Good Estate Car which seats Fold down completely?

krey

Want to swap my minivan for something a bit smaller and much more economical, getting 25mpg and unable to park pretty much anywhere just sucks... I do need it for my business as well where I have to transport large/bulky/long objects Hence I have the minivan which does good job at it.

But started to look at some youtube videos and pretty much every car has messed up the way how their rear seats fold, for 99% of the cars I think they don't fold completely flat and you can't recline the front passanger seat as well so you can't fit in even longer objects in it.
I have a Honda jazz as well which is perfect at this,however a bit too small, see this picture and you will see what kind of seating position I'm after-

i.ytimg.com/vi/-7DCNzz69pg/maxresdefault.jpg

I had an old rover 75 estate which also had seating like that and it was a mamooth at carrying large stuff but yet to see any estate today which has the same simple function to fold the rear seats completely flat and recline the passanger seat.

Any Ideas?? I'm up for anything BUT French or Vauxhall or ford.

knightstyle

Volvo, I think all their estates have flat floors, it would help if you gave an idea of your budget.
When we needed something van like which could be used as a car we used Scenics, one of the first in 1996 and then a later one. It was great as you could remove the seats completely to give massive load space. But you said no French so look at copies like Toyota Verso and the Hyundai Trajet.

marlot

What about a civic estate. I believe it has the same 'magic seats' as the Jazz.

bigjl

A Berlingo has removable seats and is basically a van with Windows. If you avoid the 1.6hdi they are fairly reliable. Certainly not one to avoid due to being French.

Zafira is also a good shout, not sure if the middle row folds completely flat though as I never tried when I drive them every day, there isn't a load lip at the back either. As I used to open the boot and sit there when it rained all the time.

An ex LAS one will be pennies, they have been selling them at Manheim Colchester recently.

The only car I have had recently with a fold forward passenger seat was my old V50, and it didn't work anyway.

mgfvvc

My old Octavia estate would take a 6 foot fridge freezer with the back seats folded down. I'm not sure about the front passenger seat. I never needed to pack anything over 6 feet.

Ebe_Scrooge

Another vote for the Zafira - a friend of mine used to borrow mine occasionally to shift stuff, when all the seats were folded flat he used to call it "putting it into van mode"


Maybe worth a look ?

WellKnownSid

krey wrote: »

I'm up for anything BUT French or Vauxhall or ford.

Any reason why? I can understand the French connection bit - but Vauxhall or Ford means cheap enough parts when you need to keep them on the road.

wba31

Skoda Superb Estate. It's HUGE

daveyjp

An original Mercedes B class does exactly what they picture shows

The rear seats squabs are removable so you get a completely flat load surface. No longer than a Focus, so no problem in tight spaces.

krey

b class is just a terrible terrible car which doesn't even deserve merc badge, I still have my old trusty honda jazz sitting in garage If i wanted that size car.
I have had probably close to 30cars which I have either owned or was given to use and Have sworn never again I will touch the trio of french/vauxhall/ford - I don't care what the adverts /paid reviews say, 99% of them are just badly designed cars and let's not even talk about keeping them running.
2 of my neighbours have that generation zafiras, and guess what? They are always b1tching about the cars that they need service all the time, I can see a mobile mechanic coming to fix one of that car every 2weeks
Those cars are only good when they are new.. when they get used a bit they are just trouble.

I actually was interested in the superb as well , as my dad has new octavia and it's pretty decent, but again after checking videos the seats doesn't fold completely flat & you can't recline the passenger seat as well such a shame..

The new Civic tourer is out of my budget at the moment, I'm looking for 3-7years old car, and the civic model is like only 1year old now so still expensive..

Ebe_Scrooge

krey wrote: »

2 of my neighbours have that generation zafiras, and guess what? They are always b1tching about the cars that they need service all the time, I can see a mobile mechanic coming to fix one of that car every 2weeks.

All cars need servicing. Our Zafira is 12 years old, 130K miles, I service it myself, in all the time we've had it I've spent nothing on it other than routine servicing and standard consumables. Are your neighbours the type who think that servicing and maintenance consists of "see what it fails the MOT on and fix it then" ?