Picking family friendly vehicles

[Turbo617]

So it's that time again where I look to the knowledgeable for help in clearing my mind
First time parent, i have a baby boy being born possibly on my birthday ( dec 2nd)

We have two vehicles , mine: 92 accord ex sedancoupe ( no rear seats ) with MT.
And my wife has a 97 accord lx sedan with AT and AC. Both cars run good. Hers has a slow transmission fluid leak, worst case pay 300 for another transmission and swap it in.

Her car is very roomy inside, not sure how roomy it is with a car seat, baby carriage + groceries ( if anyone can shed light on that) ( her car isn't modified at all, not even tinted windows)

She thought about the CD wagon , she's is leaning towards it the more we see them. It'll also be AT

New England has some bad winters and even worst snow plow drivers.
Average drive is 12miles to work, it could possibly increase to just under 40miles ( 99% highway)

Finance option

07 highlander
07 Accord
05 Tahoe/suburban z71
11 fusion


Or pay cash

Accord wagon
Fix the CD5 to keep

Thanks for reading this far.

[Accrdwgnguy]

I mean, one kid, do ya really need an SUV or even the wagon? These were family cars to begin with, no reason not to keep using them. I'm sure you know, slap a set of snow tires on the Accord and it's great in the snow.

[Rilas]

I would honestly stick with the sedan or buy a wagon. But I wouldn't finance anything for this step in life. I our car seat for our 2 year old in and out of my Accord Coupe a few times over the past 2 weeks. Also we have taken a couple of longer trips in the coupe and honestly it wasn't a big deal at all. Sure a bit more work then a sedan but we had a great time on our trips, and it never felt like the car was a hinderance. Granted the '09 Pilot we have is a ton easier with the child but there is no reason you can't be perfectly happy with a family car. Oh and congratulations, especially if they do happen to be born on your birthday.

[deevergote]

Congrats on enlarging the family!

It's true that with just one kid, especially a baby, there's absolutely no need for a large vehicle. I was raised in a Ford Escort and a Dodge Colt. My family only got a minivan once I got old enough to do stuff that needed space (transporting friends or my bike, for example... and if I played sports, sports stuff.) The need for a large vehicle with less than 3 children is fairly unnecessary, honestly.

I'd say ditch the CD in favor of something newer, safer, and more reliable. If that's the car the family is going to rely on the heaviest, go with what meets those needs the best. You never want your wife and kid stranded, especially if your car is essentially a 2 seater (which will be inappropriate for transporting a kid for almost a decade.)

Of the cars you listed, I think I'd actually get the Fusion, then the Accord, then the Highlander (which is Camry-based). I wouldn't even consider the Tahoe. Especially not in a big city!
The Fusion is the newest of the bunch, and it has the best safety ratings. Being a Ford, you'll probably be able to find them cheaper than any imported brand as well, due to the "poor resale value" stigma of American cars. Fortunately, there's a lot of good Mazda in that Ford!

Financing can be dicey, especially if you guys are living close to your means already. Kids definitely don't make life any cheaper! If you must finance, do whatever you can to keep those payments as low as possible, and pay it off as quickly as you can. You don't want that debt hanging over your head, and if you ever can't pay, you don't want them to take your only family car! Sell the CD, sell off anything you don't need. Hell, pick up a second job for now, just to sock away money. Save up everything you can, and you may be able to find a decent deal that you can just buy flat-out. Might not be unwise to finance a small portion of that anyway, just to keep a bit of reserve cash... just in case something breaks.
You could also buy from someplace like CarMax, that offers an absurdly good warranty.

[Turbo617]

Thanks for the congrats! Nerve racking but as long as I stay by her side, everything will fall in its place!

Hit some very good points.
.
The Tahoe is scratched off the list.

Probably need to " invest " around 1k to restore the CD ( brand new tires, transmission ) but keeping the CD brings me to the extra space the wagon has, book value is 1800 for the CD. ( just need to clean it up real good)

2011 Fusion is one of my favorites, only complaint I saw is " it's a grandpa car" which I don't mind because I stay doing 5 under the speed limit anyway. I'll need to check out the engine bay to see if DIY mechanic can do the work or the dealer/shops

2007 Accord I picked as it has a large trunk space and it's an goodcommuter car for long distance. Driving to the small towns far away , all I see is 03-07 accords as highway commuter cars, something must be special about that car right ��

Highlander I chose when I researched the Tahoe/suburban. Didn't fully research it but it can't be better Mpgs than the Honda accords ��

[HenRoc]

minivan. idc what anyone says. id rock one as a daily.

