[micahdeath]

I half fit in this.

Mine is also used to haul a bed full of gravel when my drive needs repair or dirt for lawn correction. Not to mention I have a family.

Rear facing child seats while being 6 feet tall. Most cars I've tested don't support this. (Prius) Or no children can sit behind me because my front seat is sitting so close to the back seat that legs don't fit between. (Camero/Mustang)

Camry and Pasat seem to work, but warranties wouldn't cover things like bad child safety locks.... Not to mention, you can't haul things like gravel. =/

[beAbU]

How frequently does your driveway need new gravel that you are justifying a vehicle for that purpose? Do you transport gravel more frequently for your driveway than your children?

You go from full truck down to flat cars, completely ignoring the vehicles in between like soft-roader SUVS or the venerable minivan. Does none of these vehicles meet your people carrying needs?

[micahdeath]

We have an SUV also and that does pretty well for children and shopping. We need 2 vehicles as jobs are different directions and I bought the most fuel efficient small truck (colorado) on the market at the time of purchase (which is more fuel efficient that the SUV we have, by 2-10 MPG).

The gravel isn't for the driveway, but the road. However, we have hauled gravel for flower beds. It's about time to replace fence and some wood around the garage.

No, I don't haul daily or monthly, but more like quarterly and as-needed. (Tillers, Lawn mowers for example)

[Workaccount2]

I went down a similar path where I considered getting a pickup for hauling the occasional project material around. I ended up with a hatchback that covers 90% of use cases. The other 10% I can just rent a truck for a few hours to cover.

People pay double (or more) for gas every year so they can drive around an empty bed and maybe save $50 on a rental once a year.