Which car should I keep?

[TheGadfly]

We own two reliable vehicles but, with a baby on the way, my wife wants to replace one of them with a new-to-us Honda CR-V because it "feels" safer. I'd rather keep our current cars but, let's just say, this is happening no matter what. I'd like to know, from a practical/financial perspective, which one of our current cars to keep:

2007 Honda Fit

• 200,000 miles
• $2500 resale value
• I LOVE this car. It's older but reliable. I perform almost all of the maintenance for this car so, unless the transmission fails, I can potentially keep it alive (cheaply) for another 50k miles

2009 Hyundai Sonata

• 90,000 miles
• $5000 resale value (it has a "check engine" light on due to a faulty sensor. It's not worth fixing and doesn't impact the car's longevity but it will definitely impact the resale value)
• Not as practical or fun to drive as the Fit but it's reliable

Based on mileage alone, I understand that the Hyundai is going to last longer but I'm tempted to sell it now to defray the cost of the new car, while I run my Fit into the ground. Of course, I'm assuming the fit lasts at least another 3-5 years since I probably drive it 5000 miles per year. Is that foolish? My concern is that the Fit will end up costing me way more to "keep alive" whereas the Sonata will likely only need routine maintenance for the next 50k miles.

[Car Jack]

Keep them both.  They have to be costing you close to nothing to keep and what you'll get for them is also close to nothing.

I have a "spare" car in our household and it works well for us.  4 drivers in the house.  If a car needs to be down, it's pretty simple to re-assign cars and off we all go.  If you do this and keep driving the FIT, at some point, when it needs repairs, drive the Hyundai for a while.

[Lkxe]

If it’s going to happen, keep the fit. We just got our 2007 fit back from our oldest. We had traded a prius in for a Rouge because the visibility is better for our youngest (15) I love that little car for quick trips. And I love that all four doors on both cars can open in the garage at the same time. When we had van and car at the same time I hated having to park backwards to open the drivers. Unfortunately the fifteen year old prefers the fit as well.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[terran]

Given that your wife is the driving force behind the "new" car, that's probably going to be "her" care, so keep the Fit since it's clearly the one you like. Worst that happens is it dies and you buy another cheap Fit.

[JAYSLOL]

Given that your wife is the driving force behind the "new" car, that's probably going to be "her" care, so keep the Fit since it's clearly the one you like. Worst that happens is it dies and you buy another cheap Fit.

This

[Paper Chaser]

Do you have a car seat yet? Not one of the infant ones, but a rear facing seat that your kid might be in from ages 18mo-3 or 4yrs? They're bigger than you think. I highly recommend to anybody expecting a kid to buy a seat now, and check to see if it fits in the car with the other seats in their normal positions (My SO and I are both tall. With a rear facing seat installed in some vehicles, one of us had to move our seat forward too much to be comfortable. This may not be an issue for others). With the seat installed (assuming everybody fits comfortably) see how easy or difficult it is to load/unload a 20lb sack of potatoes or a large watermelon into the seat. That's what you'll be dealing with for the next few years. That might make your decision about which vehicle to keep for you.

If you're shopping for something new, I'd take the seat with you too. The seller (or dealer) might look at you a little crazy at first, but you'll be spending thousands of dollars on this vehicle with the primary reason being child hauling. No reason to buy something that's going to be a pain to use.

[yachi]

Do you have a car seat yet? Not one of the infant ones, but a rear facing seat that your kid might be in from ages 18mo-3 or 4yrs? They're bigger than you think. I highly recommend to anybody expecting a kid to buy a seat now, and check to see if it fits in the car with the other seats in their normal positions (My SO and I are both tall. With a rear facing seat installed in some vehicles, one of us had to move our seat forward too much to be comfortable. This may not be an issue for others). With the seat installed (assuming everybody fits comfortably) see how easy or difficult it is to load/unload a 20lb sack of potatoes or a large watermelon into the seat. That's what you'll be dealing with for the next few years. That might make your decision about which vehicle to keep for you.

