My parents are both 74 and need a new car. My dad has a 2013/14 F150 with high miles and several problems, plus he has a hard time driving it. My mom has a 10 2 door Wrangler manual. They are keeping the Wrangler as their backup. My dad is 6'4" 300+ and they are looking at small trucks and SUVs. Now when I say old people car, I need it to have all the lowest number of bells and whistles possible. Like keyless entry and PWD and PDL are about all the need. No screens or complicated electronics.
Suggestions?
octavious said:
My parents are both 74 and need a new car. My dad has a 2013/14 F150 with high miles and several problems, plus he has a hard time driving it. My mom has a 10 2 door Wrangler manual. They are keeping the Wrangler as their backup. My dad is 6'4" 300+ and they are looking at small trucks and SUVs. Now when I say old people car, I need it to have all the lowest number of bells and whistles possible. Like keyless entry and PWD and PDL are about all the need. No screens or complicated electronics. The
Suggestions?
You're pretty much looking at something japanese/mainstream at this point because all of those luxury cars have screens and digital tech related stuff. I had this same issue with finding something for my dad and its pretty much a few select Lexus vehicles, Toyotas, and some Hondas. Admittedly, I'm sure some American cars offer simple things but I can't really say because I've never looked at them.
If they are looking at new, another Jeep Wrangler is about as low tech as it gets. 4 door model for the room, or maybe a Gladiator if they need a truck bed. Maybe a base model or lower trim Tacoma, Frontier, Colorado or Ranger or Bronco. Everything else I can think of has lots of tech, especially in the higher trims.
Tom1200
UltimaDork
5/9/25 5:06 p.m.
In reply to octavious :
Last year we bought my wife a Hyundai Santa Fe base model.............it even has a key to start it.
She bought it because she didn't want all the sat nav googly woogly.
Maverick.
Most all I see on the road are ole boys who used to be F150 drivers. These days, full size trucks are too tall and too high for these ole boys to lift anything into. But, they still want to appear "useful" and driving a truck has always been a sign of that for them.
Maverick, Ranger, Colorado, Santa Fe all seem like decent options. Maybe an older Ridgeline too
stan
UltraDork
5/9/25 6:01 p.m.
John Welsh said:
Maverick.
Most all I see on the road are ole boys who used to be F150 drivers. These days, full size trucks are too tall and too high for these ole boys to lift anything into. But, they still want to appear "useful" and driving a truck has always been a sign of that for them.
Was going to suggest this too. My mom drove a 2002 Ranger in her 70s as it was just the right seat-level for her to get in and out of comfortably. Take your dad and see if the Maverick fits his size as my mom was only about 5'4".
Forester. Official car of AARP (maybe).
I already suggested the Maverick and the Ridgeline. I was thinking Ridgeline for reliability and it's a little bigger than the Maverick. I worry about the Maverick being too small.
New Tacomas are pretty tall height wise, and small on the interior side. Some Tacoma packages are taller than my first gen 4wd Tundra.
I was also thinking CRV and RAV4 but those have gotten bigger over the years, and I'm not sure they have a stripped down model.
In reply to octavious :
CPO CRV LX. Pretty basic, super comfortable inside, decent power, indestructible as a cockroach.
Octavius, my FIL was about the size of your Dad and always had big station wagons because they did a lot of camping. One time when they were visiting my brother Bob wheeled in with his hopped up 1960s E-150. Phil fell in love! He always had bad knees and in this he could just slide in. Better visibility in traffic and easier to park than a wagon.
I fly with a guy that's had Astros since they came out, can't say enough about them.
Kia Soul. Take apart the front seat track and drill new mounting holes to set it back about an inch to get more legroom.
