TrueDelta Reviews the Seat Room and Comfort of the 2013 Honda Odyssey
2013 Honda Odyssey Seat Room and Comfort: Pros
Year
Comment
2014
I test a large crossover and think, "This third-row seat isn't bad." Then I drive a minivan and marvel at home much roomier it is inside than even the roomiest crossovers. This advantage increases the farther back in the vehicle you sit. Back in the third row, it's simply no contest.
Among minivans, the Odyssey is the roomiest of the bunch. It's the only minivan with over 40 inches of legroom in each of its three rows. Total up the differences in the official specs, and the Toyota Sienna comes up nearly ten inches short (though the difference doesn't seem nearly so large in reality, maybe an inch or two). A Chrysler Town & Country? Over fourteen inches. A Toyota Highlander crossover has legroom specs similar to the Chrysler minivan, but its third row feels much more cramped. Moral of the story: don't trust the specs, sit in the cars yourself.
In cabin breadth, the official specs have the Odyssey about equal to the Town & Country and a little narrower than the Sienna, but subjectively both the Honda and the Toyota feel broader and more open than the Chrysler.
Then there's access to the rear rows. The feature most associated with minivans, their sliding side doors, are easier to open in tight parking spaces and provide a much larger opening.
In terms of seat comfort, the Odyssey falls a little short of the Sienna, if only because it doesn't offer lounge chair-like legrests in the second row. Then again, for anyone over five feet tall to use these in the Toyota the second row seat must be slid back so far as to render the third row unusable. Either minivan has more comfortable second-row seats than most crossovers, including the Highlander, and third-row comfort is simply no contest. The Chrysler's second row seats aren't as comfortable, as they are more thinly constructed to enable them to fold beneath the floor.
The Odyssey, Sienna, and Highlander can each be equipped to carry eight passengers (though the lounge seats in the Sienna eliminate one spot, and the three in the third row of the Highlander best have short legs). The Chrysler minivans can only seat seven.
see full Honda Odyssey review
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TrueDelta Reviews the Seat Room and Comfort of the 2013 Mercedes-Benz GLK
2013 Mercedes-Benz GLK Seat Room and Comfort: Cons
Year
Comment
Expect the GLK to grow when it is next fully redesigned. A smaller MLK is on the way to battle the upcoming Audi Q3 and just-arrived BMW X1. For 2013, the GLK's body structure remains essentially the same, so rear seat knee room remains just sufficient for a man of average height sitting behind another such man. (Headroom, on the other hand, is abundant.) Among competitors, only the Infiniti EX37 has a tighter rear seat. The Audi, BMW, and Volvo all offer knees another inch or three. Seat comfort is debatable. To my bottom, the GLK's seats feel overly firm.Cargo space is similarly short of the segment average. The GLK's 54.7 cubic feet isn't far behind the Audi's 57.3 but well below the X3's 63.3. That truncated tail has a downside beyond aesthetics.But do these shortcomings really matter? For most people nearly all of the time, there's enough space.see full Mercedes-Benz GLK review
What Our Members Are Saying about the Seat Room and Comfort of the 2013 Mercedes-Benz GLK
2013 Mercedes-Benz GLK Seat Room and Comfort: Cons
We are a couple with no kids and we rarely have visitors so the cramped rear seating is not a problem. Someone with teenage kids will want to seriously reconsider before getting a GLK.
I know my Mom would not appreciate the ingress/egress ease as she has some limited mobility.
see full Mercedes-Benz GLK review