The Best Cars for Retirement

Managing unforeseen expenses in retirement is crucial, and owning a vehicle is often a significant expense. Retirees should prioritize reliability to ensure their cars enable a hassle-free lifestyle. Consumer Reports provides valuable data on vehicle reliability. Five recommended cars for retirees include the Toyota Camry Hybrid, Toyota Highlander Hybrid, Acura RDX, Subaru Forester, and BMW X5, catering to different needs from practicality to luxury.

Transcript:

We’ve talked about the importance of managing unforeseen expenses in retirement.

You know, taking care of a big ticket item like your home’s major systems or healthcare or gifts to your family.

But owning a vehicle is often the second most expensive decision people make after their home.

Austin, what should retirees consider when choosing a car for retirement?

Yeah. The bottom line is, it’s all about reliability.

You made it to retirement, so you’re probably less focused on features and style than you were.

This is all about making your life simple, predictable, and making it easier for you to live those hobbies and activities that you retired for in the first place.

No one wants to get in their car on their way to a tennis lesson and have it not start.

This is all about enabling you and getting closer to those hobbies that you retired for.

Let’s look at five vehicles based on reliability scores from Consumer Reports, which is far and away the best metric for long-term reliability of automakers out there.

They’ve got data going back decades.

They do a really excellent and thorough job of current and predicted reliability.

Five vehicles based on their data.

Number one, the Toyota Camry Hybrid.

You can buy a new one for under $30,000.

It gets over 50 miles per gallon and look, it’s very comfortable. This is a sedan.

So number two, if you’re hauling family members or equipment for your hobbies and you need something larger, you can stick in the Toyota ecosystem and go with the Highlander Hybrid.

The three-row SUV, it’s about $40,000 new, so a little more expensive, but still by new car standards, relatively cheap.

Gets 40 miles per gallon in hybrid, and it’s absolutely bulletproof reliability and low maintenance costs.

So if you want something maybe the same utility as a Toyota Highlander Hybrid, but maybe a little bit of a sportier drive, you can look at the Acura RDX.

This costs about $5,000 to $10,000 more than the Highlander, of course, depending on trim, but it’s much more engaging to drive.

And it actually, believe it or not, scores higher than the Highlander in predictive reliability, which is quite a testament for a vehicle that has scored so well so consistently over the years.

Number four, same story as the RDX, but maybe a little smaller and much more affordable.

And also with a higher predicted reliability is the Subaru Forester.

This is a car that you can get for under $30,000.

It gets close to 30 miles per gallon.

It’s extremely capable.

It’s got great ground clearance.

And of course, if you live in snowy or northern climates, you’ve got that Subaru all-wheel drive, which everyone knows about.

And then the last one, hey, this is retirement.

If you’ve got a little bit of extra income and you want to ride in style, let’s look at the BMW X5.

Now, this is not normally a reliable vehicle, but it’s very comfortable.

It’s very fun.

And believe it or not, according to Consumer Reports data, it actually has the same reliability score as the Forester.

It’s the number one rated luxury midsize SUV by Consumer Reports.

Now, there’s a huge range of price here.

You can get them all the way, we’re talking new, $60,000 all the way up over $100,000.

But if you’re looking for that stylish ride in retirement, the BMW X5.

So just to summarize, Toyota Camry Hybrid for a sedan, Toyota Highlander Hybrid if you want something bigger, still efficient, Acura RDX, Subaru Forester, BMW X5.

Thanks, Austin.

That’s a good list of everything from practical to riding in style.