At the risk of it having a "calling y'all out" tenor ...
If we keep driving the Suburban we could buy a cheap economy car at $10 a gallon. Not that the boys would fit into it in a couple of years with their sports equipment and everything else you have to haul around. But I keep telling myself it is almost paid for, it is almost paid for.........
Can I ask precisely what "sports equipment and everything else" must be hauled that requires a Suburban?
When we got the Suburban the use was for multiple reasons. Not just the kids but other family members, friends, hauling stuff for us and other people, etc. As gas got more expensive we did less of this stuff. As it is we use the car more then the truck. We do travel some and not with just the 5 of us. We just went to MO with the MIL and it was a very comfortable trip. 500 miles in 8 hours.
Would a van be better? Yes. Would a car be even better? Yes. Now there are not many cars that can fit 5 people comfortably for 8-9 hours.
At this point we are considering our options.
1. the Suburban will be paid off in a year. We keep it and get another car and use the two cars for day to day stuff and if we need the truck we have it. Cost is insurance, gas, and whatever maintenance we need to do on a vehicle that may be used once or twice a month.
2. Get a mini-van. Gas mileage on these is only slightly better then the truck (and when I say slightly that is maybe 1 to 2 MPG in the city). On longer trips it would do better on gas.
3. Get a car that might be better on gas but as the boys get older we may need to take 2 cars to do weekend chores or shopping due to all of us not being able to fit in one car (or at least not for a long time).
We will have to get another car in March as the lease on the car is up then. We are looking at what comes out next year that might better suit our needs. For right now we are still considering our options. And riding a bike in Dallas is not an option for me.
