This is a tricky question to answer because when you buy a wheelchair car, both the car's model and the car's conversion are important.
The same car model could have an excellent conversion or a basic one. This would be reflected in the price. The one you choose should be the one that suits your individual needs and your budget.
Thorntrees Garage has been working with Wheelchair vehicles for a long time and has seen the early popemobile-type vans evolve into well-engineered cars. What follows is our opinion of the best wheelchair car.
Brotherwood does the best and most expensive conversions. Rod Brotherwood, who started the business, was an engineer and designed his vehicles to give wheelchair users the best possible motoring experience, using larger cutouts, flatter floors and using a very high standard of finish inside.
The main cost of converting a wheelchair car is cutting the floor and welding in its lower replacement floor without compromising fuel tanks and exhaust systems. This makes Brotherwood conversions more expensive when new, but well worth it. Second-hand Brotherwood conversions are much more affordable.
The other part of the equation is the make and model of the car. Again, there are several good options here. As well as making sure that the wheelchair user is comfortable, it is important to make sure the driver is happy.
The driver may prefer Peugeots, Citroens, Fords or Volkswagens. However, all four make good wheelchair cars.
Peugeot Partners and Citroen Berlingo make excellent small WAVS. They have plenty of room for all sizes of wheelchairs and usually have three additional seats for the driver and two more passengers. They come in petrol and diesel, manual and automatic.
The Ford Tourneo is an excellent wheelchair car. It will likely come with extras like sat nav and blue tooth phone connection. However, it usually has three seats, and there is not always much room in the back.
Best of all for many people is the Volkswagen Caddy which converts brilliantly and can offer five seats plus a wheelchair user in the long wheelbase model – this means the wheelchair user travels right at the back, but they can take more passengers with them.
In our opinion, the Brotherwood Volkswagen Caddy and the Brotherwood Ford Tourneo are the best cars for wheelchairs.