[Isaac Zachary]

Needs:

• 8 seats

Desires:

• Manual transmission
• or Supercharged Previa (1995 or newer)

Reality check:

• Can't be a piece of junk van that needs the radiator cap jacked up and a new van put underneath it and then the radiator cap replaced.
• But it also can't be more than I can afford. I have one more year of $180/month Avalon payments. If I sell the Prius and put some savings towards paying off the Avalon and a modest downpayment on another vehicle, I could potentially afford a loan of up to $10,000 if I do 5 years.

What have I found?
Manual transmission vans:

• Lots of Mazda MAZDA5's from $7,000 to $10,000 with around 100,000miles. Cons: only 6 seats.
• Lots of VW Buses and Vanagons of various years, usually way more than I can afford.
• There's a VW Eurovan with some 300,000 miles on it for $2,000...
• A manual 1991 Toyota Previa that already sold for $2,300, also with some 300,000 miles on it...
• Most of the other stick shift vans I can find are cargo vans (i.e. Chevy Astro)

Supercharged Previas:

• 1995, 160k, $10,000
• 1997, 244k, "New engine, needs wheel bearings", $2,500

Can't find:

• With a $10,000 budget it seems I can't find ANY type of minivan that's 10 years old or newer with less than 100,000 miles on it unless it's got a bunch of damage... So then what? Sell both the Avalon and the Prius and try to buy a $20,000, 10-year-old, 100k van?

Thoughts?