Unless you buy a classic, you're always going to lose money on them. And even then it's not a sure thing.

Gas is expensive, and probably isn't going to get cheaper over the next 7-10 years. But $15k will buy 6000 gallons at $2.50/gallon. At 15 mpg that would be 90,000 miles. So it may make sense to get a cheaper vehicle even if it gets lower mileage.

Driving an American vehicle off the lot usually gives an immedate hit in its value. That's an advantage of buying a recent used vehicle - the initial depretiation has already happened, but you have to consider warranty issues, costs of financing (usually higher for a used vehicle), etc.

From a cost-of-ownership standpoint, if you plan on replacing it every 7-10 years, my suggestion would be to get the cheapest vehicle that fits your needs. Maybe a Kia or Suzuki or something similar. But since Detroit is hurting you might be able to get a US vehicle for only a little more.

I got a new car last November. I wanted a small manual transmission wagon that rode well, got very good mileage, and felt solid. We looked at a Toyota Matrix (which felt too much like a van to me and had lots of plastic bits that looked like they wouldn't last, and it seemed overpriced to me) and a VW Jetta wagon. There wasn't much of competition in my opinion. The [link|http://z.iwethey.org/forums/render/content/show?contentid=124780|VW Jetta TDI wagon] is what we got. I get 42-44 mpg commuting to work and 52 mpg on the highway at 60 mph. Diesel is sometimes cheaper than regular, sometimes slightly more. It's got 12,000 miles on it now and has had no problems. I'm very happy and plan on keeping it at least 10 years. But it would probably be too small for your family. VWs get quite expensive as they get bigger. You probably don't want a Touareg. ;-)

My opinion is that most/all of the cars you can buy in the US now are of reasonable quality. Just about every manufacturer can have a lemon (though they're rare for Toyota and Honda). If you get a good warranty, and have a spare vehicle that you can use in case there are problems, then repairs shouldn't be much of an issue (other than the aggravation and a deductable in some cases).

Buying used can be a crapshoot unless you know the previous owner and have some idea how well it was cared for. My grandfather bought a few cars (a couple of Buick LeSabres and later a Cadillac something-or-other) from Budget Car Rental and was happy with them, but those cars probably weren't driven as hard as a minivan or SUV would have been. I wouldn't go that way myself, but it might be worth considering in your case. I don't think they're especially cheap.

Check out [link|http://www.edmunds.com|Edmunds] and [link|http://www.consumerreports.org|Consumer Reports] for other opinions, but remember that it's more common for people to complain about how much bad luck they've had, or sing the praises of a vehicle - most people don't bother, so average opinions probably won't be posted.

If it were me, looking for a minivan for a large family, I'd probably try to find a 2-3 year old Honda Odyssey or Toyota Sienna, but only if it was substantially cheaper than a new one and didn't have a lot of miles. My bias on the US side is toward Ford, but for no particular reason. But since this type of vehicle was never of interest to me, I can only give you initial impressions.

HTH a bit. Good luck!

Cheers,
Scott.