In the past we have had a couple of MPV's, a couple of estate cars and a couple of large family hatches. To be totally honest all did exactly the same job but in a slightly different way. Do I have a preference? I like the higher seating position of the MPV but MPV's tend to be noisier that hatches. I like the easier loading of the estate because of the lower lip but its always a sod when you go on holiday, open the lid at a services and stuff falls out.

Looked at what they call SUV's but I just don't get them. Nowhere near as convient as any MPV, estate or hatch but always way more expensive.

We are more than happy with our Superb hatch at present. Way more space than most cars regardless of type at a lower purchase price, better mpg, better refinement etc etc.

It is an utterly meaningless acronym dreampt up by marketing types, i mean really?,

Sport Utility Vehicle?.

What does this mean?. Is a landrover an SUV?, it may be utilitarian, but it sure ain't sporty. A Porsche cayenne turbo is sporty (in so far as it is very fast) but is it a utility vehicle?, OK the rear seats fold, but i can't see owners loading up the back with rubbish for a trip to the local recycling centre. Then there is the Range Rover, the proper one not any of the offshoot's, it is neither sporty or utilitarian!. Taking the literal definition of SUV, surely it should only be used to describe a particularly fast van or pick up, such as the Holden maloo HSV?

But i guess the same is true of the term 'people carrier', which amuses me greatly to see being used in reference to something like a Renault scenic, which will carry exactly the same number of people as a clio or megane. The term MPV is perhaps a little more accurate, but not in a good way. If you take something like a ford galaxy, you can carry 7 people OR their luggage, but not both. So by that logic, couldn't weird stuff like the skoda felicia fun or the citroen C3 pluriel also be labelled MPV's?.

It's a fashion whose appeal is probably more the high seating position than anything else. If you really need to carry lots of stuff, a good estate car like an Octavia or Superb is what you need.

Or a van derived car like the Berlingo/Partner, Doblo, VW Caddy etc.

Good point - a Berlingo-type vehicle which owes more to practicality than to the stylist makes a lot of sense. I seem to remember you've had good experiences with Berlingos for some time, Brompton - doesn't yours pull a caravan as well?

We've had two Berlingos.

First was a 2005 1.8 IDI. Served us well for 10yrs and 150k plus miles before a steering issue, apparently only soluble by rounds of parts bingo, saw it off. Suspect problem was more one of garage competence than real nature of fault but got rid and now have a Skoda Roomster for my commute car and as alternative/mileage sharer for car described below.

Second is a 2013 1.6 HDi 115. Much bigger than predecessor but not to point of being difficult to manouevre; in fact it's turning circle could almost disgrace a London Taxi. Happily pulls our Elddis Xplore 304 caravan and makes a very stable outfit. To be fair though it's limited by Gross Train Weight and would be over legal limit if fully loaded AND towing 'van at latter's max weight of 1300kg.

In practice as there's only usually two of us in car and we're careful to be aware of both car and van's laden weight so not a problem.

Edited by Bromptonaut on 25/02/2018 at 23:32