9 Used Cars That Offer Easier Access For People With Mobility Issues - Jalopnik

Part of growing up is realizing that a far-from-limber rich guy struggling his way out of a supercar isn't so much poetic justice as it is a cautionary tale. Time comes for us all, and it doesn't take an Aventador with 4.5 inches of ground clearance to make getting in and out of a vehicle a non-trivial task. Noted senior-citizen advocates over at AARP identify seat height, door size and weight, roofline, sill height, and even steering-wheel position as factors that can make entering and exiting a vehicle easier or harder. 

Whether you're getting a bit older and stiffer or just have mobility issues that have nothing to do with age, not all vehicles are created equal when it comes to being mobility-friendly. It's also worth mentioning that you don't need to immediately default to a big truck or trucky SUV because it seems like it'll be easy to slide in and out. (It often isn't.) In fact, some of the best choices out there are everyday vehicles you might never think of as having a strong reputation one way or the other in terms of mobility. From boxy design anomalies like the Ford Flex to invisible-in-a-crowd grocery-getters like the Honda CR-V, certain model years might offer exactly what you need. And while the age range shows what specific generation we're talking about, that, of course, doesn't mean that a year in one direction or the other is going to suddenly mean a vehicle becomes an accessibility nightmare. All that said, let's begin.

Kia Soul (2020 to 2025)

If there were ever a time to appreciate the Kia Soul for looking like a cheerful little shipping container, this is it. The 2020 to 2025 models make up the Soul's third and final generation, and that boxy shape happens to be doing some useful work for anyone who would rather not fold themselves into a car every time they leave the house.

Cars.com considered ease of entry and exit when ranking vehicles for older drivers, looking for things like a low step-in height, elevated seating position, and wide-opening doors. The 2020 Soul finished first, with the publication specifically calling out its easy ingress and egress among the reasons it stood out. That gives the Soul a nice middle ground between a conventional car and something taller, while its upright proportions provide some of the accessibility advantages people go looking for in a crossover without requiring the climb into a big SUV or truck.

And unlike a lot of purpose-built mobility solutions, nobody has to know that's why you bought it. Sure, it could be your bad hips, but it could also be that you're a locally famous DJ or somebody's cool aunt. All anybody knows at a glance is that you've got an affordable car with character.

Subaru Forester (2019 to 2024)

The Forester has always looked like the sort of vehicle somebody buys after deciding that visibility, sensible shoes, and knowing where the nearest trailhead is are the three pillars of a well-rounded personality. And while the 2025 model represented the Forester growing into maturity, the 2019 to 2024 fifth-generation models were already proving that part of embracing practicality is getting people in and out without too much contortion.

The Forester gives you SUV-style seating without turning entry into a climb. It has 8.7 inches of ground clearance and a step-in height that makes getting in and out easy, while the upright driving position means you're not lowering yourself toward the pavement the way you would in something much lower.

Passengers get an even more obvious accessibility bonus. The rear doors open to nearly 90 degrees, the pillars are unusually upright, and there's plenty of room around the floor opening for feet to pass through. That matters if you regularly carry somebody who has trouble bending, turning, or lifting their legs into a tighter opening. In other words, the Forester isn't just easy on the person holding the keys. It's a pretty accommodating place to bring along anybody else who might find a typical afterthought of a backseat to be a place of indignity.

Ford Flex (2009 to 2019)

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The Ford Flex is what happens when somebody looks at a station wagon, a minivan, and an SUV and decides the missing design inspiration is "toaster." Models made between 2009 and 2019 make up the Flex's only generation, which means that weird, low-slung shape stuck around for the entire run rather than getting replaced by something taller and more conventionally crossoverish.

Compared with a more traditionally proportioned SUV, the Flex sits relatively close to the ground, which reduces the climb required to get aboard. Its doors wrap down over the rocker panels, reducing how much exposed sill you have to reach across on the way in. That's a small piece of design trivia until bending, balance, or leg movement becomes an issue, at which point a few fewer inches of awkwardness can start looking pretty clever.

