I know there are MMM articles about cars, and I've read them. But wanted to get a conversation going and see what other people have done. We have two kids (5 & 2.5). Just found out we're going to have a 3rd (so it'll be 6, 3, and newborn more or less). Current car situation:
Car 1
1996 Nissan Maxima - Daily commuter for me with 206k miles on it. At this point, runs great and hoping I can drive it for another 10 years (have had it for 15). Obviously own this free and clear, yearly tax is about $30, insurance is ~$15/month (gotta love GEICO). I work on an Army installation, and while biking to work is theoretically possible, it's not particularly feasible and moving closer isn't really possible. So, this is my compromise...a car that costs me almost nothing besides oil changes. 1-2 days/week, I drive Car 2 to/from work when my wife doesn't need it.
Car 2
2010 Toyota Prius - Also own this one free and clear. Insurance runs about $36/month, taxes are about $120/year. My wife drives this car during the week when she needs it (school function, playdates with other parents, grocery shopping, ballet lessons, etc). This is where our two carseats "live." Estimated value on this is ~$8.5k.
So here's the question. Given we will be needing/using 3 carseats or 2 carseats/1 booster seat, what would you do for a a vehicle? What have you done? I'm not sure (haven't tested yet since we just found out we're expecting) if the Prius can handle 3 carseats across the back. If so, I'd imagine it'd be a pretty tight fit. I'll outline what I see as our options
Option 1 - Stand pat. Keep the Prius, keep the Maxima. Roll with it. I certainly like this idea:-)
Option 2 - Keep the Maxima, sell the Prius. Take the $8.5k and buy something with more room (say a 2004-2007 Odyssey/Siena with 130k miles). I suppose you could also buy an SUV (e.g. a quick craigslist search for my area shows some 2005-2008 Mazda CX-9, GMC Acadias, etc). SUVs just seem so...big...and cumbersome. We once had a Mazda CX-9 and liked, but that was pre-kids and pre-mustache days. Not sure I can bring myself to do that.
Option 3 - Sell the Maxima, keep the Prius. Take the $1.5k from the Maxima and put it towards a new vehicle (once again, a minivan or similar). I would probably take out a small loan at for this. (Maybe $3-4k). Given I can get 1.5% financing at my credit union for a car, I'd rather do that then pull money out of investments if we go this route. In this case, I'd obviously take the Prius as my daily driver.
So my questions...do you think we can roll with option 1 with 3 carseats? Anybody have experience with this? If it's doable, I'd obviously prefer this route. Of option 2 and 3, which sounds like the best plan (economically) long term? Obviously Option 2 would be net neutral now, but it leaves me commuting in a 20+ year old car with 206k+ miles. Option 3 involves an outlay of several thousand dollars (say $7k in addition to what I get for selling the Maxima), but leaves me commuting in a 6 year old Prius with 76k instead of a 20+ year old Maxima with 206k. All opinions welcome. Looking for both the Mustachian/economics answer and the practicality answer.