On Trying To Replace Ed, The SUV That Carried Dozens of My Drunk Friends At A Time

I've been driving Ed for about six years now. He's a 1998 Ford Explore Eddie Bauer Edition. Bought him in 2005 just before I left for college. My old Jeep wouldn't have survived.

Ed's been good to me. Many the wild nights were spent driving around as many as a dozen drunk friends at a time back in the good ol' college baseball days. We would have two people in the front passenger seat, six or seven in the back passenger bench, and the rest piled on top of each other in the rear storage area. Windows open, people would stick feet and arms and heads out of windows to all cram in. 

And my mom just had a heart attack, reading that. 

Ed's falling on hard times. My junior year, someone sideswiped him in the parking lot. Left a gnarly scratch down the driver door. Halfway broke the handle. Later, someone hit him again, denting him real good. 

Both times the jerks didn't leave a note or anything

That's when I stopped taking care of Ed. I still wash him sometimes, and I try not to hurt him more than necessary. But the paint's flaking off the hood now. Some ball bearings have long gone bad in the rear wheels or something, so now this deafening vibration gives me headaches if I drive him too long. The mechanic explained it once, right before he tried to convince me to spend two grand fixing it. 

"Is it unsafe or just annoying?" I asked.

"Just annoying."

"For two grand, I can deal with annoying." 

I'm hoping Ed lasts another year or two. But in the meantime, I've started car shopping. 

I want a Tahoe or a Jeep. I've always loved them both. 

But Tahoes and Jeeps are just expensive in every way. Pay more up front. And in insurance. And for gas. 

So I'm going the car route. Right now, I'm between a Honda Accord and a Nissan Altima, although I'm also lookign at the Toyota Camry and a few others. 

Such as the new Chevy Camaro. Also, I want a motorcycle. But those are just all kinds of impractical. 

If I make the right amount of money by July, I might go on and buy it then. But more than likely, it'll at least be 2012 before I get it. Just in time for the world to end.

What would you get? Why?

(pic 1 via)
(pic 2 via)