Quote:
Originally Posted by flere-imsaho
It sounds to me like you're effectively choosing between two options:
Option 1: Buy as cheap a car as possible that'll last at least 2 years, saving the most amount of money & putting your financial situation at the least amount of risk.
Option 2: Buy a slightly more expensive used car that'll last at least 5 years, and give you utility in the bargain at the cost of more money and somewhat more risk to your financial situation.
I guess my first piece of advice is that unless you really do need a truck very often, honestly, you would be best to punt on the idea of owning a truck, SUV or Jeep. If you do this, you've accomplished two things: 1) cut out the possibility of owning a vehicle (based on the ones you mention) without great reliability combined with high mileage and 2) given yourself a lot more options (and more affordable options) amongst the sedan set.
Following on from that, my second piece of advice would be to get a used Toyota Corolla or Honda Civic or (spending a little more money) a used Toyota Camry or Honda Accord. Reliable, relatively cheap to repair, and will do just fine holding kids in their car seats for the first 5 years you're going to own the car. At that point you could look at something else.
For reference, my 1999 Corolla is worth about $2,000 max, right now, so that's probably the bottom range if you look at these four models. We feel just fine transporting 5-month-old Samuel in this car, in his car seat, and the car has been very reliable (even starts when parked outside in -10 degree weather!).
As for all the math - it looks correct to me - just make sure you're taking into account repair costs, both in the likely frequency of repairs as well as the cost of parts & labor (i.e. this is not the time to get a German car).
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This is really what I was getting at, but flere put it better than I could.
How much moving do you plan to do in the next 3-5 years?