Ok guys, what have you been sitting in lately, because here is my problem. I have a 2002 MY03 build Leon 20VT which I absolutely love. Bought as a "small family car" back when children started arriving, but they are getting bigger. I am 6'5" and have the driver's seat in the fully back position and daughter number 2 is now getting squashed. We took a couple of trips to a "Car Giant" plus a whole pile of dealers to see if we could fit better in something new, our key targets were (1) can I fit behind the wheel comfortably and if so (2) can daughter #2 cross her legs when sitting behind me without standing on her head and doing a cartwheel in the back seat and (3) it has to fit in London traffic and parking spots and not be lunking great people carrier with no acceleration. Been spoiled by my 20VT, I don't want to go too far "backwards" on the drivability front.
It turns out that rear legroom has very little if anything to do with the look and size of a car from the outside, here are some of the things we tried.
New Leon Mk3 1.4. Ok, a little better than my 20VT but we wanted something with a bit more grunt.
New Leon Mk3 1.8, worse than the 1.4 ! Looks like the seats on the higher spec
models eat into the legroom more . Same on both the estate and hatchback.
Seat Ateca, Ok, about the same as the Leon
Skoda Octavia Estate, so-so.
Ford Focus, quite marginal
VW Golf, ok-ish, similar to my 2002 Leon so not really an "upgrade".
VW Touareg and Tiguan, surprisingly small inside given huge exteriors.
Audi A3, way too small
Audi S6 saloon - huge ! The one car I didn't need the seat full back in, but way to big and expensive for what we need.
Audi Q3 and Q5, only ok-ish, surprisingly small inside given external size.
Hyundai i30 and Tucson, both marginal
Toyota Auris and Verso, not great for a big driver, marginal headroom.
Honda Civic, not great for a big driver, marginal headroom.
Put off by driver space on Japanese cars at that point until the wife forced me into a Nissan dealer.
Nissan Pulsar N-Tec 1.6, currently the leader, has astonishing amount of rear legroom for a hatchback but at the cost of a bit less boot space than the Leon.
Anyone in the same boat, what did you end up going for ?
Cheers, Snark
It turns out that rear legroom has very little if anything to do with the look and size of a car from the outside, here are some of the things we tried.
New Leon Mk3 1.4. Ok, a little better than my 20VT but we wanted something with a bit more grunt.
New Leon Mk3 1.8, worse than the 1.4 ! Looks like the seats on the higher spec
models eat into the legroom more . Same on both the estate and hatchback.
Seat Ateca, Ok, about the same as the Leon
Skoda Octavia Estate, so-so.
Ford Focus, quite marginal
VW Golf, ok-ish, similar to my 2002 Leon so not really an "upgrade".
VW Touareg and Tiguan, surprisingly small inside given huge exteriors.
Audi A3, way too small
Audi S6 saloon - huge ! The one car I didn't need the seat full back in, but way to big and expensive for what we need.
Audi Q3 and Q5, only ok-ish, surprisingly small inside given external size.
Hyundai i30 and Tucson, both marginal
Toyota Auris and Verso, not great for a big driver, marginal headroom.
Honda Civic, not great for a big driver, marginal headroom.
Put off by driver space on Japanese cars at that point until the wife forced me into a Nissan dealer.
Nissan Pulsar N-Tec 1.6, currently the leader, has astonishing amount of rear legroom for a hatchback but at the cost of a bit less boot space than the Leon.
Anyone in the same boat, what did you end up going for ?
Cheers, Snark