Do it all vs multiple vehicles?

[Houndoc]

My wife and I are talking options to get her into a different daily driver than our Xterra.

I have lots of ideas that are more than what I am so far able to convince her to spend (new Bronco being my first choice, roughly $45,000.) I think she would rather spend in the $20K range.

She leans towards more of a cross-over or car for her, keeping the Xterra (2006 with 230K miles) for my off-road use. Fine, but that would give us each our daily driver, plus the off-roader and the tow-rig (2008 GMC 2500 Duramax with about 230K miles as well.) Seems like a lot of cars for two people.

But I can't really think of other ideas to get multiple uses out of fewer vehicles without convincing her to spend more.

Any thoughts on rigs I may be missing?

 

[Jinx]

We are in a similar situation.

I run a commuter car back and forth to work. She has her van for carting kids around and general family stuff.

Then we have the tow rig to pull the toys, plus two crawlers because we have too many kids to all fit in one...

 

[RockChucker]

That's pretty similar to where we are at. 2014 Grand Cherokee for the wife/fam hauler, "1997 TJ" for the offroader and a 2006 GMC Duramax for towing....the Duramax is also my daily driver. I've thought about getting a cheapo car to commute in, but I only have a 2.5 mile commute each way and I can't see the economics of paying for insurance and maintenance on another vehicle. I don't mind driving the truck, and honestly, with my short commute, my Jeep will probably be my summer daily driver anyway.

 

[Houndoc]

That's pretty similar to where we are at. 2014 Grand Cherokee for the wife/fam hauler, "1997 TJ" for the offroader and a 2006 GMC Duramax for towing....the Duramax is also my daily driver. I've thought about getting a cheapo car to commute in, but I only have a 2.5 mile commute each way and I can't see the economics of paying for insurance and maintenance on another vehicle. I don't mind driving the truck, and honestly, with my short commute, my Jeep will probably be my summer daily driver anyway.

2.5 mile commute! I have 45 miles each way! My wife actually works from home, so miles aren't a big deal. But it has been a very long time since she has been able to have any real say in her car, and I can respect her wanting something besides a truck or SUV.

 

[Jinx]

2.5 mile commute! I have 45 miles each way! My wife actually works from home, so miles aren't a big deal. But it has been a very long time since she has been able to have any real say in her car, and I can respect her wanting something besides a truck or SUV.

My wife is at home as well, and I suppose I could let her haul the kids in the tow rig, but I have seen what the kids have done to the van...

 

[DesertRam]

My wife is the primary kid hauler, though one of ours is about to leave and the middle one is learning to drive now and will soon be out on his own. Because the wife hauls kids, she gets more say in daily drivers and the newer vehicles. She has a 2020 cute ute (Hyundai Santa Fe), while I daily drive a 2011 Hyundai Sonata with 221,000 miles. I don't worry about me breaking down.

She also has "Momma's truck" - a 2011 Ram 1500 for soccer mom duty, that is hauling the family to outings that need a truck but not a real truck. That's where our 2006 Dodge 2500 comes in (Dad's truck), which we use only for heavy hauling and hunting. It only gets about 2,500 miles per year and now has only 126,000 miles. Plus the oldest's truck and the middle kid's truck. Our place looks like a used car lot. I would not say you have too many vehicles.

 

[RockChucker]

2.5 mile commute! I have 45 miles each way! My wife actually works from home, so miles aren't a big deal. But it has been a very long time since she has been able to have any real say in her car, and I can respect her wanting something besides a truck or SUV.

Yeah I'm mega spoiled. And if I end up moving jobs to a commute similar to yours, I'll probably move. I don't want to spend that much time commuting. But I'll burn any bridge like that if it happens.

 

[Houndoc]

Yeah I'm mega spoiled. And if I end up moving jobs to a commute similar to yours, I'll probably move. I don't want to spend that much time commuting. But I'll burn any bridge like that if it happens.

I have too good of a job situation to change that and like where I live too much to move.

 

[jeeper]

I like one do-it-all vehicle if possible. Less maintenance, less insurance, less storage, etc.

 

[RockChucker]

I have too good of a job situation to change that and like where I live too much to move.

