sell my X5, or add 2nd SUV?
 

Got a bit of a dilemma brewing here. We may end up in a situation where we need a 6 seat vehicle for 2 years starting in 3 months.

Current stable:
2007 Corvette
2000 740i
2003 4.6is
2003 Mazda protege - wife's car

Currently I split my driving between the vette, E38 and the X5. Wife sometimes drives the X5, but not all that often.

Oh - added wrinkle is we add a teenage driver to the household in the next month or so. Currently the thought is she will borrow wife's Mazda when she needs a car and wife drives the X5. Kid will not need a car on a daily basis.

So since I like the vette so much I am thinking that it will have to stay.

If I keep the X5, the 740i is the one to go and I would then get a bigger SUV to be used on carpool days (4-5 days a week is the way it is shaping out since we have 2 of the kids in it we get double duty cycle - oh joy). Thinking about getting a used Tahoe or Suburban since the wife really likes those and they hold value pretty well so wouldn't lose too much selling it after 2 years. She won't do the minivan thing - can't say I blame her, neither would I, and whatever we get I will end up driving too.

I'm also looking at a couple options with decent lease rates on a 24 or 36 month lease since we can go with a 10K mile or 12K mile limit easily. Mazda CX9 or maybe a Nissan Pathfinder. I would have gone Pilot in a heartbeat, but wife vetoed that idea too :dunno:

Now if we do that we would have 2 SUV's which we don't really need. The one benefit is we wouldn't ever be fighting over the SUV when I go on a ski trip by myself or when I am hauling my music gear around, which is at least once a week and quite often more frequently.

Now, the X5 has 120K miles on it, but everything has been refreshed on it or will be soon, so it has many many more miles of fun driving ahead. Only thing that could cause trouble and big expense is the transmission or TC which is a potential concern. But the car has been well cared for and always maintained properly - it was a former CPO. So I'm not afraid to run up the miles on it, plus it only gets 10-12K / year which isn't so bad.

So is it crazy to have 2 SUV's in the household? I suppose we would not be the only ones eh?

Oh - I also tried to sell her on the idea of a Mazda5 which is a 6 seater mini-minivan / car / wagon type of thing. She vetoed that so fast it made my head spin :yikes: Oh well, can't say I would have been all that excited about driving one myself....

You can carry six people without an SUV. And since you already have an SUV, why not get something different?

A Crown Vic or the Mercury equivalent carries six. And it is a safe vehicle for a teen driver. Or get the police package. It is neat how people pull over to get out of your way, even without a light bar.

A short box F150 crew cab carries six. And it is more useful than an SUV.

Just saying...

Sell the X5 before it leaves you on the side of the road. :)

wife isn't going for the crown vic.... F150 crew cab maybe...

doing a bit more digging there are some other decent car-based tall wagons with 3rd row seats that are worth considering buying used as well:
- Toyota Highlander
- Caddy SRX wagon
- XC90
- GMC Acadia

Could even get a 2WD version to make me feel better about less overlap w/ the X5! ha..

You're not crazy for wanting two SUVs. My family's current stable includes:

Me: 2004 4.4i
Mom: 2002 4.6is
Dad: 2009 Ford F250 super duty
Sis: 2005 X3
Bro: 2002 Ford Explorer Limited

And the weekender: 2009 328 vert.

Besides the 328, it's all SUVs in my house. The explorer is a nice truck and is very reliable-- my brother literally beats the shit out of it. I'm talking about rare oil changes, rough driving (he was a frat boy in college, that car has been passed around more than an atlantic city hooker).

Go look at some used explorers, they are nice trucks, the third row is manageable too. The Eddie Bauer editions are really nice. Not sure of your price range, but there are lots for sale.. Keep the X5, you obviously love it too much--plus you got the snow set up, etc. The 7er will be useless driving to the mountains and doesn't have the oomph of the 4.6is.

You might also add MDX to the list (tops all of these IMHO) and Q7 - women love these :thumbup:

thats what i was gonna say.....acura mdx!!! I had a pilot, good vehicle, boring but good....sometime i wish i had kept her......

Wife won't consider a Pilot or MDX because everybody else we know has one, so she hates those now. I would have just gone with the Pilot most likely. Q7 is way too much $$.

Might get by with a sploder, but wife would be way happier in a Tahoe and gas mpg is about the same, so only real advantage to the Ford is they are cheaper. But then again, Tahoe will hold it's value better when I most likley sell it in two years.

And it isn't that I WANT 2 SUV's - far from it. I WANT to keep the 3 vehicles I have now - X5, 740 and vette. But sometimes you gotta compramise in life and take one for the team so to speak. So that is where I find myself.

Keep X5, sell 740i and get Tahoe. Vette will serve you as your fun weekend toy, X5 as your comfy daily and Tahoe for whatever other needs hehe