If you have $7500 cash why don't you just buy a used car for that price? It sounds like you don't even drive that much. If you are borrowing for a car maybe you forgot you are at the MMM forums? MMM has a post on AWD vs snow tires you should check out.
I have read (and watched videos) about AWD vs. snow tires. If it was just that issue, no problem. But I can't find a front wheel drive car that gets good clearance, and thats why we are looking for an SUV. We are an outdoor family, and want one reliable car to do it all. For just driving around town? That's what bikes are for. We also need a more reliable outdoorsy vehicle than what $7500 can buy--that's the suby we have now that has given us a lot of trouble.
Additionally, we had a chunk of cash we were sitting on--despite advice on not borrowing for a car, it was still a smarter financial decision to pay off the mortgage ($90,000 at 4.5%), compared to 2.4% on a much smaller car loan (say, $10,000). We are cash poor at the moment because we paid off the mortgage and my husband and I are both currently working 3/4 time so at least one of us can be home with the little ones. But as I mentioned above, we just totaled our suby and it hasn't been that reliable, plus we don't fit in it very well (this is a real problem, not just complainy-pantsness).
Assuming you drive 10k / year you're looking at 100k (total 147k) on the RAV4 for a cost of $0.15 / mile.
Subaru should get you to that same 147k easily... (15 years) for a cost of $0.14 / mile.
$6000 for the additional 47,000 miles is $0.13 / mile in purchase cost.
There's a lot more to it than that. You mentioned a few when you said maintenance and gas, but resale is another big one, and resale is better in most parts of the country for Toyotas than it is for Subarus. Also, cars bottom out at some point, usually $3-4k for a car in good running order regardless how many miles are on it. Clearly the $21k Subaru has further to fall on its trip to $3k than a $15k used Toyota. This is part of why used cars almost always win for cost of ownership, since depreciation curves are non-linear, with a very rapid drop when still relatively new, then a gradual drop the older they get. Then there's also the opportunity cost of that $6000 being invested versus going towards car loan interest.
In general, I lean towards saying the OP is right, and the lightly used Toyota is the smarter buy here, if they truly do "need" a high clearance vehicle, especially if the RAV4 is one of the 4-cyl models, since those get better gas mileage and are cheaper to service. Still, even Toyota's V6 is pretty nice as a $15-16k used vehicle with impressive fuel economy for such a powerful engine.
You guys, thanks a hundred times over! I will think these data over. The RAV4 is indeed a 4 cylinder. Strangely enough, a new suby and a used RAV4 cost the same to insure.
I do not have any recommendations, but I know that when I was with a friend in a Honda Fit on some forest service roads I kept having to get out and kick rocks out of the way. These same rocks would have been no problem in my subaru legacy wagon. If you care about ground clearance then you might want to look elsewhere.
I would love to find a front wheel drive that has plenty of room and good clearance. But I think that just puts me back into the realm of an SUV! There are a couple of RAV4s nearby (200 miles away!) that are FWD only, this might be an option.
From a child safety standpoint it is much better to keep the seat rear facing as long as possible, even up to the age of 4.
People keep saying that, but I have yet to see (and believe me, I've looked!) any solid evidence of any significant reduction in risk. My impression is that it started somewhere and got spread around enough that people started treating it as accepted wisdom.
I'd be happy to be proven wrong, though--can you point me in the direction of some solid scientific studies supporting the "backwards until 4" recommendation?
I don't know how solid the science is here, but you can let me know what you think.
http://csftl.org/why-rear-facing-the-science-junkies-guide/Anyway, final bit of my .02 is that nearly ALL of the issues you may have or will have with this car are already documented with pictures, tutorials, etc... It's a VERY popular car and therefore there are many forums dedicated to the maintenance and care of them... I know you say you don't know how to work on a car but there's no excuse to to at least try a few things yourselves. If DH can fix bikes, he can turn a wrench on a car. It's not rocket surgery.
Keep the car, research the issues and the solutions will be readily available to you. That car should last for a very long time.
You are right, I think we are going to keep it and work on it, but we still need a reliable vehicle for camping trips, etc. One of my neighbors has expressed an interest in helping us work on our car, I plan to hit him up for some help. We will see if it makes sense to keep the old suby and get a newer car, or just keep a newer car. Part of the problem will be getting both kids to daycare and ourselves to work next winter. Hubs and I can manage when the weather is nice (we'll just bike, one of us drops the kids off, the other picks them up), but when the roads are snow-covered and dark in this rural oil and gas town (read: no bike lanes and riding in a snowy road in the dark with big diesel trucks driven by assholes 50% of the time), it just doesn't feel safe.