This time it's for a relative. He's old, and refuses to stop driving. He's missing a bit of peripheral vision, yet he's able to pass the state drivers license vision exam. He needs a small cheap car with incredible visibility. He doesn't care at all about driving dynamics. Bonus points if it's not something anybody would cry about if he balls it up.
Yaris?
Daewoo Lanos/Hyundai Accent/Kia Rio
Price range?
Take away his keys before he hurts himself or others. Sorry I sound so cold, but we just had to go through this with my father-in-law, and it wasn't pretty.
corolla? I think they come from the factory pre-dented so no one will notice if it's a little beat up. The generation old cars are pretty cheap and they don't require a lot of TLC.
In reply to jstein77:
We don't have the heart to. He's actually still a pretty damn good driver and driving means so much to him. I'm thinking square-style Buick Century or Olds Cutlass Ciera.
My 91 Y.O grandmother drives a 200x Kia Rondo. Slow and easy to see out of.
Scion xB, lots of glass, easy to drive, higher seating position for easy entry/exit
Volvo with a bad transmission? But really, comfortable seats, good safety, and if something breaks it may convince him to stop driving.
As well as others already mentioned, Nissan Cube or Versa.
Other than good visibility they have a good seat height and wide doors allowing very good egress for the elderly.
Honda Fit also has phenomenal visibility and is pretty safe/cheap to run.
M030 wrote: In reply to jstein77: We don't have the heart to. He's actually still a pretty damn good driver and driving means so much to him. I'm thinking square-style Buick Century or Olds Cutlass Ciera.
I have a '98 Buick Regal, same body style as the equivalent year Century. Forward and side visibility is good, but it does have a glaring visiblity problem - you can't see where the tail is from the inside, at all. It's like the car ends at the back window.
I was thinking an Echo would be a good mix of good visibility lines and expendability, myself.
Camry. Because Camry corner stereotypes won't self perpetuate otherwise.
Get him a motorcycle. That way he's less likely to take someone else with him.
Sorry to be harsh about it, but if his capability to drive is that questionable, he has no business being on the roads putting others at risk. I understand it's a hard thing to do, we just went though the same with my grandmother a couple years ago due to dementia and my mom had to put up with multiple calls daily for the better part of a year accusing her of stealing grandma's car. But buying him another car is only delaying the inevitable anyways.
I stopped letting my kids ride along with my F-I-L about 10 years ago. His driving continued to get worse until one day, he scraped the fender of a car next to him and never realized he did it. The other driver followed him all the way back to his house. That was when we took his keys away.
Crown Vic. Millions made. We won't miss one getting wadded up.
In reply to Appleseed:
Crown Vic is too big I think (we got him to give up his 77 Lincoln because lane discipline was becoming an issue). Echo, Yaris, Corolla and Subaru Forester are at the top of the list right now
M030 wrote: In reply to Appleseed: Crown Vic is too big I think (we got him to give up his 77 Lincoln because lane discipline was becoming an issue). Echo, Yaris, Corolla and Subaru Forester are at the top of the list right now
and yet you say he's still a good driver? I smell bullE36 M3.
No. His time is up. Sorry. It will happen to all of us eventually, some will be better about acknowledging this and accepting it. Others will need to have it pointed out. Still others will need to have the keys taken away.
Do you guys get the Volkswagen Up? That wouldn't be bad.
Otherwise Honda fit as others have said.
While a few people here raise valid concerns about wether he should be on the road at all, id rather a little old man in a small car that is aware that his skills aren't up to the standard they once were as opposed to any number of younger drivers that have never had good driving skills, and are to busy updating their social media status to be concerned with actually paying attention to the road.
I say Ford or Dodge 1 ton diesel with a lift and 35's. He can drive over what he can't see and roll coal on everyone else.
Seriously don't let him drive, I makes me sick to think about my loved ones on the road with someone like this who is only going to get worse. If he wants to drive buy him a golf cart. At least he probably won't kill anyone.
Stefan wrote:M030 wrote: In reply to Appleseed: Crown Vic is too big I think (we got him to give up his 77 Lincoln because lane discipline was becoming an issue). Echo, Yaris, Corolla and Subaru Forester are at the top of the list right nowand yet you say he's still a good driver? I smell bullE36 M3.
In reply to Stefan:
Not bullE36 M3 at all. He rocks a 355 Spider during the couple of months per year when we see nice weather, and I ride with him. He seems to do best with the top down and driving for fun.
The compromise might be to get him off the road for winter and let him do his thing once the weather is nice enough to put the top down. Sort of an only drive for fun and skip all the driving that sucks proposal. May or may not fly
I know this hasn't been a popular opinion (but it will be if he ever does his rendition of an offset front end collision test to a mom and her family) but your dads doctor will do the heavy lifting in getting him to stop driving.
He or she is not in his immediate family so there's less or no guilty feelings and he or she knows his diagnosis and is aware of his eyesight and reaction times etc especially if you ask to speak with him/her. They have skin in the game to keep their patient safe too.
I hope you're not offended by some of these answers. It's just that your basically asking for a semi-disposable car for when he crashes but there's no mentioning the victims of that crash and what happens to them. I wouldn't put my money on it always being a shopping cart or a light pole that gets taken out.
In reply to ebonyandivory:
"doctor will do the heavy lifting in getting him to stop driving."
There's the rub: the doctor says he's fine to drive, and so does the state: he completed a very expensive (and intense vision retraining program and followed it up with the state rehab driving evaluation, which he passsed. Said doctor even wrote him a letter to get his license reinstated. He did so well that his plates don't have a wheelchair on them, so he doesn't even get preferential parking.
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