Time to buy a car.
So, Heather and I have known for almost a year that we need to eventually buy a car, probably sooner rather than later. We finally made the decision this weekend.
Our two options have been a Chrysler Town & Country Touring or a Mini Cooper S. Amazingly, the options we want on each put their prices at almost the exact same.
One of the driving reasons behind getting a minivan is the future family we want to have. We need something larger than a sub-compact or compact car for that. Neither of us is in a hurry to deal with baby seats in a small car. Another reason is for when family visit from out of town. Getting more than two people from the airport is basically impossible in a small car, and only one of us can go get two people.
The Mini is more of a fun car and has an advantage of easily fitting in the existing garage space, and better fuel efficiency. It will also retain its re-sale value better, comes with a 3-year maintenance warranty on top of the 4-year warranty (3 years standard for the minivan), and has a 12 year unlimited mile rust-free guarantee.
We have spent a lot of time looking at the different options and trying to figure out which would be better for us as a family.
In the next day or two I guess I’ll start detailing the process and how it goes for us (with some added history) – I guess I finally found something to write about a little bit more regularly huh?
Our two options have been a Chrysler Town & Country Touring or a Mini Cooper S. Amazingly, the options we want on each put their prices at almost the exact same.
One of the driving reasons behind getting a minivan is the future family we want to have. We need something larger than a sub-compact or compact car for that. Neither of us is in a hurry to deal with baby seats in a small car. Another reason is for when family visit from out of town. Getting more than two people from the airport is basically impossible in a small car, and only one of us can go get two people.
The Mini is more of a fun car and has an advantage of easily fitting in the existing garage space, and better fuel efficiency. It will also retain its re-sale value better, comes with a 3-year maintenance warranty on top of the 4-year warranty (3 years standard for the minivan), and has a 12 year unlimited mile rust-free guarantee.
We have spent a lot of time looking at the different options and trying to figure out which would be better for us as a family.
In the next day or two I guess I’ll start detailing the process and how it goes for us (with some added history) – I guess I finally found something to write about a little bit more regularly huh?
posted by Adam Myhr at
11:36 AM
2 Comments:
Unless you are planning on replacing both cars before the babies start coming, then the mini-van would make more sense. It's been working well for us having one mini-van and one compact, though I don't know that a sub-compact would work as well. Just my thoughts...
By
Unknown, at 1:38 PM
Good point. Our other vehicle (the one not being replaced) is a 2000 Saturn SC1 (three door coupe) with about 80,500 miles on it as of today. We drive somewhere around 350 miles a week. for an average of 18,200 a year (barring any long trips). Assuming an even split we're looking at this car having just shy of 100,000 around this time in two years.
We do not plan to start a family until after I graduate and we have a little bit more of an idea whether I'll be staying at my current job or in a new one. Assuming we started right after I graduate (currently late Dec 06). and are relatively successful that put's us having a vehicle with about 18,000 miles and one having about 100,000 miles when the family grows to three. Add to this that we're thinking of Heather no longer working and the milage per year goes from 9,100 to around 12-13K per vehicle by my guess.
All that said, we either replace the next car right as we're starting a fmaily - or try to make it work within a year or two of starting a family. What will we do? Come back in a couple months and you'll know ;)
By
Adam Myhr, at 10:57 AM
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