[slowmover]

The choices today between van & SUV are impressive. As a topic title it slides right into what I consider as most important: The Family Vehicle.

Baseline decision on a family car, in my strongly-held opinion, is that it be able to carry all of us with luggage. That moment comes it is necessary and one has failed in proper vehicle specification is going to be shattering. It’s When, not If as a decision.

I went into this at length in another thread using the example of Why an adequately-sized sedan had been the choice for 80-years in this country.

In some other places, rail is the expectation to travel cross-country. Cars are primarily for metro areas. A different relationship than in a continent-sized Union of States.

Focusing on FE numbers is not primary, but secondary. Reliability, longevity, highway-stability, crashworthy size, etc, all factor higher.

As does an insulated garage. A garage outfitted to maintenance and some repairs (maybe I can’t, but my brother can). Humidity & temp control. Adequate electric for shop tools (including an air compressor to run pro tools).

[As an aside, my wife & I looked at this and decided that even a short carport architecturally-sound when added over the garage entry was also worthwhile. With floor-ceiling garage cabinetry, finished concrete floor and some nice cosmetic finish, the garage sans cars can be opened to the driveway as an entertainment space. Thus landscaping, etc, needs to support this].

Similar to large context Economy — and I think where things fall down — is the understanding of “convenience “. Who among us hasn’t made a last-minute trip to the store. Dead cold start and three-mile roundtrip?

I think it’s better to categorize that as abuse. A threat to long-term family well-being. Cars used as disposable implements is also a safety threat (there can — “will”, for planning — come that moment where it’s pack & leave immediately). Abusive use is contradictory.

“Convenience” is ONLY in being able to avoid taxi service or public transportation. Where one truly can make better use of time (which I would hold up as time AT HOME with family). Lack of planning & discipline aren’t adult traits.

We moved into an era with BIG gold-plated kitchens where women won’t cook, and we have cars more expensive than houses parked out in the elements that the garage is full of household overflow. Can’t be used at all, in fact.

“Just go buy another one” (live a lifetime in debt over transportation). Bad enough that it’s to housing we are slaves.

Buying “used” may have its place. But if the goal is longest-term ownership — the Grail of Economy — getting vehicle spec right the very first time is critical (but, let’s face it) NOT when it has blue velour seats under a lime-green paint job. New, or closest, is the path. “New” with attendant higher cost may be best. I’d say that if it’s motivation to do right by the vehicle, it’s value-received.

As today’s women have been saddled with expectations none of them are equipped to meet (zero of them are life-long fully supporting; negative tax surplus at end) and family law courts designed specifically to destroy, not maintain their ostensible reason for existence, the genuine evil of D-I-V-O-R-C-E hangs over every marriage. (Giving them the vote when they cannot physically defend that vote, helped initiate this specific slippery-slope).

And what could be a smarter way is discarded (What is historically the proven way). You know a man’s a fool when he quotes “happy wife/happy life”.

Today’s marriages: “I have mine, and you have yours”, coupled to, “you can’t tell me what to do” is prep for failure. And has turned car discussions into this focus on FE numbers. Not miles driven (better home location), not debt slavery, not any of a myriad of ways to use scarce resources wisely. As a family.

The “family” has become hostage to threats by a mentally-forever nineteen year old. Who isn’t equipped for when “prosperity” morphs back into the historically-likelier “scarcity”. Which is any year in America prior to 1940. Television, films, talk shows, schools. Unending bile.

If cars were cheap, AND we weren’t dependent on them it might not matter. It’d be a bargaining chip between husband & wife. The way it’s now treated.

So my suggestion — again — is that one’s role as son, brother, husband & father overrides any talk about “yours versus mine”. It’s too close to center.

A woman without a husband has to be subsidized by other husbands who already have wives. By every definition accruing to “subsidization”.

Cars mean a more expensive house (garage) thus greater land. Thus greater mortgage, insurance & taxes. Thus greater maintenance & repairs to said real property. Etc.

Don’t pull these devices out of their web. A van might be better than an SUV (I’d say it is), but much will come down not to use, but specific design differences (fully independent suspension is a giant tie-breaker, for instance).

FE is the flavor of the cake icing. If that.

Addendum: if as a bargaining chip a sweetener needs to be added, then once-monthly weekend family getaways are the ticket. Start there.

.