<prompt> Human: I currently drive a 10 year old Volvo S40 which has been a pretty good car BUT I want to upgrade to a mini-van for convenience we cant fit the whole family dog in the same car without a lot of squishing andor crying from the kidsmyself. Heres the problem, I really want a Pacifica Hybrid but they are about 44k. This seems like a ridiculous amount of money to spend on a car but I think we can afford it, so please look at my budget and let me know if I am crazy or if you think itd be safe to buy it. Combined income before taxes: 163K25K emergency fundTake home biweekly after taxes, maxing husbands 401K, insurance, etc. : 4020Monthly Expenses15 yr mortgage PITI: 2319Cell phone: 63Internetsubscriptions: 81Electricgaswater: 300Groceries: 380Eating out: 200Fun Money: 500Student Loans: 807Gym: 55Gas: 190Daycare: 585 Roth IRA contributions: 846Mics: 340 kids swimmingsoccer, gifts, ...Car payment of about 600-645 would come from left over 1374monthWe usually put the leftover into savings to fund a couple of vacations a year, any unexpected expenses, and the rest is thrown at student loan debt.We would get a 6 year loan but use the 7500 tax credit for hybrid cars immediately to pay down the loan once we receive that in the spring. Car insurance would increase about 25 a month to 83.Any advice, insight, anecdotes would be greatly appreciated.  <response>: You can afford it. However, Chryslers have by far the worst reliability of any brand available in the US. Id very strongly reconsider getting any ChryslerDodgeFiatJeep product. 