lol.... i told my hubby that you gals had also suggested a pt cruiser and he said... very emphatically.. "i'm NOT giving up my truck for a pt cruiser!"

in our looknig... we pretty much ended up in the "cute-ute" category....

we liked the x-terra a lot.. VERY functional without being so sparse like the element (we both like to have some niceties in our vehicles.. and there is NOTHING plushy or cushy at all in the element!) whereas the x-terra, while being VERY functional... still doesn't make you feel like your in a cheap/no-frills car up front... it's more like a truck.. not car plush... but nice.. HOWEVER.. the gas mileage really sux! it gets worse gas mileage than his truck does! so we discounted that one!

i LOVE the nissan murano! what a nice and PLUSH vehicle! AND.. it has navi factory installed! leather.... heated seats..... dual climate... *sigh*... well.. basically everything my car has.. but room for 2 bikes in the back! however... hubby isn't ready to trade in my car to get it.. which is really what we would have to do.. otherwise we'd have 2 huge car payments instead of one large and one medium to small (truck is paid off.. so when we sell or trade it in... it will be money off the top... my car would be a wash.. probably just get what we still owe) also.. it had fair to mediocre gas mileage...

then there was the hyundai tuscon... another functional vehicle (rubber in the rear instead of carpet... plenty big enough for two bikes... VERY affordable... even in the limited with leather and heated seats... handled well in the test drive... pretty nice vehicle for the price! however hubby felt the fit and finish looked cheap and the stereo sucked! (so would immediately be an extra expense to put in a new after market stereo)...

then there was the toyota rav4... newly restyled this year... and GORGEOUS! we test drove the 4 cylinder (V6 not out til feb or march) and it had PEP! smooth ride (sport version)... fit and finish was nice... appears to have plenty of room in the rear for the bikes (via measurements.. we didn't take the bikes with us).... we both just think this is a fun and functional vehicle.... so it will probably be the rav4! the only problem is... as i already mentioned.. v6's not out yet (but gives us time to try to sell the truck instead of the headache of a trade i) and toyota is horrible with options.. there are things we want.. but if they don't make one that way (which they often don't.. even if available)... then we are settling.... heck... i told him if we ended up with the rav4.. i'd drive that back and forth to work and shopping... rather than my car.. cuz it gets GREAT gas mileage! lol! even though my car is plushier!

we'll buy a garmin street pilot to have gps since none of the vehicles we looked at had it except for the murano (which i'd still like to have! lol!)

so... that is what our research has netted us! once we get closer (when the v6's start coming in.. we'll take the bikes down and make sure they fit!)