Rambling About My Family Car Situation, What To Do?

[jyl]

Well, feels like it is time to turn over most of our cars.

This is what we have.
- 1989 Carrera (my car, mostly a weekend car)
- 1995 Range Rover (wife's haul-kids-around vehicle, also our family tripmobile)
- 1970s Mercedes (beater dive-to-BART leave-at-airport car, peeling paint etc)
- 1987 Ford F250 4x4 pickup (carries a camper, we never use it)

So, the Benz feels like it is on its last legs, it's OK for the 2 mile trek to BART but when I walk to it in the airport long-term parking lot I'm not sure it'll get me home. The Ford never gets used, has been in storage most of the past 5 years, getting 10 mpg isn't exactly a reason to drive it. The Rangie has been a trooper for us, but it is starting to visit the mechanic a lot and cosmetically isn't looking so good, with some recent body damage (roof rack hit a tree, damaged drip rails; wife backed into a post, smashed rear bumper). You get the idea - the only nice car we have now is the 911, we're keeping that, and I want to get rid of all or most of the rest.

Basically, we need a roomy car that will haul us, two kids plus a friend or two, and luggage, for a weekend/camping trip, and a basic car that my wife can use to zip around town, dropping the kids at school and etc. Ideally this would be one and the same car, would get decent gas mileage, would be fairly reliable and also DIY-able by yours truly, would not be a minivan, would be somewhat interesting, and would be reasonably cheap (like, <$10-15K - I buy all my cars used and for cash so >$20K gets to feel a bit hurtful).

My current idea is to sell/junk/donate the Benz, Ford and Rangie, and buy a newer Vanagon Westfalia camper. The thought is that the Vanagon could be an around-town car, could take us on trips, would be something I could manage to work on, and this being Berkeley there are about 1,000 independent VW repair shops too. As for being reliable, I'm not so sure about that. I guess during downtime the wife could drive my 911 (she does sometimes, under protest) and I could simply go on foot.

What do you guys think of this idea? Should I be thinking of a different vehicle? I've been interested in the Vanagon for awhile, and I'm worried that I've gotten fixated on it and am not being open-minded or realistic enough.

Oh, and how the hell am I going to sell a big-block F250 4x4 extended cab that gets 10 mpg? Anyone know someone who needs to tow heavy things? The motor was rebuilt and bored 0.060 over, and the tranny replaced, <10K miles ago.

P.S.: Oh, add to the list of "wants" a car that won't depreciate too much. The 911 has depreciated very little since I bought it, maybe $1K per year. The Rangie has leaked value like a sieve, maybe $3-4K per year.

P.P.S.: Thinking about it, I've only ever bought three used cars that didn't turn out to be depreciation sieves. My 1965 Mustang, my 1961 Land Rover, and (so far) my 911.

[Steve Carlton]

Your Vanagon idea sounds good. They even came in Synchro, which might be a plus for cult resale but maybe a minus for maintenence/repair. I'd suggest a chat with Terry Griffin at Griffin Motorwerke right there in Beserkley www.g-werke.com .

I don't think you can donate low value cars for high value deductions anymore, in case you wanted to do that. The Ford should have good value, I'd list it on www.craigslist.org with pictures. (Anonymize your e-mail so it doesn't get onto some spam list). I don't know how well it works out selling cars on eBay. Buggy Bank is a popular consignment lot, it might work well... www.buggybank.com

[Seahawk]

Jyl,

Don't underestimate the truck...even though your 87 is not a "classic", the guy who runs this site http://www.rustfreeclassics.com/ may be able to give you an ida of your trucks worth.