Mercedes-Benz V-Class

Weigh it against the obvious alternative, two E-Class saloons, and the MPV takes almost every measure going. Two cars cost more, need two chauffeurs, and arrive several minutes apart with dull reliability, because traffic pulls them apart. One exception survives: presentation. Where a group is arriving at a formal event and the photograph matters, a pair of saloons or a single flagship reads differently, and we would sooner say so beforehand than afterwards.

That six-cases-and-six-bags figure is real enough, though read it as a package rather than a promise covering any load at all. Behind it sits an assumption: conventional suitcases in the space behind the rear row, seats left in their standard positions. Golf bags, ski equipment, flight cases and rigid instrument cases all rewrite the geometry, and the honest answer is usually to drop one seat and win a great deal of floor. Send the actual list. We will confirm the configuration from that.

Two practical things trip people up. Height first. Barriers on some older multi-storey and hotel underground car parks sit lower than this vehicle stands, so access gets checked ahead of the day rather than discovered at the entrance itself. Second come the sliding doors, which want a clear stretch of kerb before they can deploy safely. Now and then that means collecting from the end of a narrow terraced street instead of right outside the front door.