I'll add further to my tow vehicle description from before. Yes, I tow with a 2000 Astro, but I bought that vehicle used for just that purpose (towing, loaded down road trips, getting large crap from Home Depot).

But I don't use it for commuting. For that I picked up a Mazda 3 5-door. In fact, another reason I got the Mazda was that I could carry all my sailing crap for the weekly racing that I used to drive my old van for, further reducing the need to drive the bigger vehicle. I don't even need to take out the child seat to do so. While the Mazda is not a mileage king, it averages around 30 mpg for the driving I do, has great utility, and is fun to drive. In other markets it is rated for towing, for some reason in the US it is not, however hitches are available and when it's out of warranty I'll probably get one. It's got enough power and brakes to tow a cat.

I can afford the gas of a larger car, but some reason adding dollars to somebody else's bottom line to drive to work and back isn't something I feel like doing. I'll spend my gas dollars somewhere else.

I like cars - I work on them, know about them, and am a card-carrying member of the SCCA. I'll have other cars that get crappy gas mileage and go too fast, but I won't waste them on the daily commute.

So, anyway, another option - a vehicle for towing, and a vehicle for commuting. Both don't have to be new with payments. Works well if you don't need the truck for work.

Taxes and gas - if I understand it right, the gas tax hasn't gone up in MD since '87. There is a shortage of money to work on road projects. Because everybody is paranoid about even hinting to raise taxes, they are coming up with creative ways to fund road improvements. The ideas are centered around toll roads with higher fees to access the extra lanes, with the control of the roads and toll collecting turned over to private companies (most of them offshore). I for one, would gladly pay more in gasoline taxes to avoid that.