most 3 row utes are very cramped...
 

i'm 6'3" so when i'm driving, the seat has to be pretty far back. if my driver's seat is in a position comfortable for me, i cannot sit in the seat behind in my jeep grand cherokee. when i do have 4/5 in the car, obviously i move my seat forward to where i can still drive but give someone behind me more room.

between the somewhat limited rear seat room in my ute, and having an interest in some more cargo capacity too, i've looked at some 3 row utes over time for comparison, even though i'd rarely use a third row.

i recall a highlander's 2nd row wasn't that roomy and the third row a joke. same with a lexus gx. i recently checked out a new buick enclave, which actually was pretty good in second/third row. i checked out a durango, and the 2nd row seemed worse than my jeep!

so i decided to do a bit of looking at specs to see if i'm being unreasonable.

jeep grand cherokee
Front Leg Room : in 40.3
Second Leg Room : in 38.6
https://www.caranddriver.com/jeep/grand-cherokee/specs

toyota highlander
Front Leg Room : in 44.2
Second Leg Room : in 38.4
Third Leg Room : in 26.7
(confirmed: great front leg room, worthless third!)
https://www.caranddriver.com/toyota/highlander/specs

dodge durango
Front Leg Room : in 40.3
Second Leg Room : in 38.6
Third Leg Room : in 31.5
(same as jeep for front 2 rows!)
https://www.caranddriver.com/dodge/durango/specs

lexus gx460
Front Leg Room : in 41.7
Second Leg Room : in 34.1
Third Leg Room : in 29.3
(yup, terrible, highlander has a lot more room)
https://www.caranddriver.com/lexus/gx/specs

buick enclave
Front Leg Room : in 41.2
Second Leg Room : in 38.9
Third Leg Room : in 33.5
(confirmed: definitely bigger)
https://www.caranddriver.com/buick/enclave/specs

chevy traverse
Front Leg Room : in 41
Second Leg Room : in 38.4
Third Leg Room : in 33.5
(basically same as enclave)

then i got to thinking, how big are minivans, and don't they have more people room? looked up this:

chrysler pacifica
Front Leg Room : in 41.1
Second Leg Room : in 39
Third Leg Room : in 36.5
(sure enough - very good in all 3 rows!!!)
https://www.caranddriver.com/chrysler/pacifica/specs

honda odyssey
Front Leg Room : in 40.9
Second Leg Room : in 40.9
Third Leg Room : in 38.1
(excellent!)
https://www.caranddriver.com/honda/odyssey/specs

Or buy a Suburban. Or buy a long wheelbase Yukon, Denali, or Escalade. Forget what Ford is calling the long Expidition and Navigator these days, but they offer them both in short and long wheelbases. Honestly though the Ford versions in SWB are a lot roomier than a Tahoe or SWB Yukon/Denali/Escalade. All of those LWB models have a ton of room in the 1st/2nd rows and enough room in the 3rd row to accommodate regular sized adults under 6' tall.

If you regularly haul more than 4 people who aren't kids, just buy a damn van, the newish(to this market anyways) Ford Transit is actually really nice, very user friendly(much lower step in height than the old Econoline) and WAY cheaper than the similar Mercedes Sprinter. I know, nobody wants to drive the airport shuttle van, but in every aspect except towing its a way more versatile, roomy, and more user friendly vehicle than something like a Suburban or Expedition.

What do you mean "regular size adults under 6' tall"? I'm 6'2" and consider myself at the larger end of "regular sized". I have some tall friends (6'5") or taller who have issues with most cars, but there are lots of us just over 6' who should be able to fit in most cars. My RX350 has room enough for me to sit behind the front seat with it adjusted to fit me for driving. I consider this as a requirement for sedan or SUV use.

As for 3rd row, I'm not a candidate. I'm a bit overweight and very old so crawling into a 3rd row is not something I would be comfortable with. The Navigator has always had the best 3rd row of the short wheelbase body on frame SUVs and it is still not for me.

