Let the Shopping Commence!
This is a hard piece to write. But I think it’s important. I’m 79 years old, my wife and I have been thinking of retirement community living (attending orientations, even buying into one), after living in the same house for 42 years, expanding and modernizing it, and raising a family in it. Clearly, life change is coming! Also, I’ve owned twelve cars in my life (not necessarily all paid for by me), and been instrumental in selecting three more for family members. I now feel it’s time for one final entry in this lifetime epic … my next, and last, car.
It’s the culmination of a life story that consists of more than just the cars I’ve owned and selected. I grew up in a General Motors household in Flint, Michigan – my dad traded a new (GM) car every year when I was growing up. For a few years in the ‘50s, we even had a new Cadillac in the garage every year. Car brand and model recognition was a precocious skill I developed from about age six. In many ways, the story of my life is about the cars of the mid-20th century.
Now, the time has come to plan its last chapter. What are my parameters for this search? I know it will be an EV; my first BEV (I’ve shared a 2015 Chevy Volt PHEV with my wife for nearly twelve years) – a life change in itself! I realize this will entail installation of a Level 2 charger in my driveway (no garage). But no matter. It’s the only decision I’m confident about at this point. Lately, the U.S. EV market has been contracting somewhat – some models (especially, the “popular-priced” ones) are being discontinued, others delayed. But I’m optimistic that my remaining driving years will see a general increase in charging infrastructure, and I know from reading that reliability of EVs is, even now in 2026, superior to gasoline vehicles (fewer parts!). So, the argument seems to be a lock for the battery electric vehicle at this point. This will even hold for the one future retirement home development that we’ve put money into. They confirmed, at the orientation we attended, that there will be EV charging available when the facility opens in 2028.
So, what are my choices now when I start shopping in earnest? It looks like I could probably consider these new models: 1) Chevy Bolt, 2) Chevy Equinox, 3) Ford Mustang Mach-E, 4) Hyundai Ioniq 5, 5) Hyundai Kona Electric, 6) Kia EV3 (soon?), 7) Nissan Leaf, 8) Subaru Solterra, 9) Subaru Uncharted (new!), 10) Toyota bZ, and 11) Toyota C-HR (like Subaru Uncharted). These constitute the full range of my EV choices on the domestic market as of Fall 2026. I’m not able to contemplate anything in the luxury segment – for a NEW car. Even the bread-and-butter Volvo EV, the EX-40, is outside my price range – the bottom of Volvo’s line has just been dropped from the U.S. market (EX-30). VW’s ID.4 and Honda’s Prologue have also been dropped. Yes, new models may come over the course of 2027, and I will keep looking. But, dabbling in most other possibilities means going to “certified pre-owned” vehicles – perhaps the better choice, anyway. Note: there are no Teslas on my list; that’s deliberate, for perhaps less than rational reasons, though both Model 3 and Model Y could fall inside my price points (especially late model pre-owned) – I confess to some political/social sensibilities here. Looking at the specs for my eleven models (see table below), I see some acceptable battery ranges and charging times – and late model luxury models not listed here would offer similar specs — but there are some disadvantages of going with two or three-year-old battery technology. Also, NACS charging ports (allowing use of Tesla’s Supercharger network) were not widespread before last year. And infotainment software has likely been improving (although I don’t have definitive information about that, yet). Chevrolet electrics are the only ones not equipped with Apple Car Play (although they do have Google Play, which allows access to your Apple Music and Podcasts). They all have similar safety features – not self-driving excesses like Tesla’s. It’s difficult to understand why the market now seems to show great depreciation of EVs after their first year – late model pre-owned can be bought cheap! What don’t I know? Right now, I’d have to say that I might prefer a late-model, low mileage, used vehicle, given my driving profile … something to consider.
Leasing also seems to be less useful in my case. The lease would likely expire before I was done with the car – I don’t want to be forced to decide then whether to buy another car, or the same one I’ve been leasing for the last two or three years. I want this to be my final automobile purchase. That brings me to one of the most vexing decision points: Which of my two current vehicles will this car replace? My wife is seriously in love with her twelve-year-old Volt; so that leads me to say, okay, let’s replace our eight-year-old Honda CR-V, instead – ultra-low mileage (~10K miles), and strictly gasoline (not even a hybrid). But then what becomes of that Volt? I guess the final answer, regardless, is that the car we don’t replace lasts until it can’t, or we can’t, deal with the advanced age any longer …sigh. I’d like to think that the shopping adventure which we’re about to begin will get more enjoyable as it progresses. My reluctance comes from the incontrovertible fact that this WILL be my last car. Not a terribly upbeat forecast, I’m afraid. I’m still haunted by my stepfather’s decline into Alzheimers before he consented to give up his last car — some 20 years ago, in a Florida retirement community. That was, indeed, a sorry scene. My mom died soon thereafter. At least she was near me here in Northern Virginia.
EV Shopping, Fall 2026
— William Sundwick
