# Which MPV has the most space behind 3rd row of seats?



## Toby (26 May 2010)

As the title sugests I'm trying to determin which of the large MPVs have the most space behind the third row of seats. We will have four rear seats in use most of the time and are concerned about kids being too close to rear window in the event of a rear collision.

Has anyone figured this out as after much research I'm still not clear. Time has not permitted us to view each car in real life but some on the shortlist are the Ford Galaxy, Hyundai Santa Fe....


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## westside (27 May 2010)

I have an S-MAX. I do often travel 6 of the seven seats in use. The 3rd row has 2 seats and you can keep one folded. This gives a lot of boot space. You will have some space behind the upright seat and a lot of space over the folded seat. However if you wont want to cram too much it as it might not be comfortable for the passenger in row 3.

I believe the Galaxy has more space behind the 3 row that the S-MAX. Take a look at parkers website. It provide superb pics of all seating combinations
[broken link removed]

You will get similar pics for Galacy, Santa Fe etc


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## j26 (27 May 2010)

The Citroen C4 Picasso is like the S-Max.  There's not a huge amount of space behind the last row of seats - less than a foot.

You're probably looking at the Ford Galaxy (which does have more space behind the seats).

But then flying glass will fly - it doesn't stop at a couple of feet (your head is not much further from the side windows), and it is safety glass that fragments rather than breaks into shards, so you might be worrying a bit too much about it.  If it really concerns you, you can stick a clear plastic sheet to the glass to hold it together in the event of a shatter.

I think the smaller mpv's offer much better value in terms of price, tax and fuel consumption than the larger ones if the children are young.  Teenagers might find the boot of the smaller ones a bit of a squeeze.


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## senni (27 May 2010)

what about a good second hand Vovo XC90... Brilliant room behind the third row of seats and can be bought cheaply now...


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## Toby (27 May 2010)

j26 said:


> But then flying glass will fly - it doesn't stop at a couple of feet (your head is not much further from the side windows), and it is safety glass that fragments rather than breaks into shards, so you might be worrying a bit too much about it. If it really concerns you, you can stick a clear plastic sheet to the glass to hold it together in the event of a shatter.


 
I hadn't even thought about the glass, I was thinking about someone running into the back of you and pushing in the back of the car where the kids are sitting. The NCAP safety tests (http://www.euroncap.com/home.aspx)  don't measure this so its hard to judge which cars are safest.



j26 said:


> I think the smaller mpv's offer much better value in terms of price, tax and fuel consumption than the larger ones if the children are young. Teenagers might find the boot of the smaller ones a bit of a squeeze.


 
Thats an interesting idea, yes our kids are small but I was thinking the bigger MPVs would be safer all round and give more storage space behind the 3rd row, but your point might make me look at things like the Verso again.

I've oogled the Volvo C90 but they seem expensive, will revisit.

Thanks for any advice you may have


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## carrielou (27 May 2010)

We have 5 kids and changed car 2 years ago.  searched and searched and searched some more and ended up with Hyundai Trajet which to us seemed to have the most boot space with 5 kids and both of us regularly in the car.  I like you was anxious about space behind the 2 rear seats and the other thing I like about it is the 7 seats are all adult size so no problem with 2 baby seats and a booster.....


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## Toby (27 May 2010)

Thanks, the Trajet didn't get a great safety rating in the NCAP tests though http://www.euroncap.com/results/hyundai/trajet.aspx 3 stars versus 5 for the galaxy, which puts me off.

I think we want more space than these cars offer, I don't know how we could fit in double buggy and shopping, never mind go on holidays with the boot space in these MPVs, maybe a minivan is the next option....has anyone anything bigger than the usual MPVs?


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## Guest125 (27 May 2010)

Transit Tourneo? Plenty of room without a doubt but not cheap to run.


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## Toby (28 May 2010)

caff said:


> Transit Tourneo? Plenty of room without a doubt but not cheap to run.


 
Thanks that looks very like a builders van from the pictures I could find but I'll try to have a look at one in person, have you seen them used for families?

In the US there seem to be lots of minivans designed with families in mind but it seems uncommon for families to use minivans here as I can find very few options.


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## ClaireM (28 May 2010)

The Chrysler Grand Voyager has significantly more boot space than any other 7 seat I have looked at.

It doesn't do well on the NCAP but from memory it does do well on child occupant safety.


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## carrielou (28 May 2010)

Yea, test was done in 2003 and as far as I am aware hyundai done a lot of updates in newer version 2005 onwards.  They have a hyundai i800 which is a real nice looking "van", it has 8 seats.  We looked at voyager very seriously also and very expensive car was all i could come up with.  I purchased few of them stackable crates from lidl and dunnes, filled them with my shopping, 5 kids and 2 adults to feed, and then put double buggy on top with 7 of us in car.  dont know where you could get new safety features listed though


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## Toby (29 May 2010)

carrielou said:


> Yea, test was done in 2003 and as far as I am aware hyundai done a lot of updates in newer version 2005 onwards.


 
I'd love to know how the more recent model rated safety wise as that low NCAP rating puts me off.



carrielou said:


> They have a hyundai i800 which is a real nice looking "van", it has 8 seats.


 
I'm just looking at this online now actually, expensive but interesting....


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## smparent (19 Jun 2010)

We have 3 kids now and just got a 06 Verso. Really happy with it. Good boot with 2 seats down and option to bring one up at a time. Also car doesn't look ridiculously big like other MPVs.


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