Get what you want for you and give him a 1990 Mercury Grand Marquis or similar. It's large, heavy, sturdy, rides like a floating carpet and is likely to not only allow him to walk away from an accident - it's damn likely to be driven away by him in his healthy fullness. Mine has 216000 miles on it and shows no signs of giving up the ghost anytime soon. It's not sporty, not pretty and decidedly not fuel efficient but it IS up to taking a beating and sadly, few vehicles made in the last decade are made of plastics or composites that approach the strength of the ol' Merc. Finally, I live in SW Michigan and we have lots of lake-effect snow that it handles just fine, thank you.