My apologies for the potential redundancy, as it seems similar posts have come before mine. But I really want to explore all options, I want to take my specific request to the Mustachian Community:
In my foolish pre-Mustachian life, 2 years ago in a fit of silliness we traded in my 2002 Honda Civic for a 2007 Dodge Grand Caravan. I obviously wasn't thinking clearly at the time, and I had yet to discover MMM. I currently owe about $12K on this gas-guzzling behemoth.
I'm looking to pay it down some and trade it in at Carmax for something fuel-efficient. Kelly BlueBook is estimating my van to fetch around $8-9K, which seems high to me. Carmax is typically very generous with their appraisals, but I estimate it to be more like $6-7K. Luckily, you can get your car appraised for free anytime, so I can at least get a fair idea of how much I need to pay down on my van (and how quickly I can do it), before trading it in, paying it off, and hopefully having enough extra $$ leftover for a down payment.
My requirements are: something reliable, family friendly, and capable of occasionally hauling stuff. I only have 2 kids, so I'm not in the market for "3-across" recommendations. I am very interested in hatchbacks, wagons, and crossovers....maybe small SUVs if the MPG is reasonable enough. Foreign or domestic - it matters not!
Please send me your thoughts! And if you've already answered similarly in another forum post, please link it in! Thanks in advance!