Yeah I understand that. I do like where I live, but depending on where a new job is, I would be willing to move. This is all hypotheticals for me right now. If the housing market stays as bonkers as it is right now, I’d probably just buy a commuter and make the drive. I’m hoping my situation doesn’t change, but the next 6 months will decide that with micron selling our plant.

 

[Kevin B.]

Yeah I'm mega spoiled. And if I end up moving jobs to a commute similar to yours, I'll probably move. I don't want to spend that much time commuting.

Working from home has been an eye opener. My commute was ~30 minutes each way, getting that 1 hour back was huge. I don't ever wanna go back to commuting. Doing what I do, there's really no reason for it anyway so hopefully my company will see the light and just let us stay home.

 

[Gravy]

20k isn't a realistic budget for a newer reliable do it all vehicle these days.

We couldn't find a 3 row SUV that was less that 5 years old with acceptable miles under 30k.

 

[jeepin4x4james]

I think it’s like a jack of all trades… good at a lot, master of none.
I prefer a 6 vehicle plan, ha!,
Kids has dampened that so some have gone… at 3 right now 😊 it’s always nice to have at least 1 ‘extra’ vehicle.
Perhaps later in life it’ll evolve to a 10 vehicle plan… keep moving forward!

 

[TurboMinivan]

I'm all about having multiple vehicles for multiple purposes. Not to turn this thread into a contest, but I currently have a 5:1 ratio of licensed/registered/insured cars per driver--it's only me, and they're all mine:

- 2013 Leaf -- daily driver and usual runabout
- 2001 Suburban 2500 -- tow rig, daily driver in bad winter weather, and all around support vehicle
- 1998 Wrangler -- off road rig
- 1980 Grand Prix -- muscle car, noise maker, grin inducer, etc for pleasure drives and occasional car shows
- 1986 Shelby GLHS -- collector car, also for pleasure drives and occasional car shows

I look forward to hitting a 6:1 ratio once the Miata is running.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

I’m definitely a ‘different tool for a different job’ kinda guy. I like a lot of different types of offroad driving, often like to do some long road trips (AK/MX), tow a trailer on occasion, and like some older relics. Can’t be done for me personally with one or two or ... you get the point.

Maintenance doesn’t bother me so much as insurance, that is the single biggest factor making me want to sell off a rig or two.

 

[johngottfredson]

I dream of the one car to rule them all. I love everything about my tundra, except for it's boringness. The only thing exciting about it is it's practicality. It's like driving a really big Camry.

So, current plan is to go for the bronco as my everyday driver, and use the wife's expedition for family/towing duty.

Historically I've done the truck + off roader + WifeCar. But lately something about fewer vehicles is so much more appealing. Maybe my tiny 2 car garage has something to do with it...

 

[4x4_Welder]

We recently replaced our 2002 Explorer V8, and it was quite the argument leading up to that. For a long time it's just been used around town, it'll do highway trips ok, but was a bit smallish and got terrible mileage. If there was planning time, we'd usually rent something for trips out of town.
I wanted to get an electric car, something that could fit everyone for around town, and handle my six miles a day to and from work. She wanted something that could hit Boise and SLC without any issues. Now I do my commute and the kids get taken to school in an F150 Supercrew that gets mid teens.

 

[glockman]

My current setup is similar to many.
2006 Superduty tow rig, only gets driven when towing or hauling or when the jeep isn't running.
LJ is the wife's daily because she works from home.
07 4 runner is my daily and the family errand car.
You could also count my oversized dirt bike as a car since it's my warm weather commuter and weekend canyon "car".

I've been looking at a couple scenarios
Option 1 - add a fun car, Mustang, Camaro, WRX, Focus RS. Something that I could daily and pass the 4 Runner to the wife.
Option 2 - realize the LJ is a "fun car" and buy a 4 banger Ranger for my daily/dirt bike/mtb hauler and pass the 4 Runner to the wife.
Option 3 - Sell the LJ, buy a Gladiator and have a mild wheeler/camping rig.
Option 4 - Sell everything right now in the crazy stupid car market. Pay my house off with the proceeds, REALLY, it's that dumb. Buy two beaters and wait for the crash. Buy sweet cars from someone loosing their house in a couple years.

I guess you could say I'm in favor of keeping your 4 car setup.