One of the most important and expensive purchases in your life, besides buying a home, is buying a car. Because of that it is essential to choose the right car for your needs. So how do you do that? I myself fancy a Porsche Carrera, but I doubt my wife would be very enthusiastic about it.

No matter what kind of a car you plan on buying, SUV, station wagon or a truck, your car will have just one basic mission in life getting you and your family fast and safe from one place to another.

When you decide on purchasing a car you need to know what you will be using car for. If you are single, a convertible could be the way to go, but if you have two or three kids it will just not do.

If you have kids and are planning a vacation think about all the luggage you are going to have to transport with you. It doesnt mean you need a truck, but you do need to think about trunk size of the car you plan on buying.

Car manufacturers produce lots of different models very well suited for average size family needs. Large sedans and station wagons are just a sample of the cars on the market today.

Small size minivans can also be great for family use, you get lots of space with lesser fuel cost, a thing not to be forgotten with ever increasing fuel prices

SUVs are a great fun as well as status symbols, they are also great for outdoors, but recent surveys show that less then 10% of the SUVs in US ever sees a dirt road. If one of your possible choices for car buying is an SUV, besides fuel consumption (which is enormous) you should also bear in mind the parking problems as well.

Pickups with crew cabins are one of my favorites (if you do not live in a big city). It is a great choice for people that need really versatile car. Pickup enables you to haul big loads as well as take your kids to football practice or camping.

And do not forget about hybrids. This is probably the best choice for environment conscious people living in big cities. They are extremely fuel efficient as well as much easier to find a parking spot then SUVs.

Usually hybrids have two engines, an electric and a gas one. Electric motor is in most cases responsible for supplying enough power for car electricity needs; this is done by accumulating electricity which is produced by braking.

This will save gas but probably not enough to earn a medal form Greenpeace, but it is a start. Also hybrids are more expensive then normal cars.

Toyota Prius is a great example of a very successful hybrid car, you can get it to run 60 miles for a gallon of gas. Over time such fuel efficiency can save you a lot of money besides helping with environment.

Then we have electric cars. They run on fuel cells and are environmentally friendliest cars available today. However electric cars are not good choice for everybody. Make sure to do a thorough research if you plan on buying one.

And at last you need to make decision whether you want to buy a new or used car. It is a personal decision to make, and there are lots of factors included in this, probably the most important as always being you budget.