Might be getting another car (no, not selling the Yaris)

[Thirty-Nine]

Our 1998 Civic has been a great car, however, now my wife is driving 40 miles a day for her new job, and the Civic is getting up there in mileage. So, she's driving the Yaris to and from work now. The Yaris gets great mileage, only has 17,400 miles on it, and still has warranty, so it only makes sense for her to drive it since I'm working out of thehome.

With that being said, it looks like we might sell our Civic for something else. However, my wife just started a new job and I'm just starting my self employment, so we don't want anything too expensive. We're looking for something under $9,000; something not too expensive.

There are a few must-haves on this next vehicle.

• 5-speed
• Fairly low mileage (under 60,000)
• Dual airbags
• Decent mileage (depends on kind of vehicle, though)

I would love to pick up something that's either 4WD or AWD, but it's not 100% essential. Here are a couple of vehicles I was thinking about:

• Toyota RAV4: I've found a couple around here with around 55,000 miles on a 2000. Not terrible mileage for something AWD, and it's a Toyota!

• Suzuki Vitara/Chevrolet Tracker: A true 4WD, cheap, and readily available. The V6 is a gas hog, though.

• Suzuki Aerio SX: I almost bought one of these a few times new, but didn't (got a Scion xB instead). I like the way they drive, and they're cheap with low miles.

• Hyundai Tucson: Never owned a Hyundai, but the newer ones (2004 +?) seem pretty decent. You can get the four-cylinder Tucson with AWD for around $10,000 (a bit more than I want to potentially spend, but it's newer).

I'm not looking to modify the heck out of any of these vehicles, and chances are no matter what it is it will not get lowered. Why? Because we want a vehicle we can put chains on if need be to get to up to Mt. Hood to go skiing.

Now I know this is a Toyota forum, but does anyone have any other suggestions or comments seeing the stats above?