Car_and_Driver_USA_July_2017

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obility scooters are ubiquitous. At hot-rod
shows, they fly in squadron formation with
each pilot trailing a gray ponytail. Take
your dog out for a constitutional and one
will whiz by, forcing Fido off the sidewalk
and into the gutter. Occasionally someone
will get drunk, steal one, and drive it into a
canal. Trader Joe’s should add banking to
the sweeper through the produce department; Walgreens
and CVS sell them on their websites; and the scoots are now
a go-to reference for jokes about growing old, alongside
walk-in bathtubs and reverse mortgages. The future may
soon bring autonomous flying cars with onboard Chipotle
service. But the present belongs to crossover SUVs and
mobility scooters. So, here’s this comparison test. There’s
a crossover first drive on page 094.
You may think that mobility scooters are a fad with the half-life
of selfie sticks, but demographics argue otherwise. There are about
75 million baby boomers in the United States, and the youngest of
them turn 53 this year. The oldest are 71. They’re aging into that
part of life when bodies become fragile and, while modern medicine
means they’ll live long lives, many will need help getting
around. Right behind are 66 million Gen-Xers, followed by millennials,
whose numbers now match the boomers. You may not be in
the market now, but we are all potential scooter owners.
Throw in other sources of decreased
mobility (including illness and obesity),
and at least one report projects that the
worldwide mobility market, which includes
everything from canes to scooters, will
grow from $7.7 billion in 2015 to $14.6 billion
by 2024.
To oversimplify, there are three-wheel
scooters, four-wheel scooters, and motorized
wheelchairs. And they’re virtually all
electrically powered using lead-acid batteries.
There are dozens of different models,
most built for sidewalks or the great
indoors, and they top out at about 5 mph.
But scooters for use on trails and paths
are becoming common, and more-stylish
models are coming. We recruited three for
this surprisingly serious comparison.
C/D knows vehicles, but these scooters
are medical devices. And no one scoot will
be right for everyone. This also means that
scooters are prescribed by doctors and
often paid for by health insurance or Medicare.
Abuses may occur.
In 2015, the company Hoveround,
which had often advertised on The Price Is
Right during the break before the showcase
round that it could get patients into a
scooter for “little or no cost,” was accused
by the Department of Health and Human
Services’ inspector general of billing Medicare
$27 million for mobility devices that
weren’t medically necessary. Hoveround
was invited to this test but turned down
the opportunity with the explanation that it doesn’t want any publicity
at this time. So, well, there’s that.
These scooters enable the personal mobility of people who
would otherwise be restricted by physical challenges. But that
doesn’t explain the complete lack of cupholders.
Opposite top: You’re
looking at 3.3 horsepower
there, bud.
Opposite right center:
We roll three deep . . .
carrying a head of
celery in our basket, yo.
/// 3. GOLDEN TECHNOLOGIES
BUZZAROUND EX
This is the classic mobility scooter: simple in its engineering, lightweight
and easily transported on a rack behind a sedan, comfortable
for anyone under 330 pounds, and timelessly style-free. At only
$2199, the Buzzaround EX is built for tight budgets and unpretentious
personalities. It blends in like a Camry.
ATV makers stopped building three-wheelers years ago, and the
mobility industry seems likely to follow. The single front wheel
keeps the tiller steering light enough for anyone with limited arm
strength to pilot, but there’s an inherent instability that can be felt
as the Buzzaround hits its 5.4-mph governed top speed. Hitting the
offce’s legendary Indianapolis corner where the C/D art department
transitions into the editorial cubicle
farm, the rear-drive Buzzaround would
gently lift the right rear wheel, with the
rider feeling a queasy and tipsy sensation. It
handled every mall, park, road, and indoor
surface we threw at it and it never rolled.
But it sometimes felt as if it would.
064 . COMPARO . CAR AND DRIVER . JUL/2017