Tell me what kind of car my teen and I need

January 22, 2022 12:02 PM

My fourteen-year-old and I need a car. We don't currently have one. Specs inside; would welcome advice.

My teen and I need a car.

Our specific needs:

I am disabled and often use a wheelchair or mobility scooter. The scooter I own right now breaks easily into pieces, so it doesn't take up a full-scooter-sized space. But I need to be able to fit one of these two items in while the vehicle is also carrying:

Two large dog crates for my son's Border Collie and Belgian Malinois.

Often, for instance when going to dog sports, we will need the crates and the chair or scooter at the same time.

One option is, say, a minivan with the second row of seats taken out. But we want to be able to have at least one person, possibly two, in the second row, and also my chair and also the dogs. Also, the dogs' equipment, mostly leashes and toys, but may expand to the kind of awnings/tents/etc that people set up at big dog events.

We think a smallish SUV is probably the right thing, but it can be difficult for me to step up into a vehicle with a high wheelbase.

There is little to no chance we'll buy a brand-new car, so if you know something about a specific model made, say, three to five years ago, I'd be glad to hear that.

Open to any suggestions, and to other ideas if there's a vehicle that is not a small SUV that you think would work for us. Even an idea that turns out not to be a good fit could lead to something else that is.

posted by Well I never to Shopping (13 answers total)

Any vehicle that can carry four people, two large dogs in crates, a scooter, a big tent with poles and box of dog toys is going to be quite large. I doubt a small SUV will cut it.
posted by jon1270 at 12:26 PM on January 22, 2022 [6 favorites]

Yeah, I don’t see anything other than a minivan working for this matrix of needs.
posted by rockindata at 12:29 PM on January 22, 2022 [6 favorites]

But the dog crates should fit in the back, with the third row folded into the floor, and then you can also fold one of the second row captains chairs to fit the scooter while still accommodating another person in the other one. Tents and toys and crap can fit in and around the big items.
posted by rockindata at 12:32 PM on January 22, 2022 [2 favorites]

A Toyota Sienna would do the trick, especially if you remove one of the seats in the second row. The third row folds completely down into the floor, so you can stick the dog crates back there. Pop-up tents can fit sideways in the second row, so you can slide one in there and the person sitting in the second row rests their feet on it. (Your pop-up and /or minivan may vary, but I've done it in two Siennas of wildly different years, and a variety of pop-ups.)
posted by The corpse in the library at 12:43 PM on January 22, 2022 [3 favorites]

Nthing that a minivan is what you want, given your cargo needs. Some of them have seats that can be folded up entirely into the floor for cargo space; my mom's Dodge Caravan does this for both the back and middle seats, for instance, and it makes it super easy to reconfigure the inside of the van for whatever you might need to carry. They are a bit higher off the ground than a typical sedan, but not as high as a lot of trucks or even SUVs.
posted by Aleyn at 1:03 PM on January 22, 2022 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: You are all probably right, but we had dreamed of moving past the minivan stage of life.
posted by Well I never at 1:37 PM on January 22, 2022

Response by poster: We have both accepted this truth. We have had minivans and found them very useful and versatile in all the ways you mention.
posted by Well I never at 1:38 PM on January 22, 2022 [2 favorites]

There's also the Ford Transit Connect. It's a van, but a bit less minivan. The wagon (passenger) version can be had with one or two rows of rear seats. With only one row, the back is a spacious open box. You'd want to check that your dog crates specifically fit, but it's more space than you'd get with a large SUV or similar. It's also lower to the ground and easier to load.

Used market is a bit jacked up right now (I'm looking for one myself) but they're available without breaking the bank.
posted by jellywerker at 1:53 PM on January 22, 2022 [3 favorites]

A friend has a Transit and loves it, says it drives more like a car. She hauls a ton of bikes and gear in it, too.
posted by vers at 4:01 PM on January 22, 2022 [1 favorite]

With a Toyota Sienna you probably would not have to remove any seats. The back row of seats flips down into the floor easily, and then you could bring one of the second row seats forward and flip it down for additional space. I’m not as familiar with the Honda Odyssey, but I would suggest going to both dealerships and doing a test drive where you park the minivan somewhere and play with seating configurations to see which works best.
posted by Wavelet at 7:08 PM on January 22, 2022 [1 favorite]

The Toyota Sienna also has an 8 person option (we have the 2012 8 seater, nothing exciting to drive but essentially bulletproof), so you can flip one second row seat down and still seat two people in the second row. One person needs to be on the small side though, the middle seat is quite tiny.
posted by Wavelet at 7:13 PM on January 22, 2022 [1 favorite]

Hmmm... Would the new Ford Maverick do it? The problem is it's a pickup so it has open bed. But the bed would fit the crates AND your scooter plus plenty of other stuff. You MAY need to get the camper shell though, or a tonneau cover.
posted by kschang at 8:04 PM on January 22, 2022 [1 favorite]

I think the Ford Flex might be an interesting option for you. It's low to the ground, has a removable 3rd row, and is a flat rear end that could support a scooter platform or towing a 5th wheel if it came to it. It's a discontinued model, because it was kind of a weird wagon design and nobody wanted wagons anymore but they run like champs.
posted by ApathyGirl at 3:10 PM on January 24, 2022