To add my $.03 (inflation)...

While you're considering a new car, you might want to consider diesel. My diesel SUV gets 21/27 real world, and 31 mpg nursed on the highway during a recent trip, and 600-700 miles per tank. That's a lot of bug-out idling and road time when needed, and until late last year diesel was cheaper than regular unleaded. Of course now the price per gallon has zoomed up there, but it won't stay that way relative to the price of gasoline for long. And an added boon is that it has less and less onerous emissions than a gasoline engine with the new ultra-low sulfur diesel and diesel engines have tons of torque -- great for pulling things.