My lovely grandmother (who celebrated the 42nd anniversary of her 39th birthday yesterday!) is unfortunately in need of a new car.
At 4'9" with short legs, she has a hard time driving most cars. My grandfather's 2012ish Subaru outback is a no-go, for example. Generally an adjustable seat is not enough - she slides the seat up far enough to reach the pedals, and can't see over the dash. Raises the seat (or sits on a pillow) so she can see, and she can no longer reach the pedals. It's quite a predicament.
Her last car (which she loved) was a 2003 Mercury Sable. It had power adjustable pedals, which solved the above problem pretty effectively.
We are looking for suggestions which meet as many of these criteria as possible:
- ~5 years old, maybe up to 10 if we can find a low mile example.
- Power adjustable pedals standard, or at least a popular option.
- Mid size sedan, wagon, possibly a small SUV or CUV. Ideally the footprint should be no bigger than the Sable.
- Reasonably good visibility/low beltline. I know this is pretty rare on newer cars, but it's a major visibility problem for her.
I've not really owned or driven anything that fits these criteria, so even though I'm the "car guy" in the family, I'm at a bit of a loss. Any ideas?
No specific price range in mind. They may sell the low-mile Outback in order to help pay for it, that way they will have one car that they can both drive.
My grandmother, may she rest in peace, was the opposite of tall. She always drove Buicks.
Another thing to consider aside from height of vehicle is easy of egress. Meaning, how easy to get in and out. I'm sure she's not shopping bro-dozer trucks but even some SUVs and vans can be a real climb up to the seat.
My 80yr old M-I-L needed as car with a proper seat height due to her limited mobility. Her choice was a 2013 Escape with leather seats. Main reason for the Escape was the lower driver's seat cushion is generally flat (no high side bolsters on the lower seat cushion) that allows her to slide onto the seat. For her, it had to be leather too while is smooth and aids in the "sliding" onto the seat.
Her second choice would have been Honda CRV. It's hard not to love the CRV and now they have a smaller version too (some other letter-name)
Kia Soul might be good too.
I wrote a lot in this old thread.
Ford seems to be the only one with adjustable pedals, so you're limited there. My first thought just based on the seating position/height was Kia Soul
I would be shopping for Japanese cars. Designed for a smaller average height.
I had a long term girlfriend who was 4'9". She was able to drive a Mk 4 Golf without any extra modifications due to the way the seat adjusted. IIRC the '93 Civic it replaced was not quite so good in that regard. My mom used to be 5'2" years ago and is no longer that tall, she's quite happy with her 2019 Sportwagen for ingress/egress and seat positioning.
So I guess I'm suggesting you check out VWs, particularly the Sportwagens for your list.
mr2peak said:
I would be shopping for Japanese cars. Designed for a smaller average height.
I would agree except most Hondas actually have a lot of leg room and she'd have to move the seat too far up
I agree with the German cars - the seat height adjusters also bring the seat forward as it goes up. My wife is just over 5'2" and she drives our Audi just fine. My 4'11" niece bought a Prius as it was the car she fit into the best.....
If both are going to share the same car, one with power seats with memory can be a good idea. My parents were 5' and 6' exactly, when mom got out of the car she would just hit dad's button, it made it easier for her to get in and out, and that way the seat was always set for Dad if he drove next. Win/win.
My wife and I are in a similar height difference, but it's "her" car, so I have to push my seat button in order to even get in the car. It's hardly a big deal tho, and our Audi has the seats programmed to the remote, so as long as I use my remote to unlock the car it moves the seat for me automatically...it's a really nice feature!
