Kicking the tires

• The pride factor. Her truck looks just a little better than the one pictured, but it doesn't drive a whole lot better.

• The kiddo factor. Late this year, we'll be a family of four (two of us in child seats), which just doesn't work with a pickup truck, even the extended-cab model we have. The way our life is it is important we have two vehicles in which all of us can ride safely and somewhat comfortably. We've done without. It's hard.

• The gas factor. As in our pickup truck gets 9 miles per gallon on a good day. Also, if someone passes gas in there it circulates pretty quickly because of the small space. This has been a problem on road trips.

• The parking factor. The double cab with the standard bed makes our truck just too hard to park. Apparently, it becomes more frustrating when you're nearly three months pregnant. Or so I'm told.

• The bounce factor. The worn suspension could, in a matter of six months, put the PF into labor during rush hour.

• The safety factor. We need something with a lower center of gravity, more airbags and that can accelerate down an onramp fast enough not to get run over by roadbound grandmas in the slow lane. This includes my mom, who just bought a new 2006 Subaru Forester.

• The money factor. We need to sell the thing for as much as we can, meaning we shouldn't wait until something (else) falls off. We've considered fixing the truck up, but $5,000 in repairs later and we'd have an old truck that still needs work. Economically, an affordable car payment, with peace of mind factored in, would be cheaper.

• The smurf factor. The Petite Filet has driven over a lot of smurfs, and they're starting to smell in the heat.

• The Outback factor. She keeps wanting to drive my 2005 Subaru Outback, which she does when she can, but it's my car, dang it! I drove a car during a really hot summer without air conditioning because we couldn't afford to fix it at the time ... I've earned my car! Plus, she always moves the seat up, leaves trash in the cupholders and tries to make me feel guilty for (at least the time being) having the nicer car.

• The garage factor. I've shoehorned her truck into the garage when hailstorms were on the way, but that was before I bought a new workbench and filled the empty half of the garage with crap. A new vehicle will motivate me to clean out the garage so she can easily park in there.

• The Max Factor. It's hard to put on makeup while she's driving the big, bouncy truck to work.

• The other Max factor. As in, there will likely be times when we need to pack in four humans and a hairy, 50-pound Border collie with a drooling problem.

We're looking at the usual mid-size family sedan suspects, trying to keep it real on the price but also attempting to buy a safe, reliable, comfortable ride that features at least the potentional to have fun and isn't completely and utterly boring to its core. A nice car-based mini sport ute could also find its way on the list.

Toyota Camry? Honda Accord? Hyundai Sonata? Nissan Altima? Mazda6? Any suggestions out there? I don't want to hear things like Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Mercedes, Saab or Volvo. We're on a budget, people!