We’re scouting to replace our car (a 2006 Volvo V50). The challenge is finding one that has similar luggage space. The V50 has a box shaped boot, whereas other cars have either very sloping backs or lack depth in the boot. For newer Volvo’s this holds true as well. Cars have generally become bigger on the outside, but that has been used for padding and for the passenger compartment it seems, not for luggage space which seems to have actually shrunk for compact models like the V50. This ensures our camping gear won’t fit a car, where it does fit our V50.
E booked two test drives for this morning, both Toyota (a 2019 Corolla and a 2018 Rav4). Part of the test was an attempt at loading our camping gear in front of our house. The Corolla failed due to its sloping back, the Rav4 passed the packing test as its back is more boxy. The Rav4 is however hardly compact.
Reminds me of when we were looking for a car in 2004, and one of our key criteria was whether it could comfortably fit the rabbit cage that E’s rabbit lived in. Which is how we ended up driving a Citroen Xsara Picasso, after trying a much wider range of models.
For our current car we didn’t have such rabbit based criteria when we bought it early 2013. After Y’s birth in 2016 and getting a bigger tent for camping, everything still fit through adding a rooftop box.
What currently fits our V50’s boot must however also fit the replacement car (while we assume the rooftop box will remain a necessity for summer holiday travel). And it turns out that is a difficult requirement for other cars to fulfill.