Hi people,

I passed my driving test 2 weeks ago after years of thinking I'd never drive due to my arthritis and now I'm looking at what car would be best. Sofar I've tried a Vauxhall Zafira which is a nice car and wheelchair fits in but a deposite of £1300 is abit much for me. Then I tried a Skoda Fabia Estate but my chair wouldn't fit in the rear, so the salesman mentioned the Roomster to me and will be fetching one round this week.

I just wondered, does anyone else here have a Roomster with a wheelchair hoist in the back? if so is there any chance of some pictures of the hoist and the boot with chair in?

Welcome Along to the site, and congratulations on passing your driving test

Some of the users in this thread mention using a chair in a roomster, maybe worth messaging them or they may pop on here: http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/154657-seat-covers-roomster/page__p__1917303__hl__wheelchair__fromsearch__1entry1917303

Welcome to the forum. I am not aware of any member that have a specific wheelchair hoist fitted to a Roomster.

If I remember correctly there was a member who had commented on how well thier wheelchair fitted into the back of a Roomster particularly when removing the slimeline centre rear seat.

HTH

Well Idealy I'd like to keep the rear seats intact so I can drive family about. I can take the footplates off and the back rest to make it smaller. I was just hopig to hear from someone else who has one and is in a chair. I know the salesman will say what ever it takes to sell one haha

TBD, SWMBO uses a wheelchair and it was me that mentioned carrying it around (in folded form) between the two outer rear seats with the middle on folded forward. It will also go into the boot folded up but without the need to drop the handlebars down.

But she can get in and out of the car ok and we have the wheelchair made up and alongside the car so she can transfer straight into it.

If however you are talking about trying to get the chair into the back without folding it down (or with someone in it) then I doubt it would be big enough... and it would certainly take some converting to do so... such as dropping the rear access.

When we went to the Enable show at Coventry last year I had a conversation with one of the companies that convert vehicles for use by permament wheelchair users and it seems no-one has tried it with a Roomie, we both felt that there is really not enough room in one to do it, if you compare one with an old style Berlingo you will see that even the older (and much smaller compared with the new one) is miles larger than the Roomie.

To be honest if you are trying to get the wheelchir in without folding it up (an electric one?) then I suspect it may be possible, but I don't know the dimensions of such a 'chair, so the only way would be to measure up the boot space (with the rear seats fully forward), including headroom and then ask one of the manufacturers of the hoists what they thought...

PM me if you want to know more about our use of it and I could send you some piccies!

Edited 15 March, 201016 yr by The PM

The only things you can take off my chair is the back rest and the front footplates. I don't want to be able to stay seated in it etc. Fingers crossed it will all fit

Ok, I went and tried ours... with the chair made up, but without the front foot rests, it fitted in the boot, but it was very tight height-wise! If the hoist goes above it there would not be a lot of room... have you asked the hoist manufacturers if they have ever fitted one to a Roomster?

I suggest that the best idea would be to take it along to a dealer and ask them to try getting it in!

Edited 16 March, 201016 yr by The PM

Good news!!!!

The dealer came yesterday with a Roomster to pick my wheelchair up and take it to the hoist place, They measured and said the hoist will fit perfectly. So I've decided to order one. Just waiting for the dealer to call me back to tell me what colours are available as apparently next week everything changes and the automatics will come with a 1.2 instead of a 1.6 which is kind of rubbish

Excellent. please can you take some pictures when the hoist is fitted?

I'm sure some dealers on here would be interested in the hoist fits etc. so that the can advise potential customers of the Roomster's suitability.

Yes of course, I'm surprised there are no pictures already as my dealer said they have been fitted into roomsters before. I get the car with Nil advanced payment and got the hoist at a reduced price of £750.

So getting a loan to pay for that

Don't worry re the engine, the 1.2 is the TSi version and has as much power as the 1.6!

Don't worry re the engine, the 1.2 is the TSi version and has as much power as the 1.6!

The 1.2tsi is more refined and much more economical. Also has the DSG 7 speed automatic box and has better performance all round than the old 1.6 auto.

Bad news, the Dealer just called letting me know they have no built auto roomsters left in stock so I now have to wait till the new roomster comes out. The bad thing is that motability do not know yet if it will still be Nil advanced payment :(

He going to give me a call next week when Skoda and Motability have sorted a contract out