Hi! We are in the early stages of buying a new car. We are expecting our third child in a few months and would like a car with third row seats. Children's ages would range from 3 - newborn.
My wife does not want a minivan, so we are mainly considering suv's at the moment. We are currently considering a ford flex, honda pilot, toyota highlander, etc... This car is going to be used as the vacation/school wagon.
Does anyone have any experience with these types of cars and what should I look for in a suv with fitting three car seats?
I see a lot of mustachians have higher mileage vehicles. To keep costs down is it advisable to buy a higher mileage vehicle or should I be wary if I find a car with over 100k plus miles? Also, is it ever advisable to buy a new car if you plan to keep it for 10 to 15 years?
Thank you for any insight you can shed on my upcoming decision...
The problem with most SUVs is that they have 3 seats in the middle row. This makes getting into the third row very difficult. My recommendation is to find three car seats that will fit in a normal car and forgo the SUV completely. If you must get a bigger car, go with a fuel efficient van. With regular maintenance, a car will go over 100k easily. I always use excel to break down decisions like this. Lets do some simple math.
10 year car costs assuming 12k miles a year.
$30,000 new SUV
2 sets of tires = $800x2 = $1600
2 sets of brakes = $450x2 = $900
Break/Fix = $500 a year x 7 = $3500
Oil Changes = $40 * 2.4 * 10 = $960
Total 10 yr Cost = $36,960 or $3,696 per year.
2005 PONTIAC MONTANA 143k miles. $3300 full asking price.
Drive 4 years to take it just under 200k miles.
1 set of tires = $800
1 set of brakes = $450
Break/Fix = $1000 a year x 4 = $4000
Oil Changes = $384
Total 4 year cost = $2233.5
2007 Buick Rendezvous CX 134k miles, $5350 full asking price.
Drive 5 years to take it under 200k miles.
1 set of tires = $800
1 set of brakes = $450
Break/Fix = $1000 a year x 5 = $5000
Oil Changes = $480
Total 5 year cost = $2416
Lets assume you keep that brand new car to 200k miles.
16 year car costs assuming 12k miles a year.
$30,000 new SUV
4 sets of tires = $800x4 = $3200
4 sets of brakes = $450x4 = $1800
Break/Fix = $500 a year x 7 = $3500
Break/Fix = $1000 a year x 6 = $6000
Oil Changes = $40 * 2.4 * 16 = $1536
Total 16 yr Cost = $46,036 or $2877 per year.
All of these assumptions assume the car is worth $0 at the end of it's life which is obviously not true. Odds are you can sell the car for $1-2k (or more) at 200k miles. All of them have 3 rows of seats. Used car prices were taken from Craigslist near me (Michigan). I'm sure you could negotiate those down. I didn't bother pricing a new SUV so $30k might be high/low depending on make/model/options. I also assumed a standard 3 year 36k warranty would remove all break/fix issues, although that's probably not fully accurate.