vehicle purchasing advice
 

Urrrrggggggghhhhhhh... so.. having a 1991 vehicle and a 1995 vehicle, and having acquired both of these under duress (when the previous respective vehicles died premature and ignominious deaths) I have undertaken to start considering the purchase of a new vehicle to replace the 1991 Civic--it would be nice to get rid of it while it's still worth something other than scrap.

The other piece is that with the addition of munchkins to the clan, the Powers That Be (aka everybody in the family except me) have decreed that the next purchase will be a minivan. :whofarted (I personally could go with a nice sedan, but my opinion doesn't seem to be counting in this case.)

So, any advice on what to buy and where and how to shop? I have been leaning toward a Honda Odyssey or maybe a Toyota Sienna, with a Dodge Grand Caravan in a somewhat more distant third. The cost of any of these (sticker prices in the mid 20s) is a stretch for the budget, so my thought was to buy a low-milage older model, maybe a 1999. Old enough to knock the price down at least a couple or three thousand, but new enough that we can get 10 years or so out of it. But jeez---the idea was to SAVE money!!! In some quick price comparison online, I don't see any savings in getting the used models! For example, at carsdirect.com, I just found a 1999 Honda Odyssey with 30K miles that is priced HIGHER than the MSRP for a new 2002 Odyssey!! :confused: Yes, I know this is the initial asking price, but the MSRP is just an asking price too. Either buying used is not as helpful as I thought it would be or looking online is useless.

So, I await your wise counsels.

Check out www.carbuyingtips.com. I dug around his site (avoiding most of the sponsorship), and learned quite a bit before I bought a used vehicle. He also has a bit of advice for new purchases as well.
Something else that I found helpful was www.autotrader.com for price comparison. Most of the time you can find a pretty good deal in another area of the country, and have it shipped or driven to you. There are a few sites that will offer prices considerably less than dealers, but you can do the research there.
Good luck!

I have a 98 Plymouth Voyager (last year they were made).

I like it a lot. In fact, I traded-in my previous Voyager, a 1989 model, with over 300,000 miles on it.

Driving it around up here in MN, the van can go just about anywhere you'd want to take a minivan, even in foot-deep snow. I got a 5-year maintenance plan with the van, costing me an extra $10 per monthly payment, but it's worth it since all costs except the first $100 are covered for all the major systems.

It's a really nice vehicle to drive, I gotta admit a minivan's not my style (other car is a '72 Javelin) but it sure is handy when you gotta haul stuff around, and the Jav doesn't get around too well in snowy weather.

The Voyager is probably the best car we ever bought (we've owned 15 vehicles as a family), I'd suggest it to anybody considering a minivan. Make sure you get the V6 though, I've heard the 4-banger is worthless.

There's a local b'iness that seems to specialize in offering a large set of inspected used cars to the general public, with a strong web presence at carsense.com. When you drive the PA Turnpike west from Philly you see their place from the road, and it's quite large. But I have no experience with them. The interesting thing is that they list their inventory online, along with prices.

They include a free carfax.com report. These are the people whose teevee ad features a dog driving a pickup into a lake to chase the ducks? I think I would get a report on any used ve-hickle.