Want a versatile, spacious 7-seater? Don’t buy an SUV

Now that SUVs are all the rage, MPVs are terminally uncool. However, carmakers are still battling to package SUVs in a way that they can seat ALL 7 occupants in comfort and still offer notable luggage space. Buyers have to compromise… or do they?

Let’s be honest: throughout the history of the automotive industry, there have been countless instances where vehicle manufacturers have been anything but honest in their marketing promises.

*The Renault Scenic, which popularised the small MPV, has now morphed into an all-electric (sigh) crossover.*

Possibly the biggest bout of post-millennial truth-bending has been Volkswagen’s initial insistence on selling “clean diesels” in the years up to 2015, only to be caught fitting so-called “defeat devices” on its turbodiesel cars, which I discussed in “Turbodiesel heroes you might have forgotten about“. VW did this to achieve inaccurately low CO₂ emissions (in regulated tests)… and all to support its marketing hoopla.

While Dieselgate shook the automotive world’s foundations and forced the VW Group to change its ways, today a much bigger sham is peddled unabatedly by, well, most car brands: the 7-seater SUV (and even the 7-seater crossover, of which the Hyundai Grand Creta is one of the most compact examples).

Watch Ciro De Siena’s video review of the Hyundai Grand Creta

I refer to off-roader-esque vehicles with 4 doors and a collapsible 3rd row of seats, the latter of which is impossible to access without 2nd-row occupants having to disembark to fold their seatbacks forward.

Indeed, the very same models whose 3rd rows lack footwells (owing to the seats being mounted above the rear axle_ so that only children or little people can fit in them – adults would be in utter discomfort after sitting there for only 5 minutes. And, when the rearmost seats are in use – there’s no space for any luggage, to say nothing of highly questionable 3rd-row passenger safety in the event of a rear smash.

From the Renault Triber (a close relative of the mercifully discontinued Datsun Go+) to the mighty Range Rover and everything in between, fundamentally any 4-door bodyshell fitted with 3 rows of seats demands compromises to extol its full claimed capability: you’re either ferrying 5 adults with 2 small kids and next to no luggage; or 5 adults and no kids with luggage: forever a case of either/or. But never both.

Yet there are far better, fuel-efficient and socially acceptable (if that’s your thing) alternatives for every large family who needs passenger AND utility space, but with no appetite for the ceaseless spatial challenges of a 3-row SUV. Allow me to present the humble MPV that’s based on a commercial vehicle.

Watch Ciro De Siena’s video review of the VW Caddy Maxi 2.0Tdi

Why would you, for example, buy a (soon-to-be-discontinued) Volkswagen Tiguan Allspace, which is touted as a 7-seater, when from the same stable you can have a proper one that’s more spacious, has dual sliding doors and significantly more utility space, a flexible, even removable seating configuration and low step-in access – in the by-default-class-leading Volkswagen Caddy (based on a panel van)?

Not that there are any other proper minivans of the sliding-door variety in the sub-R500k segment: if you’re a ride-hailer driver, your daily job consists of forever trying to fool everyone into believing that there’s space for an entire family (and granny) in your Honda Mobilio, Suzuki Ertiga or the latter’s Toyota Rumion cousin. You know all too well that Gran’s Zimmer frame and oxygen tank are going to have to be strapped to the roof rails should she happen to haul along the tote bag in which she keeps her meds.

Watch Ciro De Siena’s video review of the Honda BR-V

Coming from an admittedly low base, the Mitsubishi Xpander (which was updated in 2022), as well as the Mobilio’s successor – the Honda BR-V 7-seater – are marginally cooler. Importantly, they eschew the, um, über-uncool shuttle looks. And that is important when transporting image-conscious Tik-Tokking teens, but don’t get too excited: both ultimately still suffer from the same “pseudo-7-seat-SUV-itus”.

Even when spending double-ish Caddy money in the Toyota Fortuner, Ford Everest or unfancied Isuzu MU-X range, the 7-seater dilemma remains unresolved. If, however, you require passenger- plus loading space and can overcome Mzansi’s incurable SUV addiction, this is also where the smart shopping starts.

Outdoorsy types who are willing to forgo a 3rd row, but prefer to keep their gear safe and dry, need look no further than crew cab offerings in the Volkswagen Transporter, Hyundai Staria and Mercedes-Benz Vito ranges – the first 2 of which are, interestingly, priced at around R780k new, although the Toyota Quantum iteration undercuts the VW and Hyundai offerings significantly at R708 800 (August 2024).

For those unfamiliar with bus lingo: crew cabs are configured as 2-row kombis equipped with dual sliding doors divided by a bulkhead ahead of a monstrous rear utility space that is only accessible from the rear.

Of course, no discussion about buses is complete without mention of a Volkswagen: the entry-level Transporter Kombi with a wheezy 81 kW starts at R866k. To upgrade from there you’ll pay just over R1000 per extra kilowatt to an upgrade to the 110 kW version, but believe me, you’d be crazy not to.

But back to the used market – that’s where you’ll find value for money people movers. If you need 8 seats, consider the Ford Tourneo, Opel Zafira Life and Hyundai Staria, which replaced the H1 in 2021, but don’t forget about the 7- or 8-seater Kia Carnival – arguably the finest MPV that’s hiding in plain sight.

Some time ago, Toyota reverted to the stalwart Hi-Ace descriptor for its minibus and correspondingly moved the Quantum badge upmarket to designate the more suburban version of the company’s line-up of people movers. Whether, in terms of equity, it was the right call to redeploy a name previously associated with affordable, quasi-public transport into the private realm, remains open to debate.

7-seater SUVs will NEVER kill off the minibus

The evolutionary reality is that the SUV craze killed off most MPVs (and many buyers switched to bakkie-based models). Sadly, a 7-seater SUV is a piecemeal replacement for an MPV. At least minibuses will live on, perhaps forever, for their spaciousness and sheer memory-making versatility – you can bank on that!

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