I realize this is an old post, but wanted to share. My disclaimer is I am not in any way recommending these ideas below, I am just sharing with you what we found works for us. Here is what we found to be the easiest way to get my 91 yr old mom, 5' 3" 150 lbs.. We have worked with her with a walker in the house walking forward up a half step and backward up the step. (Outside step sold on Amazon) Walkers legs can easily fit on the ground around it. We place this on the ground next to the door. Have mom place herself with heals almost touching the step. She carefully steps up backwards, then with the walker steps back to the car frame (Honda mini van) She reaches back for the seat with her one hand to locate it. (We use a gate belt at all times) then bends at her hips until her backside touches the seat (we have a towel on the seat-dad pulls from the drivers seat to pull her in. Then she turns to get her feet in with our help. After reading about the plastic bag We may try this under the towel. If there is enough room we have also tried from the side stepping forward up to door opening and turning slowly to have her back to the seat before sitting. This method is generally used at the house. We have a heavy duty wood step, same height as the outdoor step but a lot larger. The walker fits completely on top of it. Which makes turning easier. We find all cars/vans are difficult because the doors on cars do not open all the way for easy access. Back seats of mini vans/ many cars have to much of a gap between the door and seat when the person you are assisting is afraid of falling or has a history of falls. Love hearing everyones ideas. We are tempted to have a lift seat installed for her safety.

I have a Chrysler Town & Country that I love! I have only had it a year so I can't address it's long-term reliability, and it is a lease so I'll never know. I just know I am so happy with it. It is my first mini-van and I've had kids for over 10 years. You obviously know how wonderful it is to own a minivan! What I like best are the stow-and-go seats which fold totally flat into the floor. I don't know if this feature is available with the auto button that you mentioned. While the rear seat is a breeze to flip down, the middle seats are kind of bulky to move - with your wrist issues you may want to play with one at the dealership. The ride is nice, the layout is nice. My last car was a Volvo wagon and I like the T&C so much better, plus it cost so much less! That Volvo was very noisy. If I had any complaint about the T&C it would be that the AC is kind of weak, but I guess it has a big job to do. Several of my friends own T&Cs and all of them are very happy with them. When my lease is up I plan to get another one as well. Nicole

my grand cherokee gets 17.6 mpg city(real time read-out), don't remember highway since my daily commute is city only. my dh has a ford f-150, medium sized truck that only gets 12 mpg. i am happy w/ my gas mileage, for 18 months i drove hundreds of miles a week and took 2-3 tanks fulls of gas for work. i never had time to turn in my mileage for pay at work (did use on my 07 taxes thou) so 1 tank every 10-12 days is wonderful to me lol. we will be driving to an atlanta vacation this fall and i will rent a hybrid SUV just to try it out. i am in the market in the next 12 months for a new SUV and was going to get a land rover, range rover sport, until TaTa Motors bought them out and they closed the store near me. who wants a car by TaTa lol?! i am feeling a bit of a need to be more environmental thou so if i find a hyrid SUV suitable i'd consider it. ~ liz

Lulu, I'm glad your Jeep came through for you. Distracted driving has become a thing, unfortunately. Speaking of which, I've noticed among the mostly positive consumer reviews of the 2022 Outback a number of complaints about the touch screen. Apparently Subaru has buried the climate controls under a couple of layers, so that a significant amount of attention has to be paid tto making heating/cooling adjustments, often while driving. The point was made that for all of Subaru's emphasis on safety, they've managed to create a dangerous situation. I need to read up on the 2021 and 2020 models, and see if the problem exists there too. I feel like I'm always adjusting the temperature and fan, especially when I leave the house in the morning when it's chilly and am still driving later when the weather warms up. Sjerin, I don't know if you've been looking at brand new cars, but you might find more satisfactory seats in other model years. I hope so. I have the feeling I'm going to encounter the same situation when I start car shopping. I'm putting that off until after I've recovered from my May 15 gallbladder surgery.