A follow-on to the cute but hyper-functional Suzuki 'Wagon-R+' ??
Yes, it was a compact 'city car', derived from their near-ubiquitous forward-control mini-vans. But, remarkably, it had ample head-room, leg-room, tail-gate gape, was even homologated to take a modest tow-hitch...
And, despite modest engine capacity, it was nimble.
I remember spending weary weeks going from one big-brand dealership to the next, trying to get my beloved wife's folding wheel-chair into their hatch-backs, 'estates' and MPVs.
Without success.
With or without wheel-chair's main wheels, arms, castor-wheels or what-have-you...
The two generic problems were those big cars had a lowered / slanted rear roof-line for streamlining, and a raised rear sill and/or flat-bed for the fender. Having to lift wheel-chair chest-high was unwelcome. Having to play 'Tetris' with it was worse. Several times, I got it wedged, had to scuff a show-room tail-gate frame or sill to extricate, inch-wise with swearing, haplessly 'assisted' by hand-wringing sales-men...
And the MPVs ? Their cargo ergonomics were ghastly. Barely harder to snatch-lift wheel-chair onto hypothetical roof-rack as put in the back. I'd reached stage of pricing a retro-fit 'disability-conversion' king-post crane. IIRC, such are known in US as 'deer hoists'...
And then I happened upon the 'tiny' Wagon-R+.
The folded wheel-chair went straight into the opened tail-gate with inches (!!) to spare all around (!!), stood up-right against the back seats' head-rests, allowing tie-up.
There was even room for a row of laden shopping bags between it and the refreshingly low sill...
Oh, and it had a full-sized spare wheel...
And, being half-sib to their mini-van, was homologated for a tow-hitch, so I could put my wife's electric buggy ('Herbie') on a quad-bike trailer. Cruising motorways at 70mph up-hill, with that warning-triangle festooned trailer and well-covered buggy, we got grins and salutes from many, many truckers....
Sadly, the body-shell was a co-production with GM. Who put a pi$$-poor mix of features into their take, including a notoriously failure-prone engine, did not bother to homologate for tow-hitch, and generally made an utter Edsel of it...
So, the partnership was not renewed, no equivalent Suzuki model ensued...
Game Over.
When the 'Wee Beastie' finally wore out, we replaced it with a big Skoda Estate via Motability leasing scheme...
