Best Cars For The Bucks

It is about time for us to be looking for a new family vehicle. I do not want to think about car payments again but our 15 passenger van is starting to show its age and costing more and more to keep running. For the ‘family car’ we cannot even hope to consider any of these ‘regular’ sized vehicles reviewed by Forbes, but some of them do sound interesting.

Forbes’ article, Best Cars for the Bucks gives their take on the best cars for the price. The cars include the Honda Insight, Honda Civic Hybrid, Chevrolet Aveo, Kia Rio, Hyundai Accent, Toyota Echo, and the Scion xA.

After a diatribe about SUVs and Detroit’s stupidity in pursuing that market into oblivion the article states:

So, in order to spend less at the pump–and in the showroom–which cars are the best for your bucks? While we normally don’t focus on bargains, the slide show that follows showcases the vehicles that are the cheapest to buy and own, and those with the best gas mileage.

Of course there are still trade-offs. Gas/electric hybrids will save you gas money, but the lowered fuel costs do not offset the premium you pay for the technology. However, as the price of gas rises, good fuel economy becomes more valuable.

Then they have a slide show and a video that gives their rankings of the ‘cheapest’ cars to buy and the ‘cheapest’ cars to own.

But I think they really make a point with their comments comparing the cost of buying a new car vs. buying a ‘pre-owned’ car:

If you truly want the cheapest car you can find, it has to be pre-owned. . . . However, we will point out that the average price of a new car is $26,100, while the average price of a used car is $13,000, according to Kelley Blue Book.

So, what will we get? Will still have to be in the SUV range. We need to be able to fit 6 kids still plus 2 adults and so no ‘normal’ vehicle would work. Hmmm. Any ideas?