6'2" is a giant in my family lol.

Times change! When I was in high school 50 years ago I played center on the basketball team. Now, at 6'2", you would be marginally too small to play guard.

toyota highlander
Front Leg Room : in 44.2
Second Leg Room : in 38.4
Third Leg Room : in 26.7
(confirmed: great front leg room, worthless third!)
I totally agree.

lexus gx460
Front Leg Room : in 41.7
Second Leg Room : in 34.1
Third Leg Room : in 29.3
(yup, terrible, highlander has a lot more room)
I totally agree; it seems that the heavy duty off-road GX needs taller ground clearance, which compromises the depth of the floor in the GX, such that the cabin is smaller than the Highlander vertically, and to a lesser extent a shorter narrower cabin.

then i got to thinking, how big are minivans, and don't they have more people room? looked up this:

honda odyssey
Front Leg Room : in 40.9
Second Leg Room : in 40.9
Third Leg Room : in 38.1
(excellent!)
Totally agree. The minivans and people movers have a much lower and deeper floor [and a lower ground clearance as a result] for a much more voluminous cabin.

Of course van has the most people rooms, it’s design for it.jusy sat in my friends NEW ESCALADE EXTENDED WHEELBASE TODAY, and the third row is still not that comfortable compare to a van...

Not all of the human race are that tall, especially females. 5'6" inbred white male here with heritage from east TN, southwest VA, and West Virginia. At least I was taller than my mom and maternal grandfather, old man was about 5'4-5'5", mom is 5'3", dad is about 5'9"-5'10" his dad was about the same height. Just saying being anything over 6' is still considered tall in this world, especially if you factor in people from Japan, China, India, southeast Asia and all those brothers and sisters from Mexico, Central and South America.

tall people problems.

Bring back the minivan!

I've always wondered what, if anything, people can do when they have 2 or more baby seats in the rear of a vehicle. Just a normal forward facing baby seat impacts the front seat's ability to move back, to include full sized American SUVs....height and income are two things men routinely lie about. There was a funny Everybody Loves Raymond episode where his wife was measuring him and it always came out to 5'11" (I think he is 6'3" in real life)...

not sure how ground clearance changes leg room but i guess that's measured somehow from hip point up to knee and down to floor or something. :uh:

absolutely true.

https://img.aws.livestrongcdn.com/ls...02cb72f37f.jpg

the rx has always had great packaging and space efficiency, which is one big reason it's so popular! :thumbup: :agreed:

more generally, it appears several 2 row models offer much better first/second row legroom than 3 row models! i just looked up the ford edge:

ford edge
Front Leg Room : in 42.6
Second Leg Room : in 40.6
(nice!)
https://www.caranddriver.com/ford/edge/specs

rx
Front Leg Room : in 44.1
Second Leg Room : in 38
(essentially same as highlander i notice, huge front room - maybe doesn't account in back the rear can go back/forth but either way, having so much up front means the front can go forward for many people to give more in back)
https://www.caranddriver.com/lexus/rx/specs

Even the Escalade is cramped, and not just the third row but the second raw too. Body on frame vehicles just aren't space efficient.

Don't have too many children and in laws, and you can drive a coupe instead of some miserable 3 row behemoth.

I've looked at most vehicles available today in the American market (not necessarily all) with third-row seats, and might see some new ones at the D.C. Auto Show coming up. But, in general, among those I have looked at, the last-generation GM triplets...Chevy Traverse, GMC Acadia, and Buick Enclave (all, of course, done on the same crossover/unibody platform) have the roomiest third-row seats. I'm almost as tall as Bit (6' 2") probably a lot heavier, and I'm actually at least (fairly) comfortable in the third-row seat in these vehicles.....particularly the Enclave, the most plush of the three. That says something for these vehicles, room-wise....I am rarely comfortable in any third-row seat, and generally can't fit into most of them. Of course, most of them (by admission from the automakers themselves) aren't designed for large adults....generally kids and small adults at most.