My Vehicle Folly

About a year ago I sold my Crew Cab Nissan Titan. I was spending more in gas than a new car payment and it was at 100K+ miles so the frequency of repairs was increasing. Traded her in and got a Ford Fusion Hybrid. Now I'm driving a very nice, very civil car and I'm saving about $200 to $300 a month. But since that time we have had three biblical floods in Phoenix. I'm down right squeamish about driving a car with an electric motor and a big honkin battery any where near the water.

Before, in the truck, it took about 12" of water to raise my concerns. Now? It only takes 3" of water and I'm going beszerk. And that ain't much - you can find 3" on the curb some times.

Do I regret selling the truck? No - it was the right thing to do for the family. But I do regret having our automotive choices limited to two very low slung cars that have limited capacity and no 4x4. It has created a liability I was aware of but apparently vastly under-estimated.

Original plan was to drive this for 5 years and give it to my daughter. Then I'd buy an old, used, beater truck. I'm thinking Toyota. Maybe a 2 seater even to keep it small and economical. Think of it as a Tech, or Technical if you know what those are. Obviously my load out would be a little different but the concept is the same.

Now I'm wondering if I shouldn't bump that up by a year or two. I've got 4 years left with the car before I hand the keys over. So that would mean buying a third vehicle with in 2 years - and we could very well go 2 years with absolutely no rain above .1" at a time.

Soooooo conflicted over this. Ultimately it will be about $4000 to buy the truck and I anticipate putting $2000 into it right off the bat. So that's still pretty cheap for good wheels, but then that's also $6k I could use on other stuff.