Why not keep it a few years for your oldest kid to drive?
It wasn't that long ago that I was a 17 year old new driver. While I'm sure that Ken is a responsible parent teaching his kids how to drive well, there is a lot to be said for giving your child something as a first car that isn't a luxury whatever. Personally, I'm in favor of a beater.
Although the Pilot isn't exactly a beater... ok, I give up.
I was wondering about that - I had also thought about putting it down at the beach house, but, having it sit for potentially months on end isn't all that good for it. I've never heard of a solar trickle charger - what else do you need to do for a car that may sit for a long time?
The real question if you leave it down at the beach house is are you going to need it there. In other words, it makes sense if you're going to fly down or when you go down you'll travel in one car but need two cars, but otherwise what's the need?
Leaving cars sit for months at a time isn't a problem if done properly. Once the first road salting of the year comes, I park the Jag in the garage and it doesn't run for something on the order of 4 months, until I have reason to believe that the last salt of the year has come and it's been washed away. I just put it in the garage, park it, and then look fondly at it for the next few months. It hasn't caused me problems yet. In the summer, the truck will sit usually for weeks at a time between use (sometimes over a month) since I'm driving the Jag. I do nothing special to prep the car, other than make sure I've taken the thing on a good, long drive to get all the water out of the oil. Then I'll put a charger on it once every now and then.
That said, having a spare car is nice, but I've found probably unnecessary. I keep two because I need the truck for a number of things I do (and to get up my driveway in the winter), and then the Jag is my toy. If I was more logical, I'd just keep the truck and drive it, but the Jag puts a good smile on my face.