Best and worst HA-friendly vehicles

I own a 2012 Forrester. Currently wear opn and my phonak audeo smart were fine in the car.

@Don said:

It would actually be much cheaper to change hearing aids than change cars.

Barely…

The Grand Cherokee Summit has acoustic glass and for an SUV is pretty quiet. Much quieter than a Ford Explorer Limited for example. But they’re extremely pricey. Obscene actually. The first house I bought in 1973 was 20K less than the sticker on one of them. Unfortunately unless you’re willing to lay down a substantial amount of cash there just aren’t any quiet SUVs.

This depends a lot on your tires too. I have a Prius that’s not too bad. I would think any all-electric battery or fuel cell vehicle could be quiet, but that depends on the tires and whether it’s a bottom end $ car with lots of plastic. Tesla’s get a noise rating online anywhere?

My 2013 Hyundai Sonata was one of the loudest vehicles I ever drove. I recently replaced that with a 2016 Kia Sorento. A big improvement in quietness.

When I was researching replacement vehicles, I went to Consumer Reports (we have subscribed for decades) and one of the features you can filter on is “cabin noise.” It help me a lot in making my purchase decision.

I very much appreciate your insights. My audiologist, a solo practitioner, is on maternity leave until March. When she returns to the office I am going to ask her if there is some adjustment/program that would help me understand speech better in the car. We discussed it already and she said it’s one of the most difficult problems. I could bother her if it were an emergency, but this isn’t. And, also possibly this spring, I’ll be ending up with a new vehicle so your vehicle feedback and research suggestions will be useful.

I ride a motorcycle and the acoustics are great. I can’t even hear myself sing which is a good thing I think.

For all the time it takes at work to pay for the car, gas, registration, taxes and insurance plus the time spent stuck in a traffic jam, you could walk to your destination and get there much faster. By walking instead of owning a car you would also get more exercise and spend less time at work. Its better to walk, but if you must arrive on time ride a bicycle or just get a horse. i ride a bicycle and own a motorcycle. I haven’t owned a car for over 20 years. I reduced my work hours to part time at most. Henry Ford fooled us.

I do wonder what my life will be like once I am unable or unwilling to drive a car. I retired last year and I am 66 years old. I live in a very rural, underserved area where there is NO form of public transportation. The road that I live on is a 2-lane asphalt, but many around me are gravel. There is no UBER, LYFT, or any buses except school buses and they don’t drive seniors. The nearest town is 10 miles away. The one grocery store in that town will likely soon be going out of business. Wal-Mart is 45 minutes away by car. My audiologist is an hour and a half away. My eye doctor is an hour and 15 minutes away. Other of my doctors are a little closer–45 minutes away. Maybe consider that Henry Ford freed rural America rather than fooled it.

@elminero said:

Henry Ford fooled us.

I walk for exercise. I ride a bike for fun. But I drive to go places. Cities suck and I’d be bored without my wheels.

Are you saying your HAs cost $18,000?
Average New Vehicle Cost is $36,000+
](https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidkiley5/2018/05/30/average-new-vehicle-cost-is-36000-and-loan-delinquencies-are-up/1)

Well an average car here would be a four cylinder eg. a Corolla - about $Aau23,000. Probably because petrol is $Au1.65 per L. My hearing aids were $Au11,000 three and a half years ago - about half the cost of a new car. My Honda was a bit dearer but the cost of aids at a private audiologist here is very high.