Would you give up your SUV?

[DVC Sadie]

We will be trading in the SUV for a Porsche Boxter. Gas mileage is a small part of it, my decision is based more on the kids getting older. No need to cart around 10 of their friends. But the real reason is that this will be my mid-life crisis car.

I had to lol when I read your statement. We won't trade in our Lincoln Navigator but I am seriously thinking about buying a Cadillac XLR convertible. The price tag is holding me back a bit.

 

[Blondie]

I have NOT considered it. I'm hoping the fact that people won't be looking into buying SUV's due to rising gas prices will work in my favor when we go to buy a new one in the fall. We'll be giving our current (2000) Blazer to our teen boys.

Around here the large SUVs (Tahoe, Navigator, etc.) are alive and well.

 

[lilprincessnbuzz]

Nope, I'm just breaking in my new Tahoe, it's 3 weeks old! I LOVE it-LOVE it-LOVE it! It is perfect for our family and carpool. Gas prices are going up, but I don't drive too much or too far. Besides it just depreciated when we drove it off the lot so now I HAVE to keep it

 

[WIcruizer]

I had to lol when I read your statement. We won't trade in our Lincoln Navigator but I am seriously thinking about buying a Cadillac XLR convertible. The price tag is holding me back a bit.

That's a nice car too! Both are more affordable if they are used, and I ALWAYS buy used cars. Right now I'm looking at a Boxter with 18,000 miles and it would be $9,000 less than a brand new one. That's always been a no-brainer for me, but some people are jsut used to getting a NEW car. My motto is, it's not new anymore the minute you drive it anyhow.

 

[jgmklmhem]

Nope we just traded the Camry for a Mini-van (Dodge Grand Caravan). I drive a Civic though which I get on average about 37mpg with a mix of highway and mostly local roads. The mini-van gets about 20mpg local so far. As I said in another thread having 3 kids and the current car seat laws pretty much force you into a large vehicle. We tried to fit three car seats in the back seat of the Camry and it was pretty close to impossible and it didn't look safe to me as well as three kids crammed together.

 

[AnaheimGirl]

We already did.

A few years ago, we traded in our SUV for a 4WD station wagon, not just because of gas mileage, but for other reasons. It does just as well in the snow and on the dirt roads in the mountains as the SUV did, cheaper to fill the tank, plus we don't have to worry about whether we'll fit into certain parking garages with the ski/bike racks on top of the car.

(There are a couple of businesses we visit with very old, very short parking garages, and that was the most frustrating thing when we had the SUV!)

 

[ChrisnSteph]

We've had our 2002 Suburban on the market since January, and no bites. It's a nice, lifted SUV, decent mileage and very clean and we had it listed for so cheap! We recently took it off the market because we're taking a family road trip to Oklahoma (from Cali) this summer, and it will be the most comfortable for our family and all our luggage. We have a Ford Explorer that I use on a daily basis when it's just me and my three kids, but when it's all five of us, we usually take the Suburban because in the Explorer, the kids are cramped in the back like sardines. We got the Suburban because there's plenty of room for our family and we use it to pull our RV trailer. We'll just hang on to the Suburban for a little while longer. Yeah, it costs a lot to fill it up, but it's paid off and a monthly payment on a new car would cost more.

 

[BriarfoxinWA]

With DS within a couple of months of getting his license we did some re-thinking our car situation. We had - a 2002 Excursion diesel, a 1996 F350 crew cab diesel, and 2 Ford Taurus' (1996 & 2001). I convinced DH to trade the Excursion off for a new F350 crew cab diesel, sold the old F350 and the older Taurus. Bought a Focus for myself so now we have: Ford Focus, Ford F350, Ford Taurus. DH drives the Taurus right now and when DS get's his license he'll get that vehicle.

We loved our Excursion but the high insurance rates for the SUV's is what caused us to get rid of it. My monthly auto insurance went DOWN by $50 when we got rid of that and added the new truck.

 

[Caradana]

Caradana: How do you like your Santa Fe? It's on the long list of SUVs I've been looking at. Did you get the 3.5L V6 4WD model?

Ali, I love it! Only 700 miles, but so far, so good. I got the 2.7L V6 4WD - I figured I'd save the fuel money with a smaller engine and let's face it, I'm not Dale Earnhardt here. I can take it a little easy on a smaller engine.

I got a new '05 off the lot (they're eager to lose the '05s, they have to make room for the '07s) and saved about $7K off the MSRP.

 

[Katie]

No way! for lots of reasons:

1.) It is paid for.
2.) I love it!
3.) My kids love it!
4.) My husband love it!
5.) We need the room for people, stuff, ect
6.) The only way I would get rid of it was to get a 2007! Mine is 2 years old now!

 

[T. Lynn]

Wouldn't make sense for me to get rid of my Jeep Cherokee as well.

1) It's a 1996, blue book value wouldn't be that good.
2) I'd have to get something else and have a car payment.
3) I HATE snow and won't drive in it unless I have 4-wheel drive. Makes me feel safer.
4) Need the extra space for trips to the mountains to visit family.
5) Need the extra space if traveling with clients.

I hate the gas but then again, I only work 2 days a week so I try to stay home as much as possible during the week. I'd rather pay the extra for gas than have a car payment. Wouldn't be saving any extra money that way as well.

 

[Banzai]

I have a Lumina now, and it gets 19 MPG. However, as a college student who is very concerended about the enviroment, if anyone would like to get me a Mini Cooper Convertible, I would be very happy to increase my MPG to 25. If it's too much to ask to get 25, I will accept 21 MPG in a Crossfire Roadster

I thought it was a good try