Druid318
Well-Known Member
I'm 36 and the wife and I just had our third child 6 months ago. I'm having vehicles woes. Trying to not spend a ton of money and be responsible. I drove a Ford Ranger extended cab for 12+ years and it got to the point of being not really usable once we had our first kid, but I kept it anyway. I bought myself a really nice new Challenger R/T and sold it after my second kid was born. Bought myself a 1964 Dodge Power Wagon Town Panel, and drove that for close to two years. The two kids loved it, but the baby couldn't ride in it due to how stiff and bouncy the suspension was. I was honestly afraid it would hurt her neck. I've now bought myself a 64 Dodge 440 4 door sedan. Still waiting on it to arrive. I think it should be a good compromise with soft suspension and lots of room.
We bought my wife a Ford Escape brand new during the Cash for Clunkers crap. I couldn't find a used vehicle to save my life at that point. The Escape was great for one kid, and sort of ok for two. It's useless for three kids. The back bench is stuffed full of carseats door panel to door panel, and the rear facing child seat has the front passenger seat crammed almost all the way forward. So i'm trying to figure out what to buy her now. I don't want payments and I'm guessing we will have 10-11k to spend. That seems like a lot of cash until you look at what any kid friendly vehicle costs.
We have no need for an SUV and the prices are laughable generally. We've been hunting for a Dodge Caravan. The only option I really want on it is rear A/C so the kids don't melt. I'm lucky to find any around here that don't have 150k+ miles on them.
I've seen a lot of talk of cars being expensive, and they really aren't compared to inflation. The thing I never see discussed is that with the kid carseat laws you are required to buy a much larger vehicle than would have been socially acceptable years ago. Sedans at this point realistically seat 4 if you are lucky. The rear bench/bucket hybrid seats make the middle seat unbearable. Sedans used to seat 6 with two benches. Dad used to be able to drive a standard cab pickup but now you need a crew cab if you have kids. Now instead of a standard sedan and a standard single cab truck families are pushed into a minivan or big SUV or a crew cab pickup with a loan payment the size of a small mortgage.
Back to the minivan hunt for me, but just wanted to see if anyone else had noticed the rising cost of family transportation. I can't even imagine what a pain it would be if I had more than three kids.
We bought my wife a Ford Escape brand new during the Cash for Clunkers crap. I couldn't find a used vehicle to save my life at that point. The Escape was great for one kid, and sort of ok for two. It's useless for three kids. The back bench is stuffed full of carseats door panel to door panel, and the rear facing child seat has the front passenger seat crammed almost all the way forward. So i'm trying to figure out what to buy her now. I don't want payments and I'm guessing we will have 10-11k to spend. That seems like a lot of cash until you look at what any kid friendly vehicle costs.
We have no need for an SUV and the prices are laughable generally. We've been hunting for a Dodge Caravan. The only option I really want on it is rear A/C so the kids don't melt. I'm lucky to find any around here that don't have 150k+ miles on them.
I've seen a lot of talk of cars being expensive, and they really aren't compared to inflation. The thing I never see discussed is that with the kid carseat laws you are required to buy a much larger vehicle than would have been socially acceptable years ago. Sedans at this point realistically seat 4 if you are lucky. The rear bench/bucket hybrid seats make the middle seat unbearable. Sedans used to seat 6 with two benches. Dad used to be able to drive a standard cab pickup but now you need a crew cab if you have kids. Now instead of a standard sedan and a standard single cab truck families are pushed into a minivan or big SUV or a crew cab pickup with a loan payment the size of a small mortgage.
Back to the minivan hunt for me, but just wanted to see if anyone else had noticed the rising cost of family transportation. I can't even imagine what a pain it would be if I had more than three kids.