You're also getting genuine three-row capacity rather than sacrificing usefulness for the lower stance, with seating for seven and 41.8 inches of front headroom. So the Flex still gives you a whole lot of passenger room without requiring quite so much climbing to get behind the wheel. It may look like somebody abused a Mini Cooper in Photoshop, but there was apparently some method to the madness. And yes, you should consider this your regular reminder that we didn't appreciate the Ford Flex enough when we had it.

Honda CR-V (2017 to 2022)

The Honda CR-V is the automotive equivalent of sensible beige pants: not exciting enough to dominate conversation, but very difficult to argue with once you actually need what it does well. The 2017 to 2022 models make up the fifth generation, and one of the things this version does particularly well in addition to being ugly as hell is remove a lot of the physical negotiation from getting behind the wheel.

The front and rear door openings are wide, with plenty of clearance for your head and legs, while narrow door sills and a manageable step-in height mean you're neither stepping over a big obstacle nor dropping yourself into a low seat. The trick here is that none of those advantages asks the driver to trade one awkward movement for another. You get some elevation over a conventional sedan without having to hoist yourself up into the cabin, and once the door is open there's enough room to approach the seat without turning entry into something awkward.

It also means the same CR-V can work well when the mobility issue belongs to somebody riding with you instead. The rear doors can open to nearly 90 degrees, which leaves a broad path into the second row, and there's 40.4 inches of rear legroom and 39.1 inches of rear headroom once they're in. Passengers get more room to maneuver without making the back seat feel like a punishment for whoever drew the short straw. There's nothing remotely specialized about the CR-V, which is part of the appeal. You can buy one because it's easier to live with physically, and everyone else can continue assuming you bought it for the same reasons that approximately half the country did.

Honda Odyssey (2011 to 2017)

If the CR-V is sensible beige pants, the Honda Odyssey is cargo shorts accessorized with a fanny pack. It is unrepentant practicality without the faintest hint of style or clout. But deep down, every minivan is cool, and when your priority is making everyday life easier, the thing starts to look awfully well thought out. The 2011 model kicked off the Odyssey's fourth generation, and Honda's 2018 redesign began the fifth, neatly boxing in the 2011 to 2017 models we're interested in here.

The big accessibility advantage is baked into the minivan shape. Interestingly, this generation has the exact same ground clearance as that Aventador we talked about earlier –except, that plays differently when paired with a spacious cabin and a roofline that isn't toddler-high, allowing easy egress and ingress. Up front, the driver also gets eight-way power adjustment plus seat-height adjustment, giving you some flexibility to put the seat where your knees, hips, and back are happiest rather than accepting whatever fixed perch your van happened to choose while engineering more secret storage for purses and, on some trims, central vacuums.

The sliding doors make the passenger side of the equation even better. They eliminate the need to swing a conventional rear door outward, and EX trims and above pair them with power operation, which can matter when pulling or pushing a heavy door is part of the problem. The low step-in height and sliding second-row seats also make it easier to reach the second and third rows. The Odyssey may not be hip, but neither is making noises every time you get out of a car. At some point, practicality starts winning arguments you didn't know you were having.

Toyota Sienna (2021 to present)

A lifted Toyota Sienna might be the perfect adventure van, but a non-lifted one is really easy to get in and out of. And while those of us who were at the right age to care about such things will remember a period when the Odyssey was considered the best minivan ever, that's no longer a foregone conclusion. Car and Driver currently ranks the Sienna first among 2026 minivans, while the Odyssey sits outside the top three. In addition to apparently being a pretty great family van, the Sienna brings its own set of accessibility bonuses to the table. Toyota's fourth-generation Sienna arrived for 2021 and remains the current generation, though we're focused here on the used 2021-2025 examples already out in the world.