If you're shopping for something new, I'd take the seat with you too. The seller (or dealer) might look at you a little crazy at first, but you'll be spending thousands of dollars on this vehicle with the primary reason being child hauling. No reason to buy something that's going to be a pain to use.

This is a good suggestion if you're considering changing cars.  I would borrow an older-child car seat if you can.  Most expire after 6 years.  My son is turning 6 in a few months and using a car seat we had when he was 18 months or so you can get to where a car seat expires before your child outgrows it.  There are forums with information on how car seats fit in different cars to help judge what you might need to do to fit in a given car.

[economista]

Do you have a car seat yet? Not one of the infant ones, but a rear facing seat that your kid might be in from ages 18mo-3 or 4yrs? They're bigger than you think. I highly recommend to anybody expecting a kid to buy a seat now, and check to see if it fits in the car with the other seats in their normal positions (My SO and I are both tall. With a rear facing seat installed in some vehicles, one of us had to move our seat forward too much to be comfortable. This may not be an issue for others). With the seat installed (assuming everybody fits comfortably) see how easy or difficult it is to load/unload a 20lb sack of potatoes or a large watermelon into the seat. That's what you'll be dealing with for the next few years. That might make your decision about which vehicle to keep for you.

If you're shopping for something new, I'd take the seat with you too. The seller (or dealer) might look at you a little crazy at first, but you'll be spending thousands of dollars on this vehicle with the primary reason being child hauling. No reason to buy something that's going to be a pain to use.

This is a good suggestion if you're considering changing cars.  I would borrow an older-child car seat if you can.  Most expire after 6 years.  My son is turning 6 in a few months and using a car seat we had when he was 18 months or so you can get to where a car seat expires before your child outgrows it.  There are forums with information on how car seats fit in different cars to help judge what you might need to do to fit in a given car.

I also think this is a really great suggestion. My husband is tall and when I got pregnant he INSISTED that we had to buy a new car that would be “safer” (single car family). We got a brand new plug-in Prius and it was my favorite car I’ve ever had. I’ve never fallen in love with a car before. Then we got pregnant with #2 and we switched #1 to the “big girl” rear facing seat. We realized neither one of the seats could possibly fit behind him in that car. We honest to goodness HAD to get rid of that car, because there was no possible way for both of us and both children to fit in the car. We only had it for a little over a year and I was absolutely heartbroken to get rid of it.

We ended up buying our next car from Carmax and we took the car seats with us. We put both of them in each car we tried and some really surprising cars were really tiny inside. SUVs that looked large on the outside but we didn’t even test drive because once the seats were in place he couldn’t fit in the seat in front.

[yachi]

Do you have a car seat yet? Not one of the infant ones, but a rear facing seat that your kid might be in from ages 18mo-3 or 4yrs? They're bigger than you think. I highly recommend to anybody expecting a kid to buy a seat now, and check to see if it fits in the car with the other seats in their normal positions (My SO and I are both tall. With a rear facing seat installed in some vehicles, one of us had to move our seat forward too much to be comfortable. This may not be an issue for others). With the seat installed (assuming everybody fits comfortably) see how easy or difficult it is to load/unload a 20lb sack of potatoes or a large watermelon into the seat. That's what you'll be dealing with for the next few years. That might make your decision about which vehicle to keep for you.

If you're shopping for something new, I'd take the seat with you too. The seller (or dealer) might look at you a little crazy at first, but you'll be spending thousands of dollars on this vehicle with the primary reason being child hauling. No reason to buy something that's going to be a pain to use.

This is a good suggestion if you're considering changing cars.  I would borrow an older-child car seat if you can.  Most expire after 6 years.  My son is turning 6 in a few months and using a car seat we had when he was 18 months or so you can get to where a car seat expires before your child outgrows it.  There are forums with information on how car seats fit in different cars to help judge what you might need to do to fit in a given car.

