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The best car no one knows about. Honda Clarity PHEV. We are 71 and bought one in May. It runs 47 miles on electric then on a small gas engine. Total miles 340. Seats five, comfortable, great ride, and quiet because it's electric. We plug ours into a wall outlet every night and it's fully charged in the morning.
It's styling is "unique", but we love it.
Edit: I noticed you mentioned cost. A base model (the differences being the lack of power leather power seats and navigation) after the Federal rebate (you must have a tax bill large enough to take advantage of it) can cost as little as $23k or so. The big advantage monetarily is not buying gasoline. It costs me $40-$50 to fill my Sorento. Since May 5th we've spent less than $20 on gas for the Clarity.
I know a lot of people are skittish about CVTs. As long as you stay way from the Nissians they are OK. My Subaru Forester has a CVT and you just cannot tell. The software makes it shift like a regular automatic transmission. Of course, if you have a high horsepower engine, a regular automatic is preferred even over a manual. And my other car is a manual.
Feel on the road and curves? The lower a vehicle sits, the better it handles.
If you don't care about either of those, SUV's can be fine. I've had many a Subaru and used to drive Minivans (VERY practical), but now we have a 44 MPG Avalon Hybrid and just replaced an 08 Outback with a VW Golf Sportwagen.
If I was going to buy a SUV type...the new Soul was really cool.
BUT, any older driver should have, if possible, ALL the safety features (lane assist, pedestrian detection, etc.)....if one has the money, look at the Insurance company ratings and get the upper model with the best headlights (especially if you do night driving).
I considered a Tesla for the safety...but we are not that old yet and the price is still shocking. I think our next car will be a Tesla...maybe in 8 years.
The Avalon Hybrid was on our list until we found the Clarity. Nice car!! Large, comfortable, and that 44 mpg is nothing to sneeze at in a car that size.
I have a 2020 Soul with the CVT transmission. It does not feel or drive like a CVT.
Quote:
Originally Posted by craigiri
If I was going to buy a SUV type...the new Soul was really cool.
Every time I become annoyed after reading complaints about the new Toyota Camry and Honda CR-V, which I've been considering, I start thinking maybe I should at least test drive a Soul. I don’t know why, but I'm surprised that it seems a lot of people like them. I then pushed it under the rug again yesterday because a friend pointed out that at least the rear and back door windows are very narrow and small. He also had other negatives to say about it. After I looked at it more closely, I kind of agreed with him, and I'd be concerned about visibility. If I did consider a Soul, I'd still get a new 2019 without a CVT. Maintenance with CVT’s in general and long-term reliability and longevity are my main concerns, and not as much how they feel or drive. And, for whatever reason, I’m having a hard time accepting that the Soul in general has long-term reliability and longevity. I wish someone could prove to me otherwise because I’d love some other options to choose from because I’m exhausted from this car search!
If the Kia brand in general can be taken as an acceptable example then I can tell you that our 2008 Kia Sorento has been a dream. Very low maintenance. On the other hand it must be mentioned that it has about 60k miles which might be exceptionally low.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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High vehicle, (within reason)
EZ to see out of
cheap to insure
Multifunction
Replaceable
Serviceable.
ez to shuttle friends and supplies and take on trips
= minivan (got 38 mpg on the last one we rented / Dodge)
If the Kia brand in general can be taken as an acceptable example then I can tell you that our 2008 Kia Sorento has been a dream. Very low maintenance. On the other hand it must be mentioned that it has about 60k miles which might be exceptionally low.
So the point here is don’t drive a car more than 5000 miles a year and it will last forever. Great advice. Now I just need 3 cars.
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