[AccordWarrior]

The toughest thing that I see is the amount of junk you need to haul around for a baby. There's the car seat, a stroller, a diaper bag, a swing (if they can only sleep in one like my nephew), etc, etc. Ideally something with an opening hatch will make life SO much easier when it comes to loading and unloading all of those items.

A quick search for prices in MA show the following:

Highlanders - $7,500 to 10,000 range.
Accord - $3,000 to 8,500 range depending on model
Fusion - $8,000 to 10,000 range

What's your credit like?

Right now AAA is showing

Three Year Term
2.24% for 2006-up

Six Year Term
2.49% for 2011-up models
3.74% for 2006-2010

Granted, that's with a perfect credit history, but it's a ballpark figure. The threshold point on rate seems to be 2010.

If you assume even a high interest rate of 6% for point of example, your monthly payment looks like this:

3 years - $30 per thousand spent
6 years - $17 per thousand spent

What's your budget like for a car payment. If you have a new family, I'd say buy the best car your money can afford.

For example, you could get a brand new Nissan Rogue Select for probably 21,500 OTD in MA. With even the high 6% rate, your payment would be about $360 for 6 years, but you'd have a brand new AWD car with zero issues for the first 60,000 miles and that payment is assuming you'd put nothing down. The only other larger expenses would be excise tax and insurance requirements of full coverage on a car that you have a note on.

A $10,000 out the door car on a 3-year note would be about $310 @ 6%. Granted, you could pay it for longer and lower your monthly payment, but the vehicles you are looking at are nearly 10 years old and probably are at the point where they're going to need their first round of expensive repairs in the not to distant future.

It's one thing to tinker with a toy on the side or a car you don't need to depend on 100%, but another animal to have the family car be unreliable and to a different degree, unsafe. The CB/CD don't have all the modern safety features newer cars have.

Granted, I'm not advocating to buy outside your budget, and all of this is hypothetical without knowing your situation. If you are in an unstable financial situation where you don't want to commit to a long term loan, that changes things up greatly as well.

I would just think long and hard before buying a 8-10 year old car for the family car if you have to finance without looking at newer alternatives at maybe longer terms that might be in better condition, or better yet have a full factory warranty to fall back on.

Ultimately, I know most financial people would cringe at what I'm saying and recommend buying a bus pass until you can afford to buy the car in cash, but that's hardly reality. There's a big difference between buying outside of your means and making a decision that's smarter for your situation, safety and well being than smarter for your wallet.

[Turbo617]

Budget wise, id like to keep it 10-15k and under while I settle into my career. I'm currently a contractor ( I don't rely on contracting work so I'm working on getting the qualifications to apply to work for the state .

And I want to buy a house, currently working on building my wife's Credit, then continue building mine up.

You also brought up good points, and I definetly will take time to really think about it.

Edit: I forgot Triple A had loans. And here I am just got gold membership

[deevergote]

I've done contract work before... it can be scary when it slows down!

Definitely get the safest, most reliable car you can comfortably afford.
I really think the Fusion is a great idea. I'd even consider a Mercury Milan, as they may be even cheaper, given Mercury's defunct status (it's a Fusion in every way.) AWD is an option as well.

I think a Milan would be a fun car to have. Mazda bones, so it has some sportiness to it. Mercury badges, so it's nondescript... no attention from police (not that you seem to be one for trouble anyway.) Safe, reliable, affordable, plentiful (so parts will be easy to find when stuff breaks.) And when it's time to move on to a bigger and better family car, you find a Mazdaspeed6 engine and transmission... swap it on over, and have yourself a 300hp manual 6 speed AWD Mercury sleeper!
Not that I've given this any thought or anything...

[deevergote]

Dammit... now I want a project Milan.

[Grumpys93]

Congrats on expanding your family! We are expecting as well 11/11/16, we bought a rouge SL AWD brand new back in 2012 for 19k out the door, in WA. It was a 2011 and we went in December. The rouge has decent room in the back seat and hatch area. It currently has 48k miles on it and have not had any issues (knock on wood). We like it and it gets about 25 mpg. I also like the cvt as you don't feel a jolt when it shifts.

But one child doesnt require a whole car to themselves. All I know is money goes fast when buying things for a brand new baby and if you can get away without having to buy a new vehicle I would recommend it. Good luck with the new addition!

[Accrdwgnguy]

All I'm saying is, if you have a reliable car(s) don't throw away money on a brand new car if you don't have to. Don't listen to experts either that say you have to have expensive car loans to build credit, thats nonsense.

As far as space, grew up being carted around by my mom in her 82 C10 pickup and my dad had several demonstrators from the Honda dealer since he was the parts manager. He got a new one every month so I grew up in brand new Honda Accords pretty much my whole childhood. My parents got minivans later on when my brother came.