Saturday, August 30, 2008

quiet weekend

I don't have Monday off--the university where I teach doesn't give Monday holidays (except Martin Luther King Day). But becaused it is a holiday weekend there is less on the calendar, so it feels restful. We were going to go look for a car for John today, but then we got interested in a Scion XD and the dealer will call us when one comes in in a couple of days. John has been driving a Dodge minivan, but it has over 100,000 miles on it (and we haven't found them terribly reliable) and John passed his driving evaluation. I have no guess how much longer he will be able to drive, but we have two kids with learners permits so we are likely to continue to have a use for a second car.

We think he needs a car where he sits up fairly high so it will be easier to get in and out. I like the Scion as the smaller equivalent of a minivan with the lowest cost and best gas mileage (the Honda Element is bigger and only seats two in back). I have a 2008 xB that I like very much. The Scion xB is the car that looks like a toaster, only the 2008 version they made larger and not quite so boxy. We were looking for an older used one for John, until I happened to look at the xD model, which is more of a hatchback and less of a miniature van and costs under $17,000 new with automatic transmission. The next step is to try one out and see if it is as easy to get in and out of as the xB.

I looked for some kind of listing of cars that are easy to get in and out of or are suitable for people with Parkinson's disease, but I can't find anything but reviews of wheelchair conversions.

1 comment:

Stella said...

Now is too early to be thinking of this but maybe you want to tuck it in your "to do" list for future consideration. When John no longer uses his driver's license, make sure he gets an official ID with picture. He will need it for voting, check cashing and many other things. Just a thought.