The Sienna hits a useful middle ground between sitting low and climbing high. The seat height allows a fairly level transition into and out of the cabin, while large front doors and a low step into the vehicle give you room to operate without requiring much vertical travel. The van manages to be tall enough to feel spacious without making the driver scale the side of it.

The passenger side is just as accommodating. Sliding rear doors can be opened without swinging a conventional door into the space beside the van, and some trims allow hands-free activation, while second-row seats can move forward to open up the path to the third row. The Odyssey may still be the minivan you'd rather own for other reasons, but the Sienna has enough going for it to make a real dent in Odyssey supremacy.

Mazda5 (2012 to 2015)

The Mazda5 is what happens when a company decides that maybe minivan shape doesn't require minivan size. Mazda introduced the second-generation Mazda5 for 2012, and the U.S. run ended after the 2015 model year, leaving us with four years of a six-passenger people mover that occupies a weirdly useful space between hatchback and traditional minivan.

That smaller footprint doesn't mean Mazda abandoned the accessibility advantages that make sliding-door vans so useful. The second row is reached through sliding doors on both sides, and those openings work with second-row seats that can slide and fold forward to make the rear half of the cabin easier to approach. Up front, the low step-in height and tall roofline make it easier to get aboard without either climbing up or ducking down excessively.

There is one catch worth stating plainly: this is a compact three-row vehicle, and the third row is tight for adults and the second isn't wildly better. So the Mazda5 will be less of a "bring six adults everywhere" solution and more of a clever way to get minivan-style doors and seating flexibility in something that still feels much closer to a car.

Scion xB (2008 to 2015)

If the Kia Soul is a cheerful little shipping container, the Scion xB is what happens when somebody gives the shipping container a lower roof and tells it to stop smiling. Toyota introduced the second-generation xB for 2008 and ended production in December 2015, giving us another gloriously square used-car option whose shape does more than over-prove that its designer owned a ruler.

The accessibility case here is unusually explicit. The xB combines a 5.1-inch ground clearance with 40 inches of front headroom and a height-adjustable driver's seat, giving you a relatively low vehicle without the roofline and seating compromises that usually come with something so close to the pavement. Additionally, the door openings are especially generous and the distance from the ground into the cabin quite small. It means that the xB is another useful middle-ground option for somebody who doesn't want to drop into a conventional low car or climb aboard an SUV.

And this isn't just geometry that looks promising on a spec sheet. During a Car and Driver long-term test, one editor even went the extra mile of sticking their advanced-age parents in there, reporting back that it was easy for them to get in and out. Bravo, journalism! In any case, it's nice to know that you can look kinda fly and still not groan getting in and out of the car.

Toyota Avalon (2013 to 2018)

If you've made it this far wondering whether easier access means choosing between surrendering to the crossover industrial complex and driving something that looks like the commercials included animated hamsters, we've got good news for you. The Toyota Avalon is here to preserve your sedan-minded sensibilities. The 2013 to 2018 cars make up the fourth-generation Avalon, with Toyota's all-new fifth generation arriving for 2019. So yes, there is at least one traditional four-door on this list that makes a convincing accessibility case, giving us yet more hope that sedans are poised to make a comeback.

The Avalon's advantage is less about sitting high and more about giving you enough room to get situated without much fuss. The door openings are generous and the sills don't protrude very far. There's enough room around the openings and the seats sit at a useful enough height that getting aboard doesn't require much ceremony. You can still lower yourself into something recognizably car-shaped without turning the process into the Aventador challenge we were talking about before.

Mobility-friendly doesn't have to mean enormous, specialized, or conspicuous. Across this list, the useful stuff has mostly been pretty ordinary: doors that give you room to work, seats that meet you at a sensible height, and floors that don't leave you guessing. Whether you want your easy in and out to be supported by a minivan, a generic crossover, or a surprisingly versatile toaster, the choice is mostly up to you. The important part is finding a car that doesn't make simply going somewhere harder than it needs to be, even if you insist on a car that is actually, you know... a car, and are getting ready to go hunt for an Avalon.