Minivan traveling family is ready for our new vehicle

Mark and I are beginning to think about purchasing our next vehicle. We know we will need a minivan or something like it. When it was only Mark, myself, Maddie and the twins we squeezed into our Nissan Pathfinder. It was a tight fit, but we loved our SUV and it was worth it to not have to go into the minivan world.

Now that we are a family of six, we need something bigger. We already have a Chrysler, Town & Country minivan. We love the gas mileage we get with it, each of our four kids has elbow room and it even leaves a seat open for our husky Skye. She loves car rides and trips would not be the same without her. Mark and I have always wanted a Yukon-XL, we love the passenger room and the storage space they allow. We have stuck with a minivan so far because we like the economical gas mileage they provide. We also want a vehicle with good safety ratings and over all customer satisfaction.

Traveling is a passion of Mark’s and mine. While owning your own business can be stressful, the ability to travel and work from wherever we are is worth it. We dream of traveling to spend time with Mark’s family, spending not just a few days, but a couple of weeks. Relationships are important to us and this is one way we can accomplish our life goals.

Mark has an engine and mechanical preferences, but I leave the mechanics of a vehicle to him. I want the cosmetic things about a car. A radio with the ability to sync to my phone, cruise control, latch systems for car seats and drop down movie screens for long car rides for the kids.

We like shopping around, comparing prices and making sure we do our research before even stepping onto a dealership or purchasing from craigslist or something like that. We recently were introduced to cars.com, a website that allows you to see new or used cars in your area. You can choose a radius for how far you want to cast your car looking net. You can choose your price range, new or used, the make and the model. Once we put our criteria in place and clicked search a whole list of minivans popped up.  If you are new to the car buying world you can check out some good tips here.

Has your family recently bought a new or used vehicle? What tips would you give us to help us in our search for the perfect family, travel vehicle?