I started my scooter years with a basic and cheap pavement scooter with the normal break into 5 pieces assemble and dissemble. It packed up after a couple of years.
My second scooter had suspension in the form of a shock absorber in the seats supporting stem.
Having now felt the difference even that basic suspension made I soon upgraded to a scooter with all round suspension and highly recommend having this in any scooter.
With MB cars getting so expensive for large scooter carrying ones I changed to an auto-folding scooter again with all around suspension, something that has only appeared last past few years, and use this to this day.
Advantages of the 5 piece scooters is the chair and its ability to swivel around and is the one thing I really miss, and overlooked, in my folding scooter but unfortunately is just one of many disadvantages of being disabled as we all know.
With my 1st (CareCo badged) and 2nd (Pride GoGo elite with seat suspension) scooters I struggled with 3 hatchback cars on MB and the assembling and dissembling methods and yes the platform piece with the tiller on can be a nightmare to lift along with the motor piece so think your mother will struggle with it as I’m, although unstable on my feet and only have use of one arm and hand I’m still strong in the other bits of me that do work and while lifting anything of that weight is hard, lifting to the height of a cars sills is out of the question for many.
Moving on I then had an Auto-Chair hoist fitted in my 4th car as it happened I was able to afford a slightly bigger car that accommodated the scooter fully assembled. That said halfway through that lease I changed to the all around suspension (Pride GoGo Traveller De-lux) and while both scooters where identical the all rounder would not go into the car without removing the scooters chair and assumed the suspension lifted the height a little bit.
The auto folder I use today weights in 16 Kg less than my 5 piece 42 Kg scooters and although I can just about man-handle (are we still allowed to say that these days) it into the car over time it would totally destroy the cars bodywork along with the scooter itself so I use an “Elev8” portable hoist that cost as much as one Auto-Chair hoist install but should last for many future cars but highly recommend if you want to try one of these is to check it out at a Careco store as it might not be suitable for many, in fact I know it isn’t. The Elev8 platform weights in at a manageable, for me at least, 11 Kg.
Update…
Sorry my memory failed me then but my 2nd scooter was the Pride GoGo Traveller Elite with the suspension in the seat while my 3rd was a Pride Apex Rapid with all around suspension.
