Buyers Anxiety

I HATE CAR SHOPPING!! Okay, if I was say, single or married without kids and I had a limitless cash flow and all the time in the world I would love it... But I have two small children, no money, and a husband that works till 5:30 every day and car dealerships that close at 7:00. Needless to say we are attempting to buy a car 45 minutes at a time and it's not working. We are fighting with all of our being to avoid a minivan but I think we're losing the war. We just can't find anything that has what we want AND what we need in one vehicle. We were really interested in a Chrysler Pacifica but after reading a LOT of online reviews the older model that is in our price range seems to have several mechanical problems so I don't think we want to take a chance on it. We can't really afford the gas mileage on an SUV that has a third row. So that leaves us with the minivan, the dreaded soccer mom mini-van. I can feel the dark side pulling me in. I don't know what to do. I want to get something that will work for us and something that is going to be reliable but not having a vehicle is getting to be very taxing on our family. I feel pressured to make a decision that I don't feel like I can make. I'm definitely feeling the stress physically. Once this is all over I'm going to pamper myself with a massage. Darci, when I got your email about Thomas's party I instantly thought, "if we have a vehicle by this weekend I'm going to talk Zane into taking the week off and coming to UT for it." I think we're all ready for a break but Zane is so busy at work that he hasn't even been able to leave from work early so we can shop for cars. Sometimes I think maybe we should leave the kids with someone so we can focus on looking at cars but we need the kids with us so we can see how they fit in the car with the seats. Well, I'm done with my gripe session for now. I'll keep everyone updated on the situation. I just have to keep reminding myself that this to shall pass.