Speaking of the school run: The Atlas» neatest trick is
the sliding middle row of seats which allows laughably easy access to the generous back bench.
Not exact matches
The split - bench, reclining second -
row seat in our seven -
seat X5 could
slide forward and back to balance the legroom needs
of middle and rear passengers.
A clever feature engineered into the second
row is the
middle jump
seat, which can
slide forward independent
of the outboard positions; this enables better parental access to wee ones who are buckled in there, or conversely, it effectively creates a barrier between sparring siblings.
The
middle -
row seating is accommodating and allows riders to enjoy a lot
of leg space, or
slide the
seats forward to give the third -
row riders more room.
Really, handling is a non-issue: Who's going to carve sharp turns in any minivan when the dog
slides from one side
of the rear
seat to the other, a kid in the
middle row declares, «I'm gonna barf,» and your partner gives you the death stare?
Starting with the third
row of seats, the Land Rover offers more legroom than either the Volvo XC90 or the Audi Q7, accommodating fully grown adults with relative ease if the
middle row of seats is
slid forward slightly.
There is a conversation mirror so the driver can keep in contact with rear
seat - mounted kiddies and there is that nifty
middle seat of the
middle row that
slides forward to allow parents in the front to tend to a small person in a child
seat.
A simple one - lever tug and I even got my 191 - cm self into the third
row, but I ran out
of knee and toe room trying to return the
middle row to
seated position — if the
middle row slid fore - and - aft it might have worked, at least until that
seat was reclined.
The wheelbase is also 11 cm longer, the result being that there's decent front space for tall adults and enough room for two more occupying the outer
seats in the
middle row, provided both parts
of its 60/40 base configuration are
slid as far back along their 13 cm range as possible.
I would love
seating for up to 8 people (a bench
seat across the
middle row instead
of 2 bucket
seats), I would love automatic
sliding doors on both sides
of the vehicle, and I would love that those doors had windows that roll down.
The
middle row of seats isn't divided into three separate
sliding chairs as in some MPVs, but the lower bench does split into two individually
sliding sections, and the backrests into three fold - down segments.
The third
row of seating is standard, and a button on the sides
of the second
row seat cushions
slides the
middle seats forward for third
row access; even little kids can use it.
These enable anything from moving the
middle section
of the second
row to
slide forward so that front
seat occupants can easily reach a child
seat in the back to removal
of the
middle seat to allow for the rear area to become two captain's chairs.
The
middle row of seats doesn't fold and
slide as far forward as some rivals, and the door aperture also isn't as big.
My one problem is that there is no center
seat in the
middle row of the van and the rear
seats don't
slide back as far as they should.