seats if we need space in the back. We don't use it as our primary vehicle because it's older and uses more gas (although not bad), but it's great when we are hauling around guests or gear.

[SubliminalDarkness]

Originally Posted by MaddieMay

Wow-you got a great deal!

As much as I hate mini-vans, we have one as a second vehicle. We bought it used for around 6K and it runs great and is very roomy. We can take out the seats if we need space in the back. We don't use it as our primary vehicle because it's older and uses more gas (although not bad), but it's great when we are hauling around guests or gear.

People always say that. But the thing is, we had a lot of them to choose from within a thousand of that price, and it was from a major dealership in a big metro city area. So really, the vehicles in that range exist. But there's no way we could have gotten a Honda or Toyota for close to that price, so we got what we could easily afford. And the payments worked out to be insanely low, even though we didn't get a great interest rate.

Oh, and our seats fold flat into the floor, which is nice.

[ParisApril]

IMO. Vehicles are the biggest waste of money and the worst "investment" you can ever spend money on. The depreciation on a vehicle is ridiculous.

I would suggest buying a used vehicle. Even just a year or two old will save you thousands of dollars and it will still be under warranty.

The gas on a Suburban $100+ dollars to fill the tank. Toyota is making the new Rav4's a lot bigger these days. I'd be tempted to buy another one of those since your last one lasted 14 years!

[mnnice]

Originally Posted by FloridaBorn

Well, considering how long I had my last new car, yes I'd like something new! Realistically, no more than 3-4 years used, though. But even used I still have the no credit problem.

I looked at the smaller Chevy SUVs and other than the Tahoe (which DH says is not enough trunk space to haul his band gear around in... another factor which I left out in my big long ramble of a post) they all seemed not much bigger than my RAV!

If an adult is sitting in the back and his/her knees are hitting the seat in front of them, it's a no go. Neither one of my parents have cars and we do a lot of outings together and I'd like them to be comfortable. Front seat for parents, 2nd row for grandparents, 3rd row for kids.

As someone that has a large GM SUV in her garage (where it sits most of the time because DH and I have two other vehicles that are way more fuel efficent and long commutes) I don't mind driving it especially on less than steller winter roads, but it sucks to park. I'd recommend test driving and trying to park the sucker. It might diminish your love. It's also a pain to get a child in a carseat in and out of the middle seat of the back (unless your Shaq) Anyway, we still have it because it's paid for, good for camping, and our long holiday travel jaunts to grandparents in a cold climate.

I guess I wouldn't consider it in your climate unless I had lots of money and a big boat to haul behind it. . Would a small utility trailor work for the band stuff?


A Mazda 5 would have met you row for each generation requirement and be less than half the price .

[Juvysen]

what about a toyota highlander? they're pretty decent size and get MUCH better gas mileage. They'll also last you longer...

My guess would be (though I really don't know) if you save up 20 or 40% to put down in cash, you'll be able to get financed. especially since car dealerships are hurting right now...

[lyterae]

We have a Tahoe as our "winter" vehicle , and we love it. The backseats pull-out which would allow you extra space for equipment if needed.

[Usually Curious]

Originally Posted by ParisApril

IMO. Vehicles are the biggest waste of money and the worst "investment" you can ever spend money on. The depreciation on a vehicle is ridiculous.

I would suggest buying a used vehicle. Even just a year or two old will save you thousands of dollars and it will still be under warranty.

The gas on a Suburban $100+ dollars to fill the tank. Toyota is making the new Rav4's a lot bigger these days. I'd be tempted to buy another one of those since your last one lasted 14 years!

Nah. Ours is stuffed full of gas for $65 right now. It depends on where you live, but people really like to exaggerate the cost of filling Suburbans for the shock value.

AND ours gets better gas mileage than our Nissan Quest did. Hah!

I would NEVER choose a minivan over a Suburban to haul adult sized people. The gas difference in nonexistent if you drive responsibly. We use a lot of 'hyper mile' techniques. Even with my 18yos driving we get as good (or better!) gas mileage out of ours.

[ParisApril]

Originally Posted by Usually Curious

Nah. Ours is stuffed full of gas for $65 right now. It depends on where you live, but people really like to exaggerate the cost of filling Suburbans for the shock value.

AND ours gets better gas mileage than our Nissan Quest did. Hah!

I would NEVER choose a minivan over a Suburban to haul adult sized people. The gas difference in nonexistent if you drive responsibly. We use a lot of 'hyper mile' techniques. Even with my 18yos driving we get as good (or better!) gas mileage out of ours.

