So, we went car shopping. (Thanks Kitty Non Grata for the inspiration!) We don’t really need a car until we leave in March 2011, but I’d like to get it sooner rather than later for Target runs, vet trips and weekend excursions to who knows where.

Andy’s opinion is pretty much, “Why pay car insurance before we really need to, and also, why not wait until a month before we leave so we don’t have to pay state sales tax?” Fair arguments, but still, I want a car.

Yes, you can survive in Arlington without one, but Arlington’s no New York City. The Metro doesn’t get you everywhere, and buses come much less frequently. Not having a car is annoying. And we’re going to buy it eventually, so why not now?

Andy’s not totally sold, but he agreed to look nevertheless.

Our criteria:

• High clearance (Why? See here.)
• Four-wheel drive

Our first stop was at the Toyota dealership to check out the Rav4, commonly referred to as “the car of the Foreign Service.” If it’s good enough for everyone else, it’s good enough for us, right?

Toyota Rav4

• Retails from about 24k
• Reliable
• Good resale value
• Good promotions right now
• Drives smoothly
• The verdict: Maybe

While it’s a solid car, there’s nothing about it that would make me go, “Wow. I’m proud to own this.” I’m especially not in love with the new design; I prefer the boxier frame of the old Rav4s.

While we were at the Toyota dealership, we also checked out this guy:

Toyota Cruiser

• Retails from about 26k
• Feels like the sort of car you should drive in Africa
• Great for off-roading (or road tripping to, say, Timbuktu)
• Higher clearance than the Rav4
• Probably too wide and bulky to be practical for city driving
• The verdict: No

We also ventured across the street to the Honda dealership to test drive the Rav4’s biggest competitor:

Honda CRV

• Retails from about 23k
• We liked the interior more but the exterior less
• Andy said it “felt less substantial” while driving (I’m not sure what this means, but apparently it’s a negative)
• Current deals less appealing
• The verdict: Trailing behind the Rav4, but a good price could sway us

(In unrelated news: We mentioned to the dealer that it’s too bad both the CRV and the Rav4 have gotten bigger in recent years, because the newer versions are both really just more car than we need or want. He looked at us with shock and confusion; apparently no one else has ever complained about a car being too big. Oh, America.)

The big draw of Honda and Toyota are that they’re known quantities in a lot of different parts of the world. In fact, both seem to even have dealerships in Cotonou. However, upon learning that neither company honors warranties overseas, we began to question whether we really needed to restrict ourselves to these two companies.

We scoured a used car dealership nearby for other options, and turned up two, both Jeeps. We’ll probably head to a Jeep dealership tomorrow to test drive them.

Jeep Liberty

• Retails from about 25k
• We like the looks of it much better than the CRV or Rav4
• Good promotions right now
• Possibly less reliable
• Possibly worse resale value
• May be difficult/impossible to service in Cotonou should anything go wrong
• The verdict: We need to do more research

Jeep Patriot

• Retails from about 17k
• Good promotions right now
• Again, we like the look of it much more than the Rav4 or CRV
• Did I mention it retails from about 17k and there are good promotions?
• The verdict: We need to learn more about this one too

Before today we were fairly sure we would buy new, but this no-warranty thing is making us second-guess that also. (If we go used, we would definitely want something only a few years old and with 20,000 miles or fewer so we can be reasonably certain it will hold up alright for 2-3 years.)

Any thoughts about the new/used debate, or about any of these makes?