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Family vehicles are so expensive

I ran into the same problem, man. The wife and I did not want to go the minivan route either. Have you thought about a wagon? I hate the mopar stopped production of the magnum. Excellent cars and suite the need too, but getting hard to find a nice one. A few years back we traded our tired Magnum in for a Ford Flex. It's a 2013 with AWD and the Ecoboost. We've put about 80,000 miles on it the last 3 years (115,000 total now) and I'd highly recommend it.

Double edged sword with the Flex is that they don't hold reslae value for ****. Bad if your buying new, GREAT if your looking for used. Ours was a couple years off the lot and fully loaded. The original owner left the window sticker in the glove box. Original MSRP $50,000... couple years later picked it up used with some time on the factory warranty for $19,000. I've seen some with limited options down in your price range as well.
 
I bought a Grand Caravan GT last year, it is perfect for hauling kids, pets, parts or any combo thereof, plenty of Luxo features too. These things are all over for sale in the $15-18K range, and come loaded. I have plenty of Ego cars, I needed something practical and this delivers.
 
I plan to install seat belts in the 64 when I get it. I've driven a Caravan and like it, I only paid 2k for the new to me 64 so I don't mind putting a little money into it to make it work as a kid hauler. I may have to go test drive a Journey. With the size of the kids seats I'm not sure anything less than 3 rows of seats would work. I managed to get all three into our Escape but I worry about them not having any space in an accident.
 
My parents never had a car until I was nine and we walked everywhere. Only family and neighbors were our transportation on occasion. My parents bought me a new Radio Flyer wagon when I was in the first grade. Pretty sneaky of them as on grocery day I'd follow mom the three blocks to the store and wait outside till she was done shopping and hauled the groceries in my wagon. Mom had one of those wire baskets on wheels to carry a couple of bags. In the winter she would go to the store by herself, then call me when done to bring the wagon to the store to carry the bags home, that way I didnt have to wait out in the cold to watch the wagon. Yup, we were poor growing up.
 
Going to get some crap for this ! Look for a slightly used Honda Odyssey there very good vans and I see them for decent prices around town!

I Know what you mean about price s. My wife wanted a new suv I gave her a $30k budget after looking and looking we had to up her budget to $40 to get a decent suv
 
My daily driver. Nobody cares what you drive, anyways. Minivans have become my permanent drivers. I can haul people, dogs, complete hemi engines.....whatever.
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I'll second the Ford Flex recommendation. I bought one new in 2010 and loved it for 60k miles until we had kid number 5. Super roomy, but lacks cargo space. Since then It has been an '03 Excursion, and at 6 kids and #7 on the way, it is still fine. I can fit the whole crew and luggage and do 1000 mile runs to MT with no problems. The 6.0L is also getting 19+ mpg at 80+ mph everywhere that isn't Commiefornia.
 
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heres Cleadus, my daily redneck. 2200, straight 6, 4x4 196k now
 
I'll second the Ford Flex recommendation. I bought one new in 2010 and loved it for 60k miles until we had kid number 5. Super roomy, but lacks cargo space. Since then It has been an '03 Excursion, and at 6 kids and #7 on the way, it is still fine. I can fit the whole crew and luggage and do 1000 mile runs to MT with no problems. The 6.0L is also getting 19+ mpg at 80+ mph everywhere that isn't Commiefornia.

Dude! There is birth control! Lol!
 
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.

How about a Lincoln Town Car, Mercury Grand Marquis, or Ford Crown Victoria? They were last produced in 2011, but there are low mileage examples for sale around the country. Check eBay.

Also, I have seen a few retired Crown Vic Police Interceptor cars show up around the country with not a lot of mileage and not a lot of idle hours.
 
You can get a Jeep Commander with 3rd row, hemi and all the goodies for under 10k nowadays. It's an option if a minivan doesnt fit your likes
 
We bought a Grand Caravan after our 2nd and loved it...right up until my wife was hit in it....we have a Honda Pilot now bought it used (a couple of years old) itd been a great vehicle. I wanted to try and find a nrwer Pacifica or another van but the wife was over the soccer mom stage.
We have a lot of CarMaxs down here and there are a lot of vehicles with <50k at reasonable prices. The thing about CarMax is that they will ship a vehicle you found online to any other dealer for a nominal fee if you decide to purchase..
 
You can get a Jeep Commander with 3rd row, hemi and all the goodies for under 10k nowadays. It's an option if a minivan doesnt fit your likes
I had one of those and liked it but make sure you have good glass insurance!! Those windshields are so straight up and down rocks don't glance off they break them, I probably replaced as many windshields in that thing as I did in all of the cars I've ever owned combined!
 
I had 5 minivans, they were all excellent. I don't see how anyone could prefer an SUV if you've got kids. My favorite was the 2000 grand caravan sport. Leather seats, infinity sound 3.3L. Ran and drove like a sports car. Never had a problem with it just the water pump at like 150K and it was a piece of cake to change. It seemed like the quality dropped after 2000 the next one I had was a 2006 Town and Country with every option available (again used, never had anything close to new). The T&C was not nearly as good from a reliability standpoint.
 
You aren't kidding on the price stuff. I waffled for 11 years before finally pulling the trigger on a new 3/4 ton CTD last year. That's right it took 11 YEARS to squirrel away the money for a 3/4 ton truck. Funny thing is I haven't ever driven it. My wife uses uses it for ranch errands and child hauling as I drive a company service truck. If I'm going anywhere that doesn't require a car seat I drive one of the old trucks or cars. Otherwise I'm just along for the ride she loves it. 2500 LST quad cab CTD with the off road pkg, lifetime oil changes and an extended warranty. Could have bought like 60 acres of land with that much cash...crazy if you ask me.

Good one you to drive old iron, it's a good way to save money IMO. Cost of ownership is way less. My wife's '10 300C SRT8 has about 42k miles. It's a nice car however very low ride height, spotless suede leather interior and 20" not pothole friendly Alcoa wheels makes it somewhat impractical. Never thought I'd come to the conclusion that my '66 Coronet 383-4 barrel is more practical than a 2010 Chrysler sedan lol.
 
I second the ford crown Vic's,mercury grand Maris's,Lincoln town cars. These are all the same platform and the service parts are cheap. I can only state my a opinion on a vehicle to avoid. Any GM product with the 3.6 VVT v6. Run from these. Trust me. Some of this was poor up keep. But I never want to see the insides of our Buick Enclave's motor again.
 
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