Advice on picking a vehicle

[allisonrose]

Hubby and I just moved across the country. We sold his truck (that didn't fit our family anyway) and are left with a single vehicle. Hubby takes the car to work everyday and I am bumming being a SAHM with no transportation! We have just two kids but since they are both still RFing, the car seats take up the entire back seat of our Honda Civic. Originally we were hoping to get a Mazda5 to have extra seating (when extended family visits) and extra cargo space (when we don't have company). Our budget was first $14,000. Then hubby decreased it to $13,000. We have a Mazda5 we are interested in that the dealership offered to do $11,900 out of the door and hubby is holding out for $11,500. My hubby is one of those who has to feel like he got the best possible price for a vehicle. In fact, this morning he was telling me about a Mazda5 that is ~4 hours drive away! But it's a good price.

I've hesitated to look into minivans too much because I feel they are overkill for our little family and the gas ratings are pretty sad. What I've seen about reliability is that Toyota and Honda are the best bet - also the more expensive.

Now two weeks into feeling trapped by not having transportation, I'm thinking to myself, let's just get a freaking sedan and get this BS over with! I found a couple of options for Toyota Camry and Honda Accord online. One of those would give us a touch more space than our Civic but still won't allow us to fit more than two adults and two RFing children into them.

So I guess my question is: what would you do in my position? (Money-wise, we are pretty secure. We have the money we sold hubby's truck for plus a decent amount in the bank - more than $14,000)

[DahliaRW]

I woudl tell your husband to drive 4 hours and get the 5 and bring it back to you!  Or pay the extra $400, his choice.

[allisonrose]

Originally Posted by DahliaRW 

I woudl tell your husband to drive 4 hours and get the 5 and bring it back to you!  Or pay the extra $400, his choice.

The one that is so far away is under $10,000 although there will be taxes, licensing and whatnot when we register it. But that vehicle was involved in a collision and was repaired. It does not have a salvage title.

He couldn't drive to pick it up because how would he get the new vehicle home? He'd likely have to take a bus which would probably take between 6-8 hours. Then the 4 hours back and we are talking about an entire day. There's always the possibility that he will get there and it won't be as advertised. So we could end up with nothing for all our trouble.

[Maedze]

I would not buy this car.  You will probably lose that 1500 dollars plus a whole lot more in repairs and troubles until you sell the car.

I'd get the Mazda5....sliding doors are a real bonus when you have kids.  Because otherwise, no matter how many times you hiss, "PLEASE do not fling open the door when we park," they will fling open their doors and dent the cars next to them.  Ask me how I know :-/
 

Originally Posted by allisonrose 

The one that is so far away is under $10,000 although there will be taxes, licensing and whatnot when we register it. But that vehicle was involved in a collision and was repaired. It does not have a salvage title.

He couldn't drive to pick it up because how would he get the new vehicle home? He'd likely have to take a bus which would probably take between 6-8 hours. Then the 4 hours back and we are talking about an entire day. There's always the possibility that he will get there and it won't be as advertised. So we could end up with nothing for all our trouble.

[allisonrose]

We found a Mazda5 that we liked and we bought it this weekend! I'm so glad to be able to get out of the house. I installed our Radian 80SL and True Fit in the middle seats using LATCH. Easy as pie.

[Polliwog]

 I'm glad to hear that people are still loving their Mazda5s. I've been hunting for a used on and they are getting harder to find (for a good price.) I'm going to keep looking, though. I'm currently driving a very old SUV and don't want to go back down to a car. Sliding doors would be a major plus.