Comments on: 2010 Resolution #2: Pay Cash for a Replacement for My Truck

By: Bill

Bill — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 23:03:16 +0000

Do you need ground clearance for snow?

I love minivans but they don’t have much.

And keep a set of tire chains for at least the drive wheels.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 05:22:50 +0000

You might try looking at carseatdata.org to help you decide how your carseats will fit in future cars. Depending on the seats you have it might be possible to get 3 carseats/boosters in one row but it definitely won’t work with all seats and in all cars. Our 2nd is coming in May and I’m wishing we could upgrade now just so we’ll be able to carry at least one additional person in our car after installing two carseats. I was just looking today at dealership prices for minivans with less than 60k miles (Toyota, Honda or Nissan only) and they were closer to the $20k range. I think the Toyota is the only one with AWD. Also things like sliding minivan doors as opposed to doors that swing open, also opening doors & trunks on a keyfob are real minivan draws for me. Doing these things with while holding a baby in an infant carseat & wrestling a 2 year old seem a lot easier in a minivan

By: AnnJo

AnnJo — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 02:38:03 +0000

Did the Federal Government pass a law I didn’t notice, abolishing the 3+ child family? Reading the comments on people’s difficulties with car seats WAY beyond common sense, it would seem so. I used to love car trips as a child, snuggled in among many pillows and blankets in the back of an old Rambler wagon, my sister and I free to entertain each other, take a comfortable nap, or play games. Being a kid on a car trip today sounds like pure frustration!

Psychological research suggests that many safety measures fail to accomplish their intended purpose because people unconsciously adjust their own degree of care. They go out in more dangerous weather BECAUSE they have AWD; they are more reckless drivers BECAUSE their kids are in car seats.

I don’t doubt that some children have been saved because of car seats. I also don’t doubt that some children have died because their parents put too much reliance on the car seat’s protection, and drove more carelessly, or because their children, less able to entertain themselves, distracted the driver beyond tolerance.

And then there are all the really neat kids who will never be born because their parents won’t be able to figure out how to fit them in the family car. (At least, if they read this post and its comments!)

Trent, get the safest car you can get, and then drive as if none of those safety features existed. Ironically, that’s the only way to really benefit from them.

By: Megan

Megan — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:15:28 +0000

Two comments:

I second the comments (the first in #8) about the Subarus. I have a ’99 Subaru Outback with 130,000 on it, and the thing is a wonder in the snow (I live in Michigan). I’m 6’0″ and my dad’s 6’2″ and he has no trouble fitting in the back seat of the car, which is always nice.

Another one you might consider, especially if it has traction control (the best thing to have if you can’t get AWD), is a Honda Odyssey. My dad has one and we drove four tall adults and all our stuff down from Ohio to South Carolina with no complaints. There was plenty of room, and it actually got really good gas-mileage, due to a newer feature that lets the engine use fewer cylinders (I think?) when you’re on the high way to conserve gas mileage. Granted, he was driving a 2008 model, but I know they’re really reliable cars and have been performing well every since they were first put out in 1998.

My second comment, which was also addressed by Aaron in #34 is that “needs verb-ed” is perfectly correct in terms of dialectic English (much like “should oughta”) and is not something that Trent should have to correct, especially for the informal setting of his own blog.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 16:33:23 +0000

Two notes: “needs replaced” is indeed a regionalism. It’s informal and I wouldn’t use it in business writing, but for a blog – especially one that’s about money and not language – I think it’s fine.

Second: Why not a wagon? Less rollover risk, plenty of storage, and more options with AWD than a minivan…

By: John DeFlumeri Jr

John DeFlumeri Jr — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 10:50:58 +0000

I agree that a 4 yr old suv with 4×4 is the answer

John DeFlumeri Jr

By: Ryan

Ryan — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 20:24:25 +0000

Laurie,

Gotcha. I wasn’t really understanding how inconvenient car seats can be!

By: John

John — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 19:59:00 +0000

Again, I question your “need” for 4WD or AWD. I live in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and even with all our snow-covered, hilly roads, am always 100% confident with FWD and a good set of snows. Most people in NH are the same way. It’s because we’re Yankees. (That means “cheap” in the New Hampshire vernacular.)

By: Steffie

Steffie — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 19:58:25 +0000

I know you will keep your vehicle for years so remember that your children will not be in car/booster seats forever. And they grow into teenagers etc. I have 3 children;, 16, 12, and 11. I have an Explorer and thank God everyday for the big back seat. I don’t hear “she’s touching me”,”there’s not enough room for my legs when I sit in the middle” etc. This is especially good on any trip longer than an hour. As for gas mileage, don’t keep a lot of junk in the back and do regular maintenance. I will put up with low mileage for peace of mind and less distractions when driving ! Again, its all about what you value.

By: Alex

Alex — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 19:35:14 +0000

A minivan is going to offer the most space and will have most of the utility of a truck (as long as it will hold a 4×8 sheet of plywood). I think people’s need for 4wd/awd is an illusion. Given your concerns with traction, a good set of snow tires on a 2wd vehicle, front or rear wheel drive, will outperform any awd vehicle with all season tires. We have nasty winters here in NW Indiana and I’ve been using snow tires nearly as long as I’ve been driving and I would recommend them to anyone.

Another concern that most people have is the cost of buying a second set of tires and possibly a second set of wheels. With two sets of tires being used, you will only be wearing one set for roughly half of the year and the other set for the other half of the year. The cost will work itself out.

