At that age, and in a place with salt on the roads, you are looking at possible major suspension or frame rust.  Things you can't fix yourself, and things your wife unit is not going to want to haul the kids around in.  At that age, the vehicle is in the "hey, did a door just fall off?" territory. Sure, it looks good, but is it?

My suggestion, is know that your repairs are going to cost something and in an escalating curve with that Ford and stick with the van. Suck it up a little more and pay more on the loan. (OR refinance it to a Credit Union as a secured personal loan at lower interest rate. Used car loans may not have the best rate.)

I let a local dealer buy back a lease in the middle of the term on a 93 back in 94.  I then drove a 1948 Willys around.  Sometimes it makes sense.  The lease payment back then was quite a burden. I also picked up a 1978 pickup and put in a new engine and trans.  I drove it until 2007.  I think it was a good decision.

So they coated it to cover rust.

Trading that van for that pile of Ford SUV is going to be a major mistake.

Keep the van and sell some guns if you need to get out from under a payment faster. You don't owe much on the van now and it'll most likely be significantly cheaper to own and maintain over the next several years. Keep your family in the safer vehicle and avoid the inevitable issues that the Ford that the government owned will have. Not to mention that it's literally the base model and is way overpriced. Look around the govdeals website to see what these things actually sell for and you'll realize it's nowhere near as good a deal as you WANT to believe it is.

Don't screw your yourself out of a dollar by bending down for a quarter

Generally being free of car loans and such is a good thing .
Two things wrong with the OPs plan.

1)you pretty much bought into the debt when you bought the mini van . selling it off only buys back a small percentage of that mistake.

2)replacing it with the higher mileage truck is likely to hit you with repairs down the line and operating costs are likely to be higher. Insurance cost could also be higher

Is it possible that you wanting the 4x4 truck over the minivan is clouding the judgement? If you want the truck ,fine,but don't justify it as money savings likely won't work out in the long run.

Work some overtime,get a part time job or squeeze some money from other parts of your budget and pay off the van loan early for the win . Don't forget when the van is paid off to start setting aside some cash for the next vehicle so you don't fall right back into a large loan.

This is my take. The van works and is reliable. You're looking at a much older, much less reliable vehicle, that is a total unknown. (Is it a flood car from down here?)

I'm not the typical GD person. I can't buy a 10+ year old car and have it run perfectly all the time with minimal to no repair costs.

This.

How are you going to afford the repairs if a $250 car payment is a burden? You're going to put them on the credit card that you paid off after buying that shitty Ford. Then you'll be back in the same situation you are now, with a shitty old Ford. Then you'll be looking to trade it in for something more reliable, like a Sienna. You need to make more money. What were the student loans for, a basket weaving degree?

Paying down debt is seldom a bad idea.

the floor looks like that has a 3rd row from the pictures.  regardless, you should be able to find at least a decently optioned xlt with 3rd row in your price range and not look like you bought the most bottom-barrel thing you could find.

I sell fords and I would tell you not to do that deal.

1. You have a super nice van with low miles that does everything you want it to do and has a low payment. You are talking about going backwards 4 year and 60,000 miles. If you drove the van 3 more years it probably wouldn't have the miles on it then that the expedition does now.

2. That is a base expedition. Like a fleet order when it was new. In three years the trade in value on it is going to be shit. The only reason the expedition has such a high sale value is because it has really low miles for the year. Anyone looking for a used one wants third row. Plus its going to get shit for gas mileage.

3. Think about the repairs going forward. The van still has factory warranty. The expedition has nothing. And a 9 year old vehicle with almost 100,000 miles is going to need repairs soon. And they aren't going to be cheap.

4. You say too much electronic shit on the van. You do realize that the electronic shit on newer cars rarely if ever fails right? And the electronic shit is what make the van get decent gas mileage.

Just my .02

Japanese and American cars, sure.  German cars, big f'ing TrumpWRONG.gif.

Fpni!

OP, I just jumped on the Dave Ramsey train.

I’m starting to dig my way out of debt & and live free!

Yeah, as an old used car guy I've got to agree. Stuffing 3 kids in the back seat of a GSA Expedition isn't the way to keep mama happy in the long term. Not when you have decent late model transportation at n affordable figure now.

While it may be a doable deal, it's not the right deal.

I'm replacing my cam phasers at 189k only because i guide wore out.  First work it's needed in 13 years and it isn't even a hard job.

I'd probably keep the van.  However, you could add JY or aftermarket 3rd row seats to Ford if needed down the road as kids get bigger.

You'll pay about 2x as much in gas for the expedition, and it's not under warranty, and will cost more to maintain.
I assume you are leasing the Minivan?

What about car insurance?

I don't think that the expedition is a horrible idea, but I don't think that the juice is worth the squeeze to do that trade.

This. I don't know if I'd trade in a low mileage Toyota for a high mileage Ford.