mamabunny
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2012
Well, those really are *really* modified! LOL
I have to say, overall it looks like it's a great system that they are using - I was surprised to see that they didn't keep the electric seats as an option, because that could have been used to lift the driver seat up to a position closer in height to the wheelchair seat - but it could be that they can't do that and have the extra-long travel back and forwards to allow for transfer.
The modifications themselves look nice - they matched the paint well, and although the back end is clearly not a stock hatch back, it isn't ridiculous looking or anything
Plus, it appears that they fully finished the interior space out - one of my big gripes about modded vehicles has been when they have to rip out sections of the interior and then don't match the finish back to something like the original interior.
Based on their pricing, you could probably identify a year model (ie a 2016 Kia Soul) and then add about $10,000 to the MSRP, and it seems like that is what they are selling them for. Not bad, although it seems like they are using low-mileage previously owned vehicles, so I presume if you wanted a new-new car, you might have to buy it from the dealer and then have them modify it?
But the mods look good! In one of the videos he said he's 5'9" and his head almost bumped the roof. I'm *assuming* that the chair he uses has a standard seat height of 20". I know that some people "carry" their height in their legs (they are long legged) and others have longer torsos - so 10 different people who were all the same height standing might be quite different when seated in the same height chair.
Still *really* curious about what they had to move/change to make all that happen in the back end! I guess the "worst" thing might be that you would want to park out away from traffic in parking lots, so that you didn't have to worry about the ramp deploying into a busier area of parking lot (most handicapped parking spots are in fairly traffic-y areas in my experience) but your Fold and Go would zip you right back across the parking lot, so there's no worry there. The Kia Soul is short enough that you could maybe pull all the way into the parking space, and not have too much out of the ramp out in traffic - I'm honestly not sure what the length of a standard parking space is!
The coolest mod I have ever seen in person was a local man had his car modified so that the entire drivers side (doors, windows, everything) lifted up like a gull-wing, and the drivers seat swiveled out so he could transfer. There was a kind of a cage thing that came out from behind the drivers seat (where the B pillar usually would be) that he rolled his chair into, and then that went back up and slid into the car, the drivers seat retracted into the car and swiveled around, and the whole side of the car came back down. No worries about loading in the rain or snow, because the side of the car literally kept you out of the weather (except for wet pavement) Damndest thing I have ever seen in my life. He had it all custom done in California.
I have to say, overall it looks like it's a great system that they are using - I was surprised to see that they didn't keep the electric seats as an option, because that could have been used to lift the driver seat up to a position closer in height to the wheelchair seat - but it could be that they can't do that and have the extra-long travel back and forwards to allow for transfer.
The modifications themselves look nice - they matched the paint well, and although the back end is clearly not a stock hatch back, it isn't ridiculous looking or anything
Plus, it appears that they fully finished the interior space out - one of my big gripes about modded vehicles has been when they have to rip out sections of the interior and then don't match the finish back to something like the original interior. Based on their pricing, you could probably identify a year model (ie a 2016 Kia Soul) and then add about $10,000 to the MSRP, and it seems like that is what they are selling them for. Not bad, although it seems like they are using low-mileage previously owned vehicles, so I presume if you wanted a new-new car, you might have to buy it from the dealer and then have them modify it?
But the mods look good! In one of the videos he said he's 5'9" and his head almost bumped the roof. I'm *assuming* that the chair he uses has a standard seat height of 20". I know that some people "carry" their height in their legs (they are long legged) and others have longer torsos - so 10 different people who were all the same height standing might be quite different when seated in the same height chair.
Still *really* curious about what they had to move/change to make all that happen in the back end! I guess the "worst" thing might be that you would want to park out away from traffic in parking lots, so that you didn't have to worry about the ramp deploying into a busier area of parking lot (most handicapped parking spots are in fairly traffic-y areas in my experience) but your Fold and Go would zip you right back across the parking lot, so there's no worry there. The Kia Soul is short enough that you could maybe pull all the way into the parking space, and not have too much out of the ramp out in traffic - I'm honestly not sure what the length of a standard parking space is!
The coolest mod I have ever seen in person was a local man had his car modified so that the entire drivers side (doors, windows, everything) lifted up like a gull-wing, and the drivers seat swiveled out so he could transfer. There was a kind of a cage thing that came out from behind the drivers seat (where the B pillar usually would be) that he rolled his chair into, and then that went back up and slid into the car, the drivers seat retracted into the car and swiveled around, and the whole side of the car came back down. No worries about loading in the rain or snow, because the side of the car literally kept you out of the weather (except for wet pavement) Damndest thing I have ever seen in my life. He had it all custom done in California.
