Cars to the left. Cars to the right of me. There are to many cars to compare. Now is the time to get all these choices to a manageable level.

The first and foremost consideration should be how much can I afford to spend, along with how much I can afford for regular maintenance.

According the the calculator at Cars.com. If I want to buy a $10,000 car, with a $3,000 for a down payment or trade, I will have 36 payments at $268.26. Provided the interest rate stays a 7.69%.  That is $538.30 to be paid out in interest.That is almost 5 months of gas for the car

We might be able to stretch our budget to get a new car, but there are consideration that point us to a used car. Lower price, larger variety of selection along with getting a track record of reliability and durability is a big influence. What is nice is that fact there are a lot of used cars that are only a couple of years old, that still look like new.

Now I got to start narrowing down from the wide selection to an ideal choice. It is got to be practical, affordable and dashed with a little bit of emotion. Our research will look at models from 2008 to 2010.

We are planning over the next several years to take some trips to national parks and other tourist places. So we need a vehicle that has good cargo space.

We are family that needs a 4 door vehicle over one with just 2 doors. We have had good success with the Dodge Caravan’s. That put Dodge Caravans on the list of cars to consider.

Doing some research on Google, I like the Geeky look of the Honda Element, but it does not look like it would be comfortable for long trips.

The Toyota Camry has got a good reputation. It comes with 4 doors and what looks like a moderate storage. I am going to put this one on the list.

Honda Civic is another brand that has been around for years. We will look at this one more in-depth.

To be fair to American car manufactures, I am going to also add the Ford Fusion and Chevy Traverse.

Now that I have a list of 5 cars. I can start researching the pros and cons for each one. Next Wednesday, we look at models from 2008 to 2010.

Tags: Buys a Car, Chevy, Dodge, Ford, Honda, Toyota