Need advice about vehicles

If you'd consider an SUV, I'd highly recommend the Saturn VUE, 4cyl. It's great on gas mileage (about the same as a regular sedan), and seats 5 very comfortably. They're in the mid 20's. Most importantly, they're still small enough to fit in a compact parking space.

I bought one 3 years ago and absolutey love it.

 

They do indeed. Of course, a 6cyl won't have as much mileage as a 4cyl, but I'm sure you know that already. I absolutely love the VUE. I think it's at least worth test driving.

I very sad that Saturn is being discontinued. The VUE is the third Saturn my wife has owned, and every one of them has been just dandy. She'd still only be on her second one, had a car not chosen to occupy the same space as me in an intersection. Which brings me to the fact that I was able to walk out of her car without so much as a scratch, but the car was totaled. I'm sure that's something a lot of different car owners will attest to, due simply to the fact that cars these days are incredibly safe.

 

Wd recently bought our daughter a VUE and she loves it. It was one of the best deals out there -- gave us the most car for the money. Of course, when we bought it, Saturn was still an ongoing company at that time -- so we too are sad that they are leaving the market. That being the case now, you might be able to find some good deals out there on them.

 

I know nothing about trucks or SUV's or 4x4's, having always driven sedans. But I recommend looking at Hyundai. I have a 2005 Elantra, and like it very much. The 100000 mile warranty is helpful too. Much lower in price than just about anything else.

 

Keep this in mind: Saturn has been nixed by GM.

So...the sale value of the cars will plummet. You also will not have a saturn dealer to service the car.

Now...this ain't a problem, as long as:

1. You're keeping the car a long time, or until it's dead (or nearly so). If you're using a car up, resale's not a big deal.

2. If you have a good independent mechanic, he can handle your needs, and it shouldn't be a problem.

 

You will still be able to get "dealer" service if you buy Saturn. At least that is what the letter from GM that I got just this week says. You might not get service from a Saturn dealer, but other GM dealers will be able to provide service should it be needed.

That said, we never needed dealer service on our Saturns. Of course the Sky is only 18 months old, but still, it gets driven 90 miles almost every day. I ran our other Saturn (a '93, 4 door SL1) into the ground! It had 165,000 miles on it when I traded and was still running. It was just too small. Can't fit 4 kids and 2 adults into a 5 passenger car LOL. And there were times I had even more than that. It still pains me that we didn't look in to the Vue before we bought my piece of junk Rendezvous. Live and learn.

Gas miliage is going to be similar with an extended cab pickup or a small SUV. A pickup will be more useful if you are going to tow anythig or move heavy loads/bulky loads.

Make sure your kids fit into it! Some of them have shrimpy back seats! Not good if you are going to ride long distances.