New car buying advice

We were forced to buy a car this summer. My awesome little '92 Civic hatchback (may it rest in peace) was totaled when an oncoming extended-cab 4x4 pickup decided he preferred to drive in our lane instead of his. You can guess who came out better in that match-up, and I feel incredibly blessed that my wife and kids and I (and my parents driving behind us) are still alive, with no permanent injuries. But I digress.

Since we often have visitors, we wanted to move up in passenger capacity. I hate the concept of SUV's, so I assumed we'd go mini-van. However, I was suprised at the poor gas mileage for mini-vans, although they are still better than most SUV options save one: the Toyota RAV4. If you have small children, and want to seat 6 or 7 people from time to time, this is a great car to consider. But you have to find one with the option for a 3rd row seat. Not may have it (they just started offering it in 2006), and there is only enough legroom for small children or carseats, but nevertheless it seats two kids comfortably. On our annual trip to Indiana, we achieved 29 mpg driving 75 mph with the A/C on. 'Nuff said.

Before buying a new car, I recommend educating yourself by reading the various chapters at http://www.carbuyingtips.com/carintro.html
I bought my RAV @ $500 below dealer invoice, which is pretty good for the top-rated, highest mpg SUV in its class. And I didn't have to deal with a bunch of nonsense from the car salesman- he knew I had done my research and I made it clear I wasn't going to waffle.