In the end, the cost of snow tires is irrelevant compared to the safety and confidence they bring to winter driving.

By: Tami

Tami — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 17:53:12 +0000

Go with the minivan. My Honda minivan has so much more space than any SUV with a third row seat (more space for seating and cargo). I have several friends who didn’t want the minivan because of style (not cool enough) and then were very sorry because they could not fit their double strollers in the back of their $50,000 SUVs. Once your third child is born, the bigger car will be the vehicle you drive with the whole family. You can fit three car seats in a sedan, but it is tight and not comfortable even for short trips. I had four kids in less than six years — which means I had four car/booster seats for three years and three car/booster seats for five years. I consider the Honda minivan the best purchase I have ever made. It blows my husband’s Isuzu Trooper and my sister’s very expensive “seven seat” Tahoe out of the water.

By: Michele

Michele — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 17:01:17 +0000

We have a Nissan Titan 4×4 Crew Cab pickup truck (2004) with 4 doors. It is an amazing vehicle! I also have a hard tonnneau cover so I use the bed of my truck for storage. It can hold 3 young adult men over 6′tall, a mom and dad driving to Mammoth 12 times a year :) and I’ve actually had 3 little ones in the back seat in car seats at the same time. Of course, it came with leather seats, seat heaters, tons of extras, and I did get a killer deal on it brand new (paid cash) but you could probably find a used one at a great price right now. I get about 18 miles per gallon and after living in the Klamath Basin of Oregon for the past 4 winters with tons of snow for oh, 6 months of the year, I have not had to put chains on the tires yet. It’s like driving a luxury car…but you can see better and carry more stuff. Good wishes with your search!

By: micki

micki — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:30:58 +0000

i have a suzuki grand vitara that i bought used in 2003, driven it in 2 blizzards, and have 260000 miles on it right now. it has had very few issues and the issues it DID have are mostly due to the fact that i deliver newspapers in it. i don’t know about fitting 3 car seats in the model that i have but there is a model that has 7 seats instead of the 5 that i have. there is adequate storage space in the back (i have carried my son, myself and about 500 fat Sunday papers in mine, which is very much on the small side of mid-sized). and for a minorly used vehicle (it had 33000 miles on it & was 2 years old), i paid 13000 for it…(so that’s about normal…) i DO know that the kia SUV that is comparable to mine, has less storage in the back (someone is trying to sell one down the street from me…). anyway, don’t know if that helps but i too, am looking to get a second vehicle that needs to be equal of my suzuki, if only to handle the amount of papers i do. would also be interested in what you come up with. thanks!

By: Melody Bakeeff

Melody Bakeeff — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:22:43 +0000

All I can add is that I have a recent four-year-old who can buckle herself into her own booster seat just fine! :-) She started being able to do that around 3-and-a-half. Of course, having the room to find the buckle and such is definitely helpful.

I only have 1 munchkin and we have a 99 Neon R/T (2-door) and a 2003 Dodge Ram quad-cab. (4-door). Both paid for, of course! I don’t know about any of the other quads but I wouldn’t even try to fit more than 1 other carseat/booster in the back of that! My husband mostly uses it for work, but we’ve also had her in it. Much more convenient than our 2-door ‘sports car’ but now that she’s older it’s not such a pain. She can climb-in either vehicle herself. If I went buying though, it would be exactly for Trent’s reasons, and I would definitely take her older seat with us. Here in Florida they are required to be in a seat/booster until age 5, backseat until 12. I have heard it varies quite a bit, state-to-state, so that’s something else you should consider if you travel!

By: Little House

Little House — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:09:24 +0000

My husband is looking for an older work truck, as you are describing you’d like to sell. Too bad you don’t live in Southern CA!
Good luck with your hunt.

By: Ian

Ian — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 15:24:32 +0000

The only minivan that fits three car-seats side-by-side is the 8-passenger Sienna.

Though he didn’t say carseats, he said kids. Starting in 2004 Outbacks became very safe. Id start there to see if my family-size would fit.

I bought a 2005 Sienna last year for that target price. It’s nice, but has lots of small issues — squeaky brakes, rattles, seatbelts that fold over in the pulleys.

BTW, AWD is overrated, especially compared to what snow tires can do for any car.

Ian

By: dan

dan — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 14:44:27 +0000

I would also highly recommend the Subaru Outback, the Subarus have the best AWD, extremely safe (essentially the modern volvo), low center of gravity. I live in WI and can’t tell you how many times I can dig out of my parking spot in 20 minutes and everyone else next to me ends up giving up. The only problem with the Subaru Outback is they have an extremely high resale value (good if you buy new, especially with the 0% and 0.9% financing) but hard to get a great deal on a used one.

By: skywind

skywind — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 12:25:31 +0000

It’s not a regional thing, Kristen and Michael; I hear it everywhere and it’s one of my pet peeves. “The truck needs replacing” or “the truck needs to be replaced” are correct.

By: David/Yourfinances101

David/Yourfinances101 — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 10:47:49 +0000

I have yet to be able to pay complete cash for a vehicle of mine.

I think its one of the greatest things we can do.

Besides the fact of saving interest on a car loan, you don’t have the monthly strain of a car payment for the next 4 years, or even more.

I thiink its an awesome goal

By: Kristen@TheFrugalGirl

Kristen@TheFrugalGirl — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 10:26:13 +0000

Michael, I noticed that too, but Trent is not the first person in my acquaintance to use English like that. My old boss used to tell that “This shelf needs cleaned.”. It might be a regional thing? She was from Pittsburgh.