Thanks for all the suggestions all. I’m pretty set on aToyota tho if Nissan still made the XTerra I’d be tempted, but I’ve had three Toyotas and they all went or are closing in on 300,000 plus miles without major problems.
I have a photo of my 5yo son sitting in my first; a Toyota Tercel. Fifteen years and 250,000+ miles later that car would save his life when stopped in traffic; he was hit from behind by a pickup and accordioned into the car in front. Rear-end and gas tank folded down in back, engine folded back and down in front, passenger compartment remained mostly intact. He was able to walkaway from the wreck. While I known prob’ly all small sedan designs do this now, that sure didn’t make us any less fond of the brand.
Economic sense says wait, but the grandchild is growing like a weed and my own warranty expired some time ago, perhaps a moderately-priced vehicle purchase on my part to replace two aging ones won’t seem an unreasonable expense.
