Buying a "New" Car

We're considering buying a "new" van. The one we have has been great and there is part of me that doesn't want to give it up.

It's a 1995 Chevrolet Astro with 188K miles on it. It still runs decent although I think it is in desperate need of a tune up. It has a few other minor things to fix but we are also thinking of the gas mileage it gets. It's about 14 miles to the gallon and at almost $4 per gallon...that's not good. Of course, it would be better if it were running correctly.

You can see our dilemma. Do we keep it and fix what is wrong at a cost of about $500 - $1000 or do we buy one with fewer miles but will cost about $4000 - $5000. If we fixed it, how much longer can we expect it to run? I've heard of other Astro vans running as long as 300K miles with no major problems.

So what do you think? I think we had better pray for wisdom!

Have a great day!

Mavis D.