I have been awarded High Rate Mobility, and need a more suitable car to get around in. I am looking at something like Vauxhalls Zafira automatic, and wondered if anyone has one and could comment on the car in general from a disabled point of view please.

If no Zafira users, then I would appreciate ideas as to what may be suitable for me, any make/model, but bear in mind the following:

I need to be able to get into the drivers seat quite easily, I have to physically lift my left leg into the car.

I am not a wheelchair or scooter user, so bootspace is no issue, but I walk/drive with a caliper brace fitted, so it has to be an automatic.

Just looking for a bit of general local help to maybe save me the trouble of visiting all the dealers and trying so very many cars out, basically I'm looking for a short-list.

Long-winded, but thanks for reading, and looking forward to any & all help.

I think a lot of whether you could get in and out of the car will depend on your height. I'm 6'3 and I would not be able to sit on the seat in my car sideways and then lift my leg in because it wouldn't fit under the steering wheel, but if you're shorter then that may not be so much of an issue.

The car I have, which is a Skoda Fabia Estate (also auto) has an adjustable steering wheel so may be able to be lifted out of the way. The door is not as easy access on this Skoda as it was on the Scenic that I had before though- that had really big door access.

Have you been on the Motability website and gone through the advance payment price guide yet?

linky (http://www.motabilitycarscheme.co.uk/main.cfm?Type=CSPG&Source=CCPR)

You can put in your needs and it will give you a list of the type of vehicle with all the options that you need along with the advance payment for each. I also drive an auto and there are whole ranges which aren't available in automatics on the scheme, or which have a huge advance payment, so for instance, if you drive an automatic, you aren't likely to end up with a Citroen unless you've got very deep pockets.

If you're new to the scheme you also need to know that the advance payment, which is sometimes called the deposit, isn't really a deposit because it's not refundable, so you'll have to budget to have that advance payment for each car you have.

Zafiras start at £499 advance payment currently, going up to £3799. My first Motability car was a Scenic, which was a 1.6 and had an advance payment of about £950, but by the time I looked again this time around they no longer had the 1.6 models on the scheme and the 2.0 models started at about £1700, which was way out of my budget. I now have a Skoda Fabia for which the advance payment was about £200, but is again not on the scheme now so I wouldn't be able to have one in future.

The Zafira would be ideal for you. The Meriva may also work - it's basically a smaller version of the Zafira and only seats 5, not 7. It's the car we have, as my wife also has leg problems and requires an automatic car with high seats.

The seat height isn't so much an issue, as the height of the sill (from the floor to the drivers door sill). Physically lifting my leg over the sill seems to be my biggest challenge. I have now tried the Zafira, and the old Meriva (although there is a newer Meriva in the pipeline from next week) and find that the height of the sill and the position of the steering wheel, even when adjusted fully in, precludes my ability to comfortably get my leg over (ahem!)

I also went to look at Ford, specifically the C-Max Diesel Auto, and find that it has a lower sill (although marginally!) and the boot space is cavernous enough to accomodate a chair, should things change for the worse as time goes by. Also, the gear stick, being at a mid position is easier to reach, and more comfortable as the drivers seat also has a L/H arm rest, so my weaker left will be able to cope much better.

That seems to be the best option to just, although I am waiting on the new Meriva arriving first, before ruling anything in or out.

Thanks both for the constructive replies, it's a great help when faced with issues, and good to hear recommendation and stories from other Motability users.

I've just thought of another thing which may be appropriate with your Motability search- servicing and maintenance. The proximity of the dealers is an issue if they aren't likely to offer a courtesy car which meets your needs and you're too far away to be in their 'pick up and deliver' area.

Your location isn't posted here, but I found that the Chevrolet which met my needs would have entailed me going all the way to Rotherham for a dealership which has a Motability worker, which from S6 would be a complete pain in the backside.

So I'd suggest doing a search through the Motability site with your needs and the maximum advance payments you can meet and then actually visiting the dealership to assess whether it's a convenient place to be getting to- I live only a few tram stops from the Skoda dealers and they pick up and deliver anyway, and that's really important when compared to getting to Rotherham and back.

I'm fortunate? enough to have moved recently, due mainly to my health issues, and live quite close both to the Vauxhall and Ford dealers in Rotherham. I discussed with each of the dealers the finer points on servicing, and both said they would be happy to collect and return the car, and should it take longer than anticipated, to replace the car temporarily whilst mine was away.

I also discovered from the Motability website, that if a friend, also on Motability, were to recommend the charity to me, and I declared this when ordering my vehicle, that we would both receive a cheque for £25....

Names will be drawn from a hat!

I would also like to add that my £25 would be donated, specifically S.S.A.F.A. who have been an enormous help to me, directly and indirectly, over the past year and a half.