Dear Alex,
My wife has myopathy in her legs and wants our next car to be an automatic and easily accessible, with a low boot lip for me to load a foldable wheelchair. A much newer version of our automatic 2014 Ford Focus is on the list, but what else is out there? Typical journeys are no more than 12 miles with occasional much longer ones. Our budget is up to £20,000 plus any trade-in. What do you suggest?
– PP
Dear JW,
Depending on its specification, the trade-in value of your car is about £6,000, giving you a healthy budget of about £26,000 – and it’s perfectly feasible to get what you require for less than that.
My first choice would be a Suzuki Swace. This rebadged version of the Toyota Corolla Touring Sports is a relatively compact estate with a low load lip, along with a huge boot and Toyota’s proven hybrid powertrain.
The big difference is that the Suzuki is quite a bit more affordable when buying used – for £24,990, I found an ex-demonstrator 2024 example with only 370 miles.
If you can’t find a Swace nearby (they aren’t exactly commonplace), a Corolla will do just the same thing, although you get a slightly more used car for your cash. The same price gets you a 2023 Design with 15,000 miles.
Suzuki now offers a service-activated warranty like Toyota, although it only runs up to seven years as opposed to Toyota’s 10 years. For all that, the underlying car should be just as reliable.
One alternative might be a van-based car. Because they’re designed to haul cargo, these have low loading lips. They also have the advantage of a slightly elevated seating position, which might make it easier for your wife to climb in and out.
Our pick of the current crop is the Ford Tourneo Connect, which is surprisingly smooth and quiet and, of course, incredibly spacious. I found an ex-demonstrator 2023 2.0 TDI Titanium DCT with only 934 miles for £25,775.
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