My crippled van is ten or so years old and we're looking into a new ride.

My van now has a ramp, as opposed to a lift, and my brother mentioned tonight that, instead of a van, we should get an SUV:







These things are pretty nice, but I think I saw the price is something like $70,000, which I wouldn't really care about, but my brother is freaking out and saying we couldn't do much in terms of additions. I'd want some nice rims, a sound system, and maybe a TV! Only live once so why not ride around in style!

I don't like how there's only two seats for back passengers and it looks like they'd be cramped, but then we normally don't have more than me and the driver in there, unless we're going to Bengals games or somewhere, so that wouldn't be a big problem.

What does everyone think?

Anyone have anything better?

Although the spare may block your vision out the drivers side, that’s a pretty nice ride.

(01-20-2021, 08:15 AM)HarleyDog Wrote: Although the spare may block your vision out the drivers side, that’s a pretty nice ride.

Yeah, we'll probably get rid of that anyways.  

I think I'd look VIP rolling up in that thing to schools or wherever!

Market's doing ok right now, so hopefully that keeps up and it won't make that much of a dent in my trust, although that's what it's there for.

Forgot to mention that the reason it costs so much is that, with the van we have now, we just had to buy the van and then the state paid for all the adjustments, whereas they're built-in off the assembly line for this one.

That obviously means that this one will require less repairs and things, but I wonder if the state now will pay for the additions if we just pay for what it would have cost without the changes.

I know everyone always wonders about the issues with crippled vehicles, so I just thought I'd throw that out there so everyone's day goes a little bit smoother

Seems like a good deal. 70,000 was less than I was expecting to hear. But that is still crazy. When I sold cars I couldn't believe what it would cost a person who needed one.

70k? Just get a Ram TRX and chill in the bed. With 700 HP it would feel like a roller coaster.
Might be tough on you in the winter but you would definitely get some attention.

That SUV is pretty dam cool Brad.

(01-22-2021, 10:37 AM)NATI BENGALS Wrote: Seems like a good deal. 70,000 was less than I was expecting to hear. But that is still crazy. When I sold cars I couldn't believe what it would cost a person who needed one.

Yeah, it's like that with a lot of things because the supply and demand is so low that companies can pretty much just bend over families who really need the things they supply.  I don't know how much would be covered by people with good insurance, but that also probably plays a role.

(01-22-2021, 01:37 PM)Clark W Griswold Wrote: 70k?  Just get a Ram TRX and chill in the bed. With 700 HP it would feel like a roller coaster.
Might be tough on you in the winter but you would definitely get some attention.

If I'm spending the money, I'm rolling in style!

(01-22-2021, 03:08 PM)masonbengals fan Wrote: That SUV is pretty dam cool Brad.

That's what I'm saying and, like I said, I think we could make it even more bad-ass by putting some rims on there and get a sound system, maybe a TV!

(01-22-2021, 05:18 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: That's what I'm saying and, like I said, I think we could make it even more bad-ass by putting some rims on there and get a sound system, maybe a TV!

Handicapped vehicles should all be on air-bag suspensions.  That way you could drop them flat on the ground and do away with the ramps.

(02-12-2021, 01:49 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Handicapped vehicles should all be on air-bag suspensions.  That way you could drop them flat on the ground and do away with the ramps.

Honestly, that’s not a crazy idea. You would still need some kind of ramp, but would open the door to more stylish, retractable hydraulic ramps that disappear when not in use. The challenge would be a design that would let the body drop below the axles while still maintaining an attractive style.

I also think a design similar to the C-130 roll off ramp could be considered.