Kymco Maxi XLS

For me the scooter gets 5 stars really, but scooters are individual and what suits one person won't suit another, and of course no scooter is absolutely perfect. When they bring out a 4-wheel drive version it'll earn the extra star! This is a large modern looking 'all terrain' mobility scooter, 57" long and 26" wide, with a large comfortable captain's seat, all round suspension and a range of up to 35 miles carrying a maximum user weight of 31 stones. It therefore transports my 18 stones easily, even up 12% gradients, it's recommended maximum. On steeper gradients it actually just stops with me on it, so I get off and walk beside it for a few yards on rougher, steeper terrain, whilst taking the dog in the woods, for example. Being a nice scooter, however, I wouldn't like to do too much rough stuff with it, and I tend to stick to pavements and tarmacadam. At other times the dog rides quite comfortably on the footplate. It charges overnight, and I read somewhere that the cost of charging a mobility scooter is about 10p, but I wouldn't know if that was accurate or not. I'm 5'10" and the scooter is big for me. I have the seat in a forward position and the tiller tilted slightly back, so it would suit a much taller person. Perhaps the Kymco Midi would have been adequate for me. It is a road and pavement legal model with a switch to limit your speed from a maximum of 8mph to 4mph on pavements and needs to be registered with DVLA, who will give you a registration number (which doesn't actually need to be displayed). It has mirrors, indicators, lights and thankfully does not have that annoying loud reversing beep that some of them have. It has stabiliser wheels at the back as a precaution against tipping, but I have never felt that the machine was ever going to tip backwards, even on steep inclines. It does not cope with high curbs of, say, four inches very well, so ramp access on pavements is important. I don't know how well other scooters cope with kerbs. However, the all round suspension and pneumatic tyres give a comfortable ride, even with someone sensitive to jarring with a bad back, like me. I actually now spend most of my waking life on the thing, previously spending my time sitting indoors! The end result is more activity, and more exercise (not less!). For me it is the ideal scooter, and I have read many reviews and visited many websites. Unfortunately I can't take it with me further afield without a trailer, so I have another boot scooter which dismantles, a TGA Zest Plus (which includes the annoying reversing beep!) This is great for days out but does not have the overall comfort of the Kymco. Many modern scooters are good, but there are pitfalls with some makes, for example Rascal and Quingo (you only have to read the reviews!). To improve this scooter there could be a better digital display, the present one only showing the important thing, ie. how much charge is left. Some of them display the time, miles done etc., but this is a minor point. I would seriously recommend Mobility Giant in the UK for advice if you are buying a scooter for the first time, as you will probably have many concerns. Visit their website and give them a ring.