Teenagers! You just can’t keep ‘em down.

Our son is growing and now his head is about to scrape the roof of our Chrysler Voyager minivan while riding in his wheelchair. The time has come to upgrade our vehicle.

We visit a disabilities trade show (Abilities Expo) to look at what’s available for accessible family transportation. There are several options, unfortunately most of them are ungodly expensive.

A six year old Ford Windstar converted with a lowered floor and a manual, fold-out ramp will cost $24-25,000 and we’ll have to buy sight-unseen from a company near Toronto and have it shipped to us. New minivans with lowered floors and ramps (or lifts) start at around $35,000 and easily go up into the $50,000 range with any amenities. The cheapest new full size conversion van I can find is around $30,000…and it’s tempting…but I’ve only got $20,000 in the budget for a new car.

I talk to some converters about lowering the floor on our current Voyager and find they want $15,000 and a minimum of six weeks to do the job. It’s time to take a new approach.

We talk to some ramp and lift manufacturers and find we can buy a lift for anywhere between $2,000 and $5,000 installed. If we can find a full-size van with enough head room, I think this can be feasible.

The Ford vans offer just a bit more head room than our current minivan and it might just do but my wife does not like the way it drives or the spartan amenities in our price range. A van that has been converted with a higher roof also has possibilities but we’d have to go used if we want one in our budget.

On top of these problems, just the fact that full-size vans are no longer in fashion (everybody wants SUVs or mini-vans these days) makes it hard to find a dealer who’ll even carry one in stock.

Internet searches lead to a few dealers…the closest being 45 miles away…who regularly carry full size vans in stock. We visit a few with no luck.

One Sunday, I see that a Ford dealer in Valencia has some vans that…with some serious negotiating…might fit the bill. We load up in the car to make the long drive to see it. As soon as we get in the freeway, we see a van at our local Nissan dealer’s lot. Just for the heck of it, we turn around take a quick look at it.

While my wife and Tim waited, I took a quick look inside. A nearby salesman quickly arrived and opened it up for me. It was a 1994 Dodge Ram Van conversion. Inside, it had four leather captain’s chairs (the driver’s seat was power adjustable), a leather back bench that folded into a queen-size bed (just flip a switch and it folds by itself), two stereo radios (one for the front, one for the back), a TV, VCR, Nintendo, 10-CD changer, cassette, dual A/C, cabinets, magazine rack, ice chests, many cup holders, installed vacuum cleaner, and more. All in tip top condition, I might add. The van only had 33,000 miles on it and the dealer was asking $12,995 for it.

I quickly went back home and ran a Carfax on it…it came back clean. We went back and took a test drive, looked under the hood & chassis (nothing to report there), and could not find a thing wrong with it. It also had 66” of head room (as compared to the 48” in our Voyager) where Tim would ride.

After some bargaining, we got the price down to $12,300 and took it home.

The next day, I took it to Mobility Specialists (in Brea, CA) who installed a new wheelchair lift (Braun Vangater II) and state-of-the-art wheelchair tie downs for $4,800. Total for everything after taxes were added was a bit over $18,000. The only regret is that I had to lose the two middle captain’s chairs to make room for the wheelchair.

The wheelchair fits great. My son has plenty of room…plus now he rides forward next to a big window (he had to go sideways in the Voyager). The van rides real smooth. It has a very powerful 5.2 liter V8 engine and everything works. The bountiful amenities make it seem like an extra living room we can take on the road. It’s great for long trips and, though we haven’t tried it yet, we could even camp in it with that fold-out bed.

In the eight months we've had it, the only service required was maintenance.

Driving it is about what you'd expect in a full-size van. It's big and bulky. It has a huge turning radius and I need to make sure I'm on a wide street before attempting a u-turn. Visibility is hampered by the conversion which features mini-blinds and curtains but extra large mirrors compensate a bit. We knew these things before we bought so it didn't surprise us...there's not a lot of choice when you have a need such as ours so we learned to live with it.

Stepping on the gas, the van has power to spare. It gets up to speed quickly and smoothly. I've seen the surprised look on many a driver's face that such a big van can get moving so fast. It's size also helps you see over traffic ahead of you and avoid tie ups.

The gauges are analog and are easy to see. There is one glitch in that the fuel gauge doesn't work when the tank is 3/4 full. It works fine when full and from 1/2 tank to empty but for some strange reason, it just shows "Empty" when it passes through the 3/4 zone. It's the weirdest thing.

The leather driver's seat is very comfortable and has many power adjustments for lumbar support. Of course, this seat is not standard and is part of the conversion, but comfy nonetheless.

But, there are drawbacks.

First is the gas mileage. Twelve miles per gallon. We can get maybe fifteen on a long road trip on a highway, but all other times, twelve. Since gas costs $2.19 per gallon here in Los Angeles (as of this morning), filling the forty gallon tank costs $87 dollars and will last 480 miles (18 cents of gas per mile). Ouch.

Next, the foot space in the front is smaller than I’d like. For the driver, the wheel well intrudes on the left and the engine cowling does the same on the right.

The van is very big and can be hard to park. The size also limits visibility so we have to be very careful when backing up. It is also a factor for the radio which can be a reach to get to.

Overall, for our situation, this van is the perfect fit. The only regret I have is that I have to spend so much money on fuel. Hopefully, there will be reasonable alternatives that get better mileage when we’re ready to move on to another vehicle in a few years.

Amount Paid (US$): 12,300
Condition: Used
Model Year: 1994
Model and Options: 250