Well the problem is I just lost my job so financing something right now is completely out of the question. And even without that issue I don't like making car payments. Plus the additional licensing and insurance costs like you mentioned, it's just becomes too damn much money for something to drive. I hate to buy anything at all right now but my current van is on borrowed time and I don't want to have to drive my truck on a daily basis.

Sorry to hear about the job.

All I am going to say is if you buy any vehicle new for $42K I think you probably need your head examined. Go 2-4 years back and get virtually the same thing that some idiot wiped his ass with $20k to drive 30-60k miles.

I continually hear the Odyssey is by far the best choice for minivans, also new Pathfinder is ugly and shit and is basically a minivan anyways.

Eh, it's not that big of a deal, I'll find another one and I can work independently and still get by in the meantime. But for some reason banks are kind of funny about handing out loans to people without a steady source of income. :)

Most of time anyway (see home financing collapse).

Do you need an SUV to haul stuff or just like them because of the room?

I bought a v8 2001 Grand Cherokee with 104,000 miles in 2004 and got about 2 yrs out of it before I gave up on it. In the end there were transmission problems that cost a bunch to fix and then after spending about $1500 trying to get the cooling system to work in the summer heat of Nevada without success, I sold it.

I'm not a mechanic so it was not a good car for me to own as I had to pay others way too much to work on it, and the cooling issue was a big worrying point since you don't want to overheat or get stuck in the middle of the Nevada desert. If you know what you're doing it's probably not too bad. I loved the car itself and it was the best 4wd vehicle I've ever driven. Just too unreliable and expensive to own for me.

Got about 22 mpg on the highway and around 18 mpg in town. I consider that pretty good for a v8 SUV.

Save your money, there'll be a DHS light-armored SUV in you neighborhood just for you before you know it.

Both. I'm 6'1" so I don't fit into cars very well. And I need something I can throw my bike in and haul my tools. Common sense tells me to just buy another Caravan but the newer ones are all loaded down with extra useless features that I just see as more stuff to go wrong. Looked at one last week that had electric sliding doors...what the hell? I never thought to myself once "damn, these sliding doors are way too much of a pain in the ass, I wish I could motorize them!"

I have a 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland that currently has 106K on the engine and still runs as good as the day it was new. Good call IMO to get one.

My wife and I both drive small SUVs so I understand. My boys both prefer small sedans. I'm so over feeling like I'm sitting on the ground when I drive and not being able to haul anything because it won't fit in the trunk.

Seems to me that Either the Odyssey or the Sienna run neck and neck for the best of breed! But I am not much of an expert on vehicles....

Wow, what a pissy little bitch, oh what a massive ground breaking revelation the Toyota is good too. Any other killer inside info for us, like don't buy a yugo?

What, used car guy didn't like me breaking everything down to god damn T with not one google search and you found a stupid sliver where you could pop up and say, nu-uh Toyota is good too! Regarding a minivan none-the-less, real big "car guy" street cred there. Eat a dick shitstain, your motivation for posting that is clear as day to me you insecure and colossal douchebag.

There is a few legit car guys in this thread, you aren't one of them.

Pretty pathetic you get paid to know this, it's a hobby for me, but it's obvious whose superior isn't it?

There's a ton of options out there now due to the crossover market of the XUV platforms now. You can go anywhere from SUV to XUV to Van and nail just about every possible option you'd ever want, with any chassis design. The question really needs to come down to Reliability, Affordability, and "comfort".

I will say this, I am not a fan of Minivans because I am a Man with no children, with two working testicles and a beard. That being said, I've been in the automotive industry in various roles for quite a while, and I've worked on it all, and one and ONLY one Minivan stands out to me.

The Honda Odyssey. It is the most comfortable and reliable Minivan I've ever played around with, and almost bought a 2004 Honda Odyssey 5 weeks ago at Auction due to how nice it was for its age, and they hold their value incredibly well.

If you want a Minivan, look no further than the Honda Odyssey, it is all that and a bag of chips, and nothing out there compares to it, except for maybe one of the Ford XUV's like the Flex, and I am a very big fan of them due to their affordability, creature comforts, and the economics of the gas mileage options.

Now you're taking the purist standpoint to the extreme! lol

This is what you want to do really, and especially with a Honda Odyssey, it is above and beyond the most reliable of all options out there so buying one second hand with under 100k on it won't be a problem, it'll last you well into the 1/4 million mark with routine maintenance.

Odyssey for sure. The Sienna is coming into its own but it struggles to hold the market against the Odyssey due to the Sienna having gotten previous horrid ratings coming into the mid 2000's due to its design and "cheap" product line. Now it seems Toyota has tried to aim for a loftier more luxurious goal with the Sienna and I believe that too will miss. That being said, they have fixed some of the issues with the design of the vehicle in the past decade.

Having said that, the Odyssey never had a fault from its inception, it was just great from start until now. Hard to beat that market on that one.

Do not buy a 99 unless you have 1600 for drilled and ported rotors. I had one and they had issues with rotor warping. Loved it other than that

I have this one, and LOVE IT!

http://image.trucktrend.com/f/277563...c-driver-3.jpg

2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland Package