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Does a Wheelchair Fit in a Honda Fit?

img1883869477 1458587766907 jpg 2015 Honda Fit | Cars.com photo by Evan Sears

CARS.COM — Our long-term Honda Fit has carried heavy loads, including dogs and furniture, and it’s even been pressed into family and tailgating duty. But can it also haul something more awkwardly shaped, such as a wheelchair?

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To test it, my dad and I put my mom’s wheelchair in our 2015 Fit and the differences became apparent right away.

For starters, when presented with a hatchback, my tendency is to put stuff, you know, in the cargo area under the hatch. So I folded the wheelchair, lifted it and laid it on its side in the cargo area. It was a bit heavy and a bit awkward, but manageable thanks to the Fit’s wide opening and the smallish size of my mom’s wheelchair.

(It’s worth noting that wheelchairs, like bikes, come in different sizes and designs. My mom’s wheelchair is a lighter-weight, folding model made for someone who is 5 feet 7 inches tall. Your results may vary.)

My dad — who does the vast majority of wheelchair toting in my family — tried it that way and found it more awkward than his usual routine. He drives a Honda Odyssey to carry the chair and, while he has to lift the chair higher onto the minivan’s cargo floor, he then can roll it forward to be stowed, as opposed to sliding the chair on the cargo floor as he had to do with the Fit.

For him, the easiest way to load the wheelchair was to fold the Fit’s second-row seat bottom up and put  the wheelchair in standing upright behind the front seats. This provided a lower liftover height and allowed him to then roll it in toward the center of the car. The small hump in the floor wasn’t a major obstacle and actually helped hold the wheelchair in place.

I tried that myself and found that it was easier both loading and unloading the chair in the backseat area. Other Honda vehicles, such as the HR-V, also feature a version of the same folding Magic Seat, but the lower ride height of the Fit makes loading pretty easy.

Overall, the Fit earns high marks because it can carry a wheelchair two different ways — either under the hatch or standing upright. The choice is important because while carrying the wheelchair upright may be easier, it does require giving up the rear seating and that might not be something you can do all the time. Like when your son comes home to visit, for instance.

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Bill Jackson
Former assistant managing editor Bill Jackson manages the Research section, and he enjoys triathlons and cross-country skiing.
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