# Which of these cars would be either okay or too small to drive for Uber in Houston?



## troop399 (Jul 19, 2017)

Would any of these really be big enough for Uber X purposes in the Houston area?
Kia Soul yes or no?
Kia Forte?
Kia Rio?
Ford Fiesta? 
Hyundai Accent?
Nissan Versa S?
Elantra
Ford Fusion
Chevy Cruze
Chevy Sonic
Dodge Dart
Mitsubishi Lancer
Toyota Corrola
Thanks for the input on this.


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## WeDreams (Sep 14, 2017)

Yes all of those will work


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## Terri Lee (Jun 23, 2016)

troop399 said:


> Would any of these really be big enough for Uber X purposes in the Houston area?
> Kia Soul yes or no?


I continue to be amazed at some of the queries on this forum.

But, thanks for specifying "in the Houston area".


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## Awesomeness101 (Jul 19, 2017)

lol the Ford Fusion is a full sized sedan. If you couldn't use that, you couldn't use anything smaller than an SUV


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## WeDreams (Sep 14, 2017)

I was thinking holy **** so many choices


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## troop399 (Jul 19, 2017)

Maybe going car shopping. And yes Houston specific. Take a look at my avatar that's what 50 inches of rain does to a retention pond. Many of our Uber/Lyft folks are still helping with rides to/from shelters. But our city is slowly recovering. == The reason I was asking is that we have to install a wheelchair lift on the back of our van. I have a disabled daughter. So I am not sure how attractive an Odyssey van would be with a wheelchair lift, although maybe the car would be easy to spot. So I might be looking for a small, affordable vehicle. Sorry if this is a dumb question or post. Thanks.


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## WeDreams (Sep 14, 2017)

Somebody neeeding a ride is not going to judge you but you will get questions about it. Might want to stay away from the free loaded hippy college kids.

College kids would like any of those
Kia Soul
Ford Fiesta? 
Hyundai Accent?
Nissan Versa S?
Chevy Cruze
Chevy Sonic
Dodge Dart
Toyota Corrola


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## xerexabante (Dec 13, 2016)

Mitsubishi Mirage 3cyl perfect for X


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## troop399 (Jul 19, 2017)

Thanks everyone.


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## OC Lady Uber Driver (Jun 26, 2016)

After all of the hurricanes this year, all I can think of saying to you rideshare drivers in the Houston area is make sure you do not buy any vehicle that was previously flooded.


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## WeDreams (Sep 14, 2017)

It’s called a car fax


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## HTXfoodie (Oct 1, 2017)

I actually sell cars in North Houston as my day job. We have no flooded or wind damaged cars.


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## zandor (Mar 6, 2015)

For all of those I'd just check out the rear seat space. You'll need it. I can vouch for a Corolla fitting 6' overweight guys (me) in the back seat no problem. I've been in one a few times. The Fusion is fine... it's a midsize. If I were buying a car to Uber in from your list I'd just get the Corolla though.

My personal favorite UberX car isn't on your list -- Toyota Prius V. It's the wagon version of the Prius, and the rear seats recline. Rear seat legroom is a little tight and gas mileage isn't quite as good as a standard Prius, but the rear seats recline! Also has a lot of cargo room for airport runs.

Maybe someday Uber will start providing accessible service and you can use your van to give rides to people in wheelchairs, perhaps with government subsidies to help cover the cost. I'm sure you're aware that vans with chair lifts are not cheap. Unless/until that happens I wouldn't drive a minivan with a chair lift for Uber.


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## Mars Troll Number 4 (Oct 30, 2015)

zandor said:


> For all of those I'd just check out the rear seat space. You'll need it. I can vouch for a Corolla fitting 6' overweight guys (me) in the back seat no problem. I've been in one a few times. The Fusion is fine... it's a midsize. If I were buying a car to Uber in from your list I'd just get the Corolla though.
> 
> My personal favorite UberX car isn't on your list -- Toyota Prius V. It's the wagon version of the Prius, and the rear seats recline. Rear seat legroom is a little tight and gas mileage isn't quite as good as a standard Prius, but the rear seats recline! Also has a lot of cargo room for airport runs.
> 
> Maybe someday Uber will start providing accessible service and you can use your van to give rides to people in wheelchairs, perhaps with government subsidies to help cover the cost. I'm sure you're aware that vans with chair lifts are not cheap. Unless/until that happens I wouldn't drive a minivan with a chair lift for Uber.


Once you put a wheelchair lift in your car that is ADA compliant for taking passengers, you loose passenger count.

To make your car Wheelchair accessible you WILL get downgraded from XL/X to X/wav

And wav is the same price as X..

doing it without a MASSIVE subsidity is tying one arm behind your back and smashing your head into a brick wall.

The CHEAPEST conversion will convert a 7 passenger van into a 4 passenger van with a ramp. Not a lift, a ramp...

There's no point in going this route, the ONLY reason the taxi companies do is because

A. they have to
B. It's the cheapest way.

The only reason the drivers will drive them

A. It still seats four
B. Non emergency medical transport is a huge business. You can book fares all day with a WAV vehicle.
C. The cab companies can offer incentives
(Like more fares during daylight hour, cheaper taxi rental rates)

Either you lose the back row to put in a rear ramp/lift or the middle row to do a side ramp.

