So am still on tilt? (Fleet planning)

So I'm normally pretty good at recognizing when I'm on tilt, and not making rational decisions - but I'm not so sure right now.

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So the wife and I currently drive a pair of 3 series sedans. Mine's an 99/5spd/377k(km) that I've had for a bunch of years now and have covered off all the typical repairs that are considered regular maintenance. Hers is an auto 06/auto/323i with just 166k(km), that we've had for a little under 2 years, and it's starting to wear me out keeping two euro cars on the road.

On the plus side the way they go together and apart makes sense since I've owned the one for so long, the time commitment and unpredictable repairs - needing to drop everything to get it back on the road - especially recently on the '06 might be tempering my judgment - we have a little one at home with a second on the way in the fall - since this past fall the waterpump (did the thermostat while I was there), the eccentric shaft sensor failed (shop couldn't figure out what was wrong as there was no codes - so I searched and replaced it on a whim, as the car would stall unpredictably when driving - initially thought to be the alternator so that got replaced too), front coil spring snapped, and was unlucky on the R&R with the lower strut mount snapping, both rear window regs, and one of the rear window motors has just failed. Adding on the regular stuff of pads + rotors, hvac blower motor and an a/c recharge as the regular stuff I don't really count along with fluids, filters and plugs.

It's also getting close to needing a set of tires and struts, along with a bunch of hood/trunk/window rubber mouldings - on one hand, it shouldn't need much feeding for a while, but on the other when do I stop throwing good money after bad on the car (I think we'll be lucky to get 4-5K for the car, in this market), and just ditch it for something more appliance like?

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Complicating things a little, or at least setting this side track in motion was a post about the electric focus, after the gov rebates they are coming just a hair over C$20K after all taxes and fees are added in, so on a 20K/yr lease the bi-weekly payments are just around C$100 all in, so after subtracting gas (low estimate@$100/mo)and a reduced insurance cost(-$500/yr), driving an in warranty car with a ~180km range will cost about $700 a year over three years, with I'm expecting virtually no serious maintenance needed.

What does the grm hive mind think, am I crazy for thinking the electric makes more sense then keeping the 06?

As long as one of you always stays within the range of the Focus, it would be a HUGE load of car stress off with kid #2. As I tell all of my baby expecting friends, kid math is weird. Kid#1 is a dramatic change, lots of work. Kid#2 is at least twice as much work, that is, taking care of two kids is about three times as much work at one. The third kid adds about one kid worth of work and kid#4 is maybe half a kid. That's where I stopped.
Anyway, $100 a month for a car that requires nothing other than a plug and paying attention to range sounds amazing with two little ones.

Mini van... Embrace your future.

"On tilt"... I like that. I always called it the red mist... when I get obsessive about an idea for another car...

Soooo, you're saying that all in you expect the electric to cost ~60 per month +20 electric or so... For a car that your wife never has to worry about it starting, or stalling, or the window rolling up (or down), with a second one on the way? That seems like a no brainer to me and probably less than you're paying for parts to keep the old German on the road.

We used my wife's Mazda 3 (same chassis as the focus) with two kids, it was tight when I was in the car, so we had to put the forward facing seat behind me when I drove. The wife got a bit tight on the rear-facing side but she's a bit shorter so it wasn't a big deal.

I don't know what your/her commute looks like, but a few people at work have had a Chevy Volt. I think those things get ~45 miles on electric, and then with the gas engine you never have to worry about forgetting to plug it in one day (one more thing to remember with two ankle-biters running around) or running out of range.