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.
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TrueDelta Reviews the Seat Room and Comfort of the 2015 Volkswagen Golf / GTI
2015 Volkswagen Golf / GTI Seat Room and Comfort: Pros
Year
Comment
2015
The original Golf revolutionized the automotive world by demonstrating how practical a small car could be. Though the latest, seventh-generation Golf is much larger than the original, and every major auto maker now offers a Golf-like compact, the Volkswagen continues to impress with its practicality.
Let's start with the front seat. The seat itself is shaped and padded to provide nearly ideal comfort and support in daily driving. The performance buckets in the GTI and R have firmer bolsters that provide more lateral support, but the regular Golf's buckets are cushier and more comfortably contoured. The e-Golf uses the same exemplary seats. In comparison, the seats in the Soul EV are merely okay.
The view forward from the e-Golf's driver seat is also about as good as it gets in a current compact, with a reasonably-sized instrument panel and an expansive, comfortably raked windshield flanked by relatively thin pillars. This said, some people might prefer the higher driving position in the quasi-crossover Soul EV. For me, a conventional car's lower position continues to feel more natural, especially in turns.
Battery packs take up space. Even with the (roughly) 1.5-kWh battery packs used by hybrids cargo capacity usually takes a hit. In the Soul EV, rear seat legroom suffers a three-inch reduction due to the underfloor location of the car's 27-kWh battery pack. But VW engineers managed to design and package a 24-kWh battery pack so cleverly that the e-Golf's passenger and cargo room are identical to those of a regular Golf. Adults will comfortably fit in the car's back seat. The same can't be said about most other EVs--the Soul being a second exception. Even with the three-inch cut, the Kia's back seat is about as roomy as the Golf's. The i3's back seat is far tighter.
Which EV treats its passengers best depends on the season. The e-Golf includes rear air vents, while the Soul EV+ includes rear seat bun warmers.
Moving to the cargo area, the Soul EV's battery pack eats up a dozen cubic feet, leaving just under 50. The uncompromised e-Golf can contain a couple more. But these figures don't convey the differing proportions of the cars' cargo holds. The e-Golf's is a few inches longer, while the Soul EV's is a few inches taller. Which is the better cargo hauler depends on the shape of your cargo.
The much larger Tesla Model S can hold a few more cubic feet, the Mercedes-Benz B-Class about the same as the e-Golf. No other EV comes close, especially not the 12-cube BMW i3.
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2015 Volkswagen Golf / GTI Seat Room and Comfort: Cons
