Which Car for my Parents?

[Mr N8]

The Subaru Legacy and the Volvo S40 & V50 are excellent vehicles. I really wanted a Legacy GT when I bought my last car, but could not justify spending that kind of money on a commuter car. The manuals in both the Subarus and Volvos are very smooth and fun to drive. The Audi A4 has a very stiff manual that's a bit picky, but it's nice once you get the hang of it.

[David M]

I would look into an AWD with traction control if your parents are that concerned about getting traction...AWD is nice but not as good as a AWD with traction control which uses a computer to apply the brakes and reduce the throttle to reduce skidding. It's not the same thing as ABS its a little more sophisticated than ABS. I took a Crossfire (rental) out on a gravel road once and tried doing powerslides. It would not let me. It took the power off the throttle and applied the brakes to the correct tires and straightened the car right out of the little bit bit of slide that I was able to get. I was impressed. I turned the traction controll off and was able to powerslide the hell out of that car...yahoooo!

It does not necessarily have to be a car or truck with high ground clearance. All kinds of models have traction control.

[thefultonhow]

Originally Posted by David M I would look into an AWD with traction control if your parents are that concerned about getting traction...AWD is nice but not as good as a AWD with traction control which uses a computer to apply the brakes and reduce the throttle to reduce skidding. It's not the same thing as ABS its a little more sophisticated than ABS.

Many AWD systems essentially include traction control as prt of their basic operation. The Crossfire probably had Dynamic Stability Control, which is even better. As far as I know, the Subaru and Volvo do not include DSC, and the Mazda, BMW and Audi do.