New car advice

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
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Wed 2 Oct 2013 13:32
New car advice - owenhamilton

I'm a disabled driver and I am looking to get a new car and I'd like some advice on what to get. Can anyone think of a car that has an automatic gearbox, which is either a hatchback or coupe with 2 or 3 doors depending on body style that also has electrically powered seats.

Thank you.

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Wed 2 Oct 2013 13:39
New car advice - skidpan

Only you can decide what car suits your needs. Get in your car and visit as many dealers as you can. Look at the cars and since you are disabled make sure they are easy enough for you to enter/exit etc., we have no idea what your disabilities are and what problems they cause you.

Very few run of the mill cars have electric seats even as an option. You would need to be looking at the likes of Lexus, BMW, Mercedes, Jaguar, Range Rover, etc to find electric seats as standard.

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Wed 2 Oct 2013 13:42
New car advice - RT

There's plenty of mainstream cars that get electric seats, at least on their upper models. My Hyundai's got them for goodness sakes!

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Thu 3 Oct 2013 17:03
New car advice - Ed V

My Citroen too, not that I slide the seats back and forth too often!

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Thu 3 Oct 2013 17:09
New car advice - thunderbird

Have had electric lumbar, electric height on relatively mundane cars but have only ever seen electric forward and back offered on top of the range stuff.

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Thu 3 Oct 2013 18:48
New car advice - coopshere
Are you currently driving an automatic?

It may help you to narrow your search greatly if you are only looking for a conventional torque convertor automatic. If you didn't know there are only a few manufacturers producing these at the moment. The likes of Mercedes, BMW and Honda are probably the main ones but there a couple of others such as Hyundai and Kia too.

Ford, Volvo, VW and some others have switched to the DSG style gearbox which is not a true auto but can be driven as if it is. Some of these are getting poor long term reviews now so do your research before deciding on them. Another design calling itself an auto is in fact just an automated clutch which again gets some poor reviews. Citroen, Peugeot, Fiat and a few others produce this type. If you are not familiar with either of these two then you need to give them a thorough test before opting for them as they do have idiosyncrasies that do not exist in a conventional auto. As ever though it is a matter of whether or not you like the way they drive which will be the deciding factor.

Whichever type of auto you choose, as already mentioned above, you will probably only find full electric seats in the upper range of models. If you do look at these then there are also a few models that have a memory function which will be useful if you have to move the seat each time you enter and leave the car.
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Thu 3 Oct 2013 20:00
New car advice - John Boy

What a helpful and well-written reply that is, Coopsphere, especially where "automatic" gearboxes are concerned!

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