Best Used Car for Tall Driver to get to/from Life-Sustaining medical treatments

Question

Scotty et al.,

My wife and I have two friends who live in Denver, both with life-limiting illnesses (cancer and a neurological disease). He's a 6'6" and she's a bit shorter but uses a wheelchair. They've had an extremely rough year - losing their car, having to change providers, COVID-19, you name it. They've been using public transportation and Uber to for the past few months, but Uber costs a fortune and the city just removed the bus stop near their house.

We're raising $10,000 to buy them a used car, but we still haven't decided which model and year we're going to go after. Our perfect car will be:

1. Accessible - Internal seating/head room for a 6’6” driver and ample space for the wheelchair and supplies

2. Safe and Reliable - mechanically sound, will last another 100k miles and safe for winter driving

3. Low cost to repair/ease of ownership

4. Year - newer is better, sometimes

5. Mileage - obviously

6. Amenities - Nice to haves are nice to haves; we'll take what we can get.

We're leaning toward a crossover like the RAV4 or CRV, but our minds are open. What we really want is a car that won't be a burden three or four years from now. Just getting around is already a struggle; the car we're looking for definitely shouldn't be.

What years and models would you recommend we look for?

Thanks for your help!

Erin

PS - you can read more about our friends at our fundraising page: https://www.gofundme.com/f/a-reliable-car-for-cancersurvivors-linc-jean/

Glen_stet · Accepted Answer

There are side and rear-access Toyota Sienna minivan conversions - that would be ideal.

They tend to be expensive, but here's one in your budget

https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/vehicledetails.xhtml?listingId=588140222&zip=20707&referrer=%2Fcars-for-sale%2Fsearchresults.xhtml%3Fzip%3D20707%26keywordPhrases%3Dwheelchair%2Bconversion%26city%3DLaurel%26incremental%3Dall%26modelCodeList%3DSIENNA%26makeCodeList%3DTOYOTA%26sortBy%3Drelevance%26location%3D%255Bobject%2BObject%255D%26maxPrice%3D15000%26state%3DMD%26searchByDma%3Dfalse%26firstRecord%3D0%26marketExtension%3Dinclude%26relevanceConfig%3Ddefault%26searchRadius%3D0%26isNewSearch%3Dfalse&numRecords=25&maxPrice=15000&searchByDma=false&firstRecord=0&modelCodeList=SIENNA&makeCodeList=TOYOTA&searchRadius=0&makeCode1=TOYOTA&modelCode1=SIENNA&clickType=listing

Chuck Tobias · Answer

I would think for dealing with a wheelchair a minivan like a Toyota Sienna would be the perfect thing, but those go for a good chunk of change even in normal times. (Don't even consider a Chrysler minivan, and Scotty has said even the Honda vans are not so great due to weak transmissions.) A RAV4 or CRV probably would not be bad choices if you can find one that's decent in your price range. Now is just a bad time to be looking for a car, the market is way out of whack.

erinmadsen · Answer

Thanks everyone! I hadn't seriously considered the Sienna, but after looking into it a little more, I really see the appeal. You guys are great.