Ferrari Mailing List: Car replacement time

[Lee Lingo (lee.s.lingo]

Hi folks, long time no post.

Been relocating from Detroit, MI, to Madisonville, Ky.  Most of my time has been taken up orchestrating the whole shebang.

Anyway, the family truckster, our '02 Olds Bravada thats responsible for carting us, our daughter, our two huskys and various gear to and fro is starting to show serious signs of hesitation when doing its chores.  Despite the fact that I'd planned to keep driving it to 250k, it looks like it'll fall 75k short of my goal. 

So I'm looking for a new work horse.  I'm open to suggestions, any and all. 

Requirements are that it gets decent gas mileage, have the ability to haul 3 people and two dogs when necessary, be kinda cool since I'll be driving it mostly, be relatively lite on repair costs and if possible, moderately maintainable by me, be well built enough to last 200k MI, and lastly, $40k or less.  Preferably much less.  I set the bar @ 40 because that's what it would cost to replace the Bravada with a like kind/size new vehicle.  I'm open to new and used.

That being said, I would like to solicit the collective knowledge trust for real info on the Porsche Cayenne turbo & Maserati QP in particular.  And as an aside, the Lotus Elise as well.

Thanks for any and all suggestions and feel free to reply direct if you prefer.

Lee Lingo