Vehicle shopping...need opinions

[GLC1968]

I have nothing to add but a bit of envy. I'm driving a 2001 vehicle that arguably still has some life in it. I promised myself and DH that I wouldn't even start looking at new cars until my job situation is clear--probably summer, 2014. And even then, I might talk myself out of it if my car is still working as well as it currently is (it pays to be married to a car-crazy engineer who can do most of his own repair work). All this talk of new cars, test drives, and all these high tech features has me itching to start the process. Can I just live vicariously through you for a bit?

Sure!

Really, we didn't plan on this at all. We figured we'd keep the truck for awhile since it's running wonderfully and it's paid off. The problem that prompted this whole thing is that my DH is now getting into trail riding but has a motorcycle that doesn't do well on highways (even though it is a dual-sport). This means that he needs a way to transport it to the trails. When we had a yard, we just pulled the camper top off the truck, left it off to the side and he put the bike in the bed. Now we have no place for the camper top and we didn't think about that when opting for a house with no yard.

We weighed the idea of getting some type of pulley system to store the camper top from the garage ceiling, or...getting a little trailer for his bike that will fold up small enough to store some place when not in use. The trailer won.

Then we realized that we really don't need a pickup that only gets about 17 mpg and that has horrible visibility when the camper top is on it, anymore. With the sale of the farm and the drastically reduced mortgage, we can afford a car payment without affecting our financial plans so we figured 'why not'? Then we started thinking of all the situations we'd use this new vehicle in and ended up with the idea for a small SUV. If it weren't for the dogs, I'd be pushing for an Audi A4 and we could use the MINI as our play car (it's already outfitted for it), but three dogs in the mini is a pretty miserable situation (mostly because it's only a two and a 1/2 door so the dogs must slobber out of our windows and down our shoulders).

Our MINI is only a 2011, so I do feel a little guilty for buying another new car when the truck runs perfectly fine. BUT, it is kinda fun.

[indysteel]

Sounds like good reasoning to me.

I'm leaning toward a hatchback for some reason. I've had a sedan for a long time now, and I'd like to drive something a little different I guess. Mazda, Ford and Kia (they're releasing a redesigned hatch in the fall that I think I'll like) have cars that will be in the running. I drive 50 miles each work day at a minimum, so MPG is important, too.