I also think this is a really great suggestion. My husband is tall and when I got pregnant he INSISTED that we had to buy a new car that would be “safer” (single car family). We got a brand new plug-in Prius and it was my favorite car I’ve ever had. I’ve never fallen in love with a car before. Then we got pregnant with #2 and we switched #1 to the “big girl” rear facing seat. We realized neither one of the seats could possibly fit behind him in that car. We honest to goodness HAD to get rid of that car, because there was no possible way for both of us and both children to fit in the car. We only had it for a little over a year and I was absolutely heartbroken to get rid of it.

We ended up buying our next car from Carmax and we took the car seats with us. We put both of them in each car we tried and some really surprising cars were really tiny inside. SUVs that looked large on the outside but we didn’t even test drive because once the seats were in place he couldn’t fit in the seat in front.

It bothers me that car manufacturers design back seats for only 50 to 60% of back seat users.  Then it's up to car seat manufacturers to make them safe for the other back seat users, and it's up to consumers to use trial-and-error to figure out a solution that works.  It's a horribly inefficient, and wasteful system. 

[ChpBstrd]

Do you have a car seat yet? Not one of the infant ones, but a rear facing seat that your kid might be in from ages 18mo-3 or 4yrs? They're bigger than you think. I highly recommend to anybody expecting a kid to buy a seat now, and check to see if it fits in the car with the other seats in their normal positions (My SO and I are both tall. With a rear facing seat installed in some vehicles, one of us had to move our seat forward too much to be comfortable. This may not be an issue for others). With the seat installed (assuming everybody fits comfortably) see how easy or difficult it is to load/unload a 20lb sack of potatoes or a large watermelon into the seat. That's what you'll be dealing with for the next few years. That might make your decision about which vehicle to keep for you.

If you're shopping for something new, I'd take the seat with you too. The seller (or dealer) might look at you a little crazy at first, but you'll be spending thousands of dollars on this vehicle with the primary reason being child hauling. No reason to buy something that's going to be a pain to use.

This is a good suggestion if you're considering changing cars.  I would borrow an older-child car seat if you can.  Most expire after 6 years.  My son is turning 6 in a few months and using a car seat we had when he was 18 months or so you can get to where a car seat expires before your child outgrows it.  There are forums with information on how car seats fit in different cars to help judge what you might need to do to fit in a given car.

I also think this is a really great suggestion. My husband is tall and when I got pregnant he INSISTED that we had to buy a new car that would be “safer” (single car family). We got a brand new plug-in Prius and it was my favorite car I’ve ever had. I’ve never fallen in love with a car before. Then we got pregnant with #2 and we switched #1 to the “big girl” rear facing seat. We realized neither one of the seats could possibly fit behind him in that car. We honest to goodness HAD to get rid of that car, because there was no possible way for both of us and both children to fit in the car. We only had it for a little over a year and I was absolutely heartbroken to get rid of it.

We ended up buying our next car from Carmax and we took the car seats with us. We put both of them in each car we tried and some really surprising cars were really tiny inside. SUVs that looked large on the outside but we didn’t even test drive because once the seats were in place he couldn’t fit in the seat in front.

We had a newborn with a 2012 Fit. We had a rear-facing infant seat with carrying handle and detachable base and put the seat in the middle for added safety. It touched the front seats, but was not a problem for me (5'10").

However, when we grew out of the 20lb max infant seat and needed to be rear-facing for a couple more years, it became a little tighter. We bought a gigantic Diono convertible seat that was airline-certified and everything and IIRC the front seats couldn't go all the way back. I could still drive the car just fine, but got a little crampy on longer road trips. We could have made a different seat choice and gained more room.

Car seats are thrown on the curb all the time. Grab one out of somebody's trash and see how it fits. Then put it back.

TL;DR - You could keep the Fit for another couple of years before possibly having to make a decision because infant car seats are smaller.