Your XL car magically becomes an X and your running a MORE EXPENSIVE vehicle and making less.

And of course, irregardless of how many people your modified car can take, they will try to squeeze in 7+


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## Ted L. (Jun 8, 2017)

FR Conversions has a 7 seater WAV but they do it by dropping the floor and jacking up the rear. I don't know how they fix the handling.


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## Mars Troll Number 4 (Oct 30, 2015)

Ted L. said:


> FR Conversions has a 7 seater WAV but they do it by dropping the floor and jacking up the rear. I don't know how they fix the handling.


that's MUCH higher end in costs, your probably looking at a 60-70 van including the cost of conversions.

To get a 7 seater that's fully ADA compliant (roll on non transfering wheelchair) your looking at having nothing smaller than the smallest Ford Econoline.
























These pics are the 2 main ways to do a roll on with a minivan. Count how many seats are left...
5...

driver plus 4 passenger... plus a wheelchair... that makes 6. Throw on a folding jump seat behind the driver and your at 7... but the problem is it's 7 INCLUDING THE WHEELCHAIR!

For a minivan, AT BEST your losing the middle row... to seat 7 you need something much much larger. You just can't seat 7 with a ramp/lift of any sort.

With side entry, you lose the middle row, with rear entry you lose the back row. You can't not lose seating. (double negatives I know)

OR your using removable seats, in which case... your boned... because you have to leave the seats and recover them.

The problem is that you need a certain amount of space to ROLL ON any type of wheelchair, in order to be fully ADA compliant they need to ROLL ON.

There's more affordable options, and even some very nice options for swing out seats that wouldn't reduce your passenger count, But the problem is... you need to be ROLL ON, for to 100% comply.

If you can't roll on, there's no point in having any level at all to be honest.






This is a 7 seater minivan with a wheelchair ramp.

Without counting the wheelchair it seats 5 passengers + driver,

driver + front pax
, 2 mid row + wheelchair

2 back row.. that's the best you can do.





_*THIS setup is not ADA compliant*_, as you have to transfer, this is not 100% compliant, while it's a great deal cheaper.

ALSO...

I need to point out that...

No part timer will ever want to get involved with these compliant conversions unless they are renting the cars short term...

It's also a royal pain to deal with these fares.
I'm one of VERY FEW people on these boards that has dealt with these in the past as a for-hire vehicle.

I've spent a lot of time in a 4 seater Sienna with a rear ramp, taxi.

People will want...

A. to overload the vehicle (because it's normally a 7 seater that has a reduced passenger count.
B. They will at the very least NEED you to strap them down
C. They will expect you NOT to properly restrain them because they are "only going a short distance. Or they just don't want you to"
D. you pretty much gotta have car seats/booster seats
E. It's inevitible that you'll get a lot of short trips. ($3.00 fare with 5+ minutes of loading/unloading at each end.)


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## troop399 (Jul 19, 2017)

Hello everyone. I should have been more specific. I am looking to buy a used car so I don't have to use my wife's van (the one with the wheelchair lift) to do my driving. Our family has a disabled child that uses a wheelchair. I want to use the Texas air check program so I can get a voucher to use on a 1999 vehicle I have with 250,000 miles. That's why I listed the cars at the top of this thread. I hope to use the voucher so I can get my own car to drive for Uber/Lyft. In the air check program the car must be 2015-2018 to qualify. I have been looking at the CarMax.com web site on 2015 cars and trying to pay attention to mileage. Trying to find an affordable car, but a dependable one. Many tell me Toyota, Honda and Hyundai have good service records. Before I retired, I had a bad experience with a Prius at work. If you didn't drive it every day, the battery would die and the car wouldn't start. So I guess I am open to suggestions again. How is Kia for service records? Also I once rented an Elantra and really liked that car. Thoughts? Thanks.


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## Adieu (Feb 21, 2016)

troop399 said:


> Hello everyone. I should have been more specific. I am looking to buy a used car so I don't have to use my wife's van (the one with the wheelchair lift) to do my driving. Our family has a disabled child that uses a wheelchair. I want to use the Texas air check program so I can get a voucher to use on a 1999 vehicle I have with 250,000 miles. That's why I listed the cars at the top of this thread. I hope to use the voucher so I can get my own car to drive for Uber/Lyft. In the air check program the car must be 2015-2018 to qualify. I have been looking at the CarMax.com web site on 2015 cars and trying to pay attention to mileage. Trying to find an affordable car, but a dependable one. Many tell me Toyota, Honda and Hyundai have good service records. Before I retired, I had a bad experience with a Prius at work. If you didn't drive it every day, the battery would die and the car wouldn't start. So I guess I am open to suggestions again. How is Kia for service records? Also I once rented an Elantra and really liked that car. Thoughts? Thanks.


Kias are bulletproof

My buddy bought one with 200k mi for $2k and it is only retiring it at >350k because it has a bunch of cosmetic damage from a minor fender bender that he doesn't feel like bothering to fix


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## Kater Gator (Dec 25, 2015)

Look at buying a car from a rental agency like Enterprise , Hertz etc. They aren't all high mileage. Prices are usually a lot less than car dealers of used cars. And the cars have been maintained unlike some private owner cars.


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