You may wish to consider a 2 to 4 yr old Saturn Wagon. My wife bought a '97 new with automatic and medium level of equipment. Cost ran about $17,000. She has over 80,000 miles on it with no major repair. Over the usual maintence items of brakes, tires, and exhaust system, we've replaced the water temp sensor and a downstream oxygen sensor that failed early. For the latest repair, I replaced the gasket set for the valve cover. It began leaking around one spark plug hole. What I discovered was that the valve cover was a reinforced plastic molding and had shrank. It tightned up the oil cap hole and caused difficulty in removing the oil cap. Both problems were fixed by me. This shrinking valve cover is the only major problem that it has had in over 80,000 miles. Look for the dual cam shaft model (with 4 valves per cylinder). The dual cam engine has much better performance over the lower powered engine and without a big penality in gasoline mileage. The lesser powered engine is not enough in my opinion. The engine does not have a timing belt; It has a timing chain instead, although it is single row roller chain not much larger than a bicycle chain. It did not appear adequate to me when i saw a cut-away view of the engine on the show room floor, but that was back in 1997 when my wife bought the wagon, and the chain has held. You should be able to find a 4 yr old Saturn within your budget. Neon: I can not recommend the Neon mainly because it is a maintence nightmare under the hood. It's really tight in there. Look at one and imagine the steps needed to change an alternator. Stratus: For almost the same price of a Neon, you can get a Status, but again, I'm not recommending this model (and I have one). It has always started, runs good, gets good fuel mileage, but has other negatives. The slope back of the windshield makes entering and exiting a chore. The design of the headlamp assembly is poor in regard to light pattern. High beam is ok, but at low beam, you may hit a pedestrain along side the road because he won't be seen until too late. And this is not an adjustment issue - its the shape of the light beam. Also, these headlamp assemblies tends to dull over after 4 years and should be replaced. There is a vague feeling that the driver doesn't know where the right rear of the car is. It's a little tough to parallel park, and on the freeway, one has to watch that blind spot to insure that you don't move over into another vehicle. Although, the Stratus is a much improved car over the Neon, I can not recommend it due to the negatives I've mentioned. If you can live with these negatives, then put it on your list. Mechanically, the car has been reliable. I have 80,000 miles on mile. In the not too distant future, it will need a new timing belt. My wife an I have taken several long road trips with without incident.

It's interesting that one tire is worn way more than the others. If you choose to keep the Armada, I definitely would have the alignment checked or you could chew through the next expensive tire pretty fast. I looked on-line and saw 305/50R20 tires for under $140 each (Goodyears and Kumhos). You could have someone local mount the tire and install it. On the wheel, though, that won't be much cheaper than the Cooper price you mentioned. I have no idea if any of these will handle better in the wet than the Vogues, but I'm sure there are reviews on-line which can help. You have two problems here. One is that you're talking about a stonking big tire. The other is that whatever you do should be done in pairs, as mixing sizes and brands of radials is not recommended, especially for a vehicle that doesn't handle that well anyway. I think your cheapest options are to suck it up and buy another Vogue or to just chalk this truck up to experience and trade it in without fixing the tire. You'll get dinged for it on resale, sure, but it's not like you'll get any more on trade for having four serviceable tires. I also think you really need to consider timelines. If you can hold on to the truck another couple of years, barring any major political or petroleum catastrophes, you'll get out of being upside down. OTOH, you'll likely have to replace more tires by then, there may be other repairs as well and you'll be paying more for gasoline as the price continues to climb. There also is the consideration that SUVs may distinctly fall out of favor and it will be worth even less in two years than it would be if SUVs were still popular. Some options to consider: I'm not sure what you mean by "10K" vehicle. 10,000 miles? 10 grand to buy (neither the PT nor the Xterra fill that bill)? You could consider buying a "certified used" car -- they typically are checked better than other used cars and come with a longer warranty. You'll pay a little more, but you should be able to consider it more reliable. Strongly consider vehicles which don't hold their value particularly well because they make a zillion of them every year or the car is a little outdated. I don't think they make the Ford Taurus wagon anymore, but it would be a choice that would meet your needs. Or a lower-end minivan -- not the ones with leather and all, but a 4-cylinder Caravan or Windstar or something. You also could see if there's a way to finish off med-school pre-reqs with courses offered at a time which would allow you to keep your engineering job -- or take classes on-line, if that's possible. If you can hang on to your job a while longer, you can bank some bucks. You'll need them while you're in med school. (BTW, no problem with the "unbelievably long" post!)

If labor and management continue to think that only management has brains, then, yes, the American economy and standard of living will go down the toilet. The keys are working in collaboration and being flexible. You no doubt have ideas about how your job can be done more effectively or how your company could offer new products or services. Smart management listens; dumb management insists that only the folks in offices know anything. That's an old habit of management. Employees also need to get out of some old habits. People cannot expect careers like their parents had 30-40 years at the same company, doing the same thing. Companies do not have the loyalty to employees like they used to. Those of us in Generations X and Y have learned that our careers are up to us. If we donÂt like the deal at our current employer, we go elsewhere. Or find another line of work. Or work for ourselves. Or move. Obviously, some jobs and some personal situations lend themselves to that better than others. I think people are far more likely to have multiple careers in the future. IÂm on my second career after 20 years in the workforce. Most of the folks I work with did something quite different before they got here. I fully expect I will have at least a third career. IÂm not sure what it is yet. I just know that the odds are high against my retiring as a computer geek with my current company. Too many years and too much can happen between now and then. There also is a danger to being the "low-cost producer" -- and smart management knows it. Maybe the Chinese and Indians are providing skilled labor for less right now, but someday soon, it may be the Vietnamese and Afghanis. Or Liberians and Sudanese. "Made in Japan" used to be a joke. Korean cars used to be a joke. Companies will have to be more nimble. If a product becomes a commodity, where only price is the differentiator, then theyÂll have to change businesses frequently. If they can add services to the product or sell a better version of it, they can continue to make money. To try to get this discussion back on topic, look at ChryslerÂs PT Cruiser. ItÂs a Neon with a different body. It is different (but in a useful, friendly way), decently built (not great, but no major failures), sells well (at one point people waited in line to buy one), has inspired competition (ChevyÂs HHR), and has enabled Chrysler to charge (and get) way more than anyone would have paid for a Neon. ItÂs not that the PT is such a great vehicle. But it was appealing enough to make Chrysler some money with a car that, frankly, was nowhere near the front of the pack -- or the cheapest box out there. Now the 300C is the hot seller. In a couple of years, theyÂd better hope theyÂve got something else in the wings. To think they can make PTs and 300Cs and money for the rest of company history is crazy. ThereÂs a time to move on. Here it is.

AM: While I love the Subaru, I never wanted it in the first place! Prior to the Subaru, we had hubby's Eclipse and my minivan. Two years ago in December, he had had enough of chaining the van up to go up Mount Hood twice weekly (he and the boys are avid skiiers). So, he researched and decided he wanted the Subaru. However, you'll note that somewhere along the way I managed to lose MY minivan while he managed to keep his Eclipse AND get the Subaru. I'm still not sure how that worked out. I really do love driving it around town, but I really miss the space and extra seating of the minivan, particularly when we're making our regular treks up and down I-5. Mandie