<prompt> Human: My wife and I have 2 small cars between us and were looking to get a SUV or small truck as a familycampinggarbage-runlight hauling vehicle. Im just not sure about the math on how this will all shake out. Edit: Part of the reason for this is because we have a small boat, my car can tow it, but I dont like to at all, it doesnt feel safe and I havent been able to find my cars payload rating because it doesnt come stock with a towing package, the tow package was aftermarket. The car we plan to trade in: 2012 Mitsubishi Lancer SE 2.4L AWD 105,000 Miles Kelly Blue Book says 4,000 trade-in value. Completely paid off currently. The car we plan to purchase: 93-98 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited 5.2L V8 4x4 121,000 Miles Kelly Blue Book says 2200-3200 reasonable purchase price. Were hoping to avoid having a car payment. We have found a couple of them, but the dealerships have priced them at around 5500-6500, which I feel is extremely high. I know they will sell my car for 9-11K or more, its in great shape. Im just not sure if its an awful idea or what? What would PFs advice be on this? You nice people havent steered me wrong before and the only reason my car is paid off at all is because of you, so thanks for that as well. And if it matters, we both have about a 705-710 credit score, about 3K in credit card debt were paying down using the snowball method, and wifes car has 5500 3.09 interest left on the loan. We rent our house and dont have any other major expenses except rent childcare. We make 105K year.  <response>: Trading a car thats 5 years old for one thats 20 years old just doesnt seem like a good idea. An old Jeep, while the engines usually go 200k miles, is bound to give you more issues than a 2012 Mitsubishi. All cars break down of course, but a 5 year old car should require less maintenance than one that is 20 years old. Unless you are havinghave had major issues with the 2012, I would keep it. Additionally, depending what state you are in, plan to have around 500-1k set aside for state safety inspection repairs if you buy an old Jeep. A used car that old will rarely pass with no issues. These are just my opinions of course; good luck to you! 