Which Motability car ?

MouldyOldDough

Here is my shortlist

What am I missing - the car must have a large enough boot to take a wheelchair (folded) - at the same time as 4 people 

The downpayment can be up to around £3000 !

Hybrid/pure Petrol - no EV's

The mini probably  doesn't fit the bill but its there because I do like minis.....they must be automatic (preferably torque converter - but since TC's appear to be in short supply - anything considered)

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The obvious thing to do is go and have a look at a Jazz.

As it won't be your problem when the warranty runs out, take a look at the Citroen too, the new shape is a bit Marmite (I hate it) but the ride is supposed to be very good.

If they are both too small, work your way along starting from the cheapest.

Any money you put into a motability car is lost, AFAIK they stopped offering them for sale at the end of lease. (When they did offer them for sale, their valuations were very high)

daveyjp

New Yaris feels tighter in the back than the old one.  Not sure I'd want to sit in the rear for long journeys.  Boot isn't that large.

S tronic gearboxes still aren't bombproof so Audi is out for me.

Jazz and Niro would be my first ones to look at, HRV if you can stomach the upfront costs.  Just ensure you have a local Honda dealer, they are few and far between in lots of areas.

born_again

Only one way to do it. Take wheelchair to test how well it fits in boot & take a test drive.

I can say as the owner of a Kia Niro (had a HEV DCT auto, good to drive) now a E-Niro. That a wheelchair with removable wheels fits in the boot & there is more than enough space for 4 adults.

MouldyOldDough

What size battery has the HRV got ?

I believe that as a FULL hybrid - it is drivable for some distance, purely on battery 

I can't see any mention of this on Hondas website 

Herzlos

I know someone with a Captur who regularly has a wheelchair in the back and it seems fine with 4 people in.

HRV will take 4 passengers + chair with no issues. 

C3 and Jazz should do fine, though the rear passengers won't have much space. 

The Mini and Yaris have virtually no boot worth speaking off. A chair might fit if it collapses pretty flat. 

But your best bet is to go to a dealership with the chair and try them out. We nearly bought a C3 but discovered the boot was a couple of inches too narrow for our buggy.  

knightstyle

We have an HR-V on Motability, had it for 6 weeks and very happy with it. the hybrid is great, starts on electric and then goes to petrol engine but the engine often runs when starting and at rest, kind of off putting but gives 60mpg around town. Depends on battery charge level.
I really like the way the back seats fold up, great for wheel chair dog bed etc. But I don't think we could get a wheel chair in the boot while the back seats are in use. The floor is too high although there is a small storage space under it.
As others said go for a practice, we had the honda demo car for almost a full day when looking.  Plus make sure you can get service etc. locally. Our local Ford garage has closed and is now MG so we would have to go a long way if we had got a puma which was on our list.

MouldyOldDough

knightstyle said:

We have an HR-V on Motability, had it for 6 weeks and very happy with it. the hybrid is great, starts on electric and then goes to petrol engine but the engine often runs when starting and at rest, kind of off putting but gives 60mpg around town. Depends on battery charge level.
I really like the way the back seats fold up, great for wheel chair dog bed etc. But I don't think we could get a wheel chair in the boot while the back seats are in use. The floor is too high although there is a small storage space under it.
As others said go for a practice, we had the honda demo car for almost a full day when looking.  Plus make sure you can get service etc. locally. Our local Ford garage has closed and is now MG so we would have to go a long way if we had got a puma which was on our list.

Thanks - yes we have a Honda dealers, two miles away 

It looks like it's going to be a Jazz or HR-V

Either can be delivered within 6 weeks 

Just slightly concerned about the gearbox (CVT) and physical size (wife likes small cars)

WellKnownSid

MouldyOldDough said:

knightstyle said:

We have an HR-V on Motability, had it for 6 weeks and very happy with it. the hybrid is great, starts on electric and then goes to petrol engine but the engine often runs when starting and at rest, kind of off putting but gives 60mpg around town. Depends on battery charge level.
I really like the way the back seats fold up, great for wheel chair dog bed etc. But I don't think we could get a wheel chair in the boot while the back seats are in use. The floor is too high although there is a small storage space under it.
As others said go for a practice, we had the honda demo car for almost a full day when looking.  Plus make sure you can get service etc. locally. Our local Ford garage has closed and is now MG so we would have to go a long way if we had got a puma which was on our list.

Thanks - yes we have a Honda dealers, two miles away 

It looks like it's going to be a Jazz or HR-V

Either can be delivered within 6 weeks 

Just slightly concerned about the gearbox (CVT) and physical size (wife likes small cars)

CVTs drive okay - you'll get used to it - but are generally useless piles of crap after about 150,000 miles.  How many miles are you planning to run it for?

daveyjp

Or 60,000 miles if its a Nissan CVT.

No issue with Honda or Toyota CVTs.  Subarus CVTs will happily do 250,000 with little more than regular fluid changes.

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If it is a motorbility car, then you won't have it outside warranty, so any potential gearbox issues won't be your problem.

CVTs sound & feel a bit "funny" compared to a 4 speed torque converter auto but you will get used to it, it is just point and squirt like an EV, I'm happy to drive my EV even after 40 years of 3 & 4 speed autos.