Where I live it would cost $100+ to fill a suburban. 31 gallon/117 litre gas tank $0.98 litre = $114.66 CDN to fill the tank of a 2010 Suburban.

Hyper mile? I would never be willing to tailgate a semi truck just to get good gas mileage?

[Usually Curious]

That's not hyper miling. At least not any kind I've read or the strategies I use.

Again, regardless of how we drive we still get AS GOOD or better gas mileage as our Nissan Quest. We have the added benefit of 8 seats and lots of cargo space.

[surrogate]

i googled hyper mile and that is what I read also, that and not stopping at stop signs or using brakes! uh, no...lol I always have my kids in the car, not willing to risk their lives for 3 extra MPG

[Usually Curious]

That's weird. There's an excellent article on hypermiling in Mother Earth news, but I can't get on their site to post a link?

I'll try later.

[Hedgehog Mtn]

Originally Posted by Usually Curious

Nah. Ours is stuffed full of gas for $65 right now. It depends on where you live, but people really like to exaggerate the cost of filling Suburbans for the shock value.

WOW! I've had 4 suburbans and my MIL just sold hers that she's had since it was brand new in 2000. All but 1 had the 42 gallon tank and MILs was 39 when gas was approaching $4 a tank it was a WAY over 100.00 to fill. I've paid over 150.00 plenty of times. Right now with gas at 2.69 where I live a truly empty tank is 110.00 without sky high gas prices. I live where 4 wheel drive is needed during winter and spring and the gas mileage can often be as low as 12mpg. Granted we live rurally and there are a lot of hills. If you have the smaller tank it's cheaper but the range is lower and your area might give you better mpg.

I LOVE suburbans and with 5 kids plus 1 on the way I wouldn't have many other choices in 4WD but they are not cheap to drive in my experience. I wouldn't buy anything else and I don't know anyone who isn't happy they own one. Most people I've known who sell them are doing it because kids left the house etc and they no longer need them. I've known 2 families so far who went from suburbans to minivans and are set on getting another suburban next.

[Kristine233]

We have a Mountaineer that we LOVE. It fits all of us, plus 2 large labs and our gear for a weekend trip. And my kids NEED to be separated at this point, lol, so having the 3rd row is mandatory. The gas mileage isn't bad either, at least not compared to some of them. We bought it used, it was 2 years old when we got it and we've had it for 7 years now... runs awesome and never needed anything major on it.

My little grand am is about to die and we're looking at another vehicle and I'd love to get another Mountaineer. (Yes, 2 SUVs or perhaps a hybrid if I can find something. We both are on child duty so swapping vehicles constantly would be a HUGE pain. I keep all my work and school stuff in mine - a ton!-, as does he, so we can't swap out vehicles depending on who has the kids.)

[Usually Curious]

Originally Posted by Hedgehog Mtn

WOW! I've had 4 suburbans and my MIL just sold hers that she's had since it was brand new in 2000. All but 1 had the 42 gallon tank and MILs was 39 when gas was approaching $4 a tank it was a WAY over 100.00 to fill. I've paid over 150.00 plenty of times. Right now with gas at 2.69 where I live a truly empty tank is 110.00 without sky high gas prices. I live where 4 wheel drive is needed during winter and spring and the gas mileage can often be as low as 12mpg. Granted we live rurally and there are a lot of hills. If you have the smaller tank it's cheaper but the range is lower and your area might give you better mpg.

I LOVE suburbans and with 5 kids plus 1 on the way I wouldn't have many other choices in 4WD but they are not cheap to drive in my experience. I wouldn't buy anything else and I don't know anyone who isn't happy they own one. Most people I've known who sell them are doing it because kids left the house etc and they no longer need them. I've known 2 families so far who went from suburbans to minivans and are set on getting another suburban next.

Yeah, I think this may be the case. We live 'in town' (small town) so we don't have too many hills. We don't require 4WD which makes a big difference, too.

I can walk a lot of places here so my dh takes the Suburban to work. We put about 6mi/day on it. Once every couple of weeks we drive to 'the city' to do a big grocery shop or have a date. We fill it up once every two weeks max. Gas mileage is less important to us than size. We have 5 kids at home and my adult disabled cousin to haul around. Our Suburban fits five adult sized people and three carseats just fine.

I wish I could access motherearthnews.com and link to the hypermiling article. It has made a huge difference in our gas mileage on trips. When we went to TX this summer we got around 21 or 22 mpg! This is with the air blowing, loaded down, 18yos driving! It almost killed him not to smash the gas down on take off but he controlled himself and it worked!