Being Spina Bifida and now full time in a wheelchair (used to use calipers until a few years back, when I broke my leg at work) without the ability to stand, I need an estate car as an suv is to high to transfer in and out of.
This is becoming a bit of a problem as the the manufactures are making less and less estate cars and Motability only supply a handful of the limited number of large estate automatics that could and should be available. No estate versions of Hyundai i40, Audi A4, Merc C class, Mazda 6 Automatic, to mention a few.
On top of that most of the large estates that Motability do offer, tend to be lower spec, than what I need.
I require my hand controlled automatic to have leather heated electric height adjustment driver and passenger seats and a 360 degree camera (very helpful when driving a hand controlled car with both hands on the steering wheel), and a decent sized engine. If you have a quick look on Motability, you will find very few that meet my needs. Fortunately I have had a Kia Optima Sportswagon GT-Line S, for the last 9 months which meets all of my needs (all be it with a large AP) and I intend to keep it for 5 years, but genuinely worry what suitable estates will be available then.
Motability gives grants for some large WAV’s I believe, but the fact that I drive and love to drive, most would be to high to get in and out of the drivers seat. But my point is that if Motability can give grants for WAV’s then maybe they should be looking at using some of their reserves to help people who are genuinely so severely disabled that they need large automatic estate cars with leather electric seats and reversing cameras through necessity not for luxury, as their needs can only be met by leasing cars with large AP’s (mine was £3,250, that month but now £3’750). Motability must try and meet the vastly different needs of all its customers, as that was what it was set up for in 1977.