Is an MPV car comparatively affordable?

Yesterday I reviewed the Crossover concept and ended on the comment, ‘if I was willing and able to pay the price.’ It later struck a chord with me. I remember when I sold Rolls Royce and Ferrari in the 70s. People would stroll in just to tell us they’d never buy one. We used to say, ‘that’s because you can’t afford one.’

When you think about it people who buy Range Rovers are willing and able to pay the price and probably want everyone to know they can. Kinda kills my reasoning against Crossovers.

So let’s see if we can destroy MPV car myths. What is a MPV car? What does an MPV promise?

An MPV was defined by the 1985 Renault Espace which was purposefully designed and built-in a unique way.

• It appears as a one box design with a steeply raked windscreen merging into a short bonnet.
• The high roof and rear door angle were set near the ideal 90% estate car angle.
• Passengers could sit more upright than in low line cars.
• The seats could be folded or removed.
• All round access was easy.
• The view of the road was elevated.
• The unique selling proposition was MPVs were more spacious and versatile than other body types.
• You could also drive the Espace like a normal car.

To further understand a MPV it’s not exclusively a 7 seat people carrier, not a 60s minibus or 70s Yankee minivan, or 80s Japanese space wagon.You could buy a 7-seat Renault back in 1929.  The idea of more than 5 seats was not something new to the Espace. Space and versatility was. So an MPV can be 5 seats like the first Scenic, Picasso, C-Max.

1995 saw the first Ford Galaxy for sale which was promoted as a vehicle the same length as their saloon but with more space and versatility. Interestingly the DVLA classify the Galaxy and other MPVs as an estate car. So what’s an estate car? And let’s get comparing.

An estate car is based on a saloon car which can be seen as 3 boxes, one for the engine, one for passengers and one for luggage. An estate car merges the passenger and luggage areas into a shared one and preference given to one or t’other by folding the rear seat. The defining factors are an estate must have  tail board or gate and the cargo floor must be level with the lower edge of the tailgate frame – not sunken like a boot.

Given the description of a MPV and Estate the only difference is a MPV is higher and appears to be one box whereas an estate appears as two boxes because it has a long bonnet. The idea behind both is to increase versatility and space.

It’s difficult to compare the Espace and Galaxy because they’ve grown over the years and gone up market. The original Espace was only 4.25m long – shorter than a Ford Focus. Todays Espace and Galaxy are about 4.7/9m long. Something like the Vauxhall Zafiras size would be a more realistic comparison. So let’s make the same comparisons as yesterday.

Price – You can see a MPV IS comparatively affordable.

• Vauxhall Zafira from £15410
• Kuga £21505 to £26715
• Ford Focus Estate £17095 to 25095
• Focus Hatch £15995 tp £23995

Length – An MPV can be compact in length

• Zafira 4.47m
• Kuga 4.44m
• Focus Estate 4.56m
• Focus Hatch 4.36m

Minimum/maximum load space – MPVs are more spacious and versatile as promised.

• Zafira 140/645 to 1820 litres
• Kuga 360/1355 litres
• Focus Estate 476/1502
• Focus Hatch 316/1101

Engine options – MPVs have very similar engine ranges.

• Zafira 1.6, 1.8, 2.2 petrol or 1.7, 1.9 diesel with an auto option.
• Kuga 2.0 diesel FWD or AWD with auto option, 2.5 petrol AWD manual or auto.
• Focus Estate manual 1.6 diesel and petrol, 2.0 diesel and petrol with a diesel auto option.
• Focus Hatch same as estate.

Efficiency – MPVs can be better than a Crossovers but not a match for a hatchback or estate.

• Zafira 33.2 2 to 55.4 combined mpg, 134 to 191 CO2s, 111 to 127 mph, 12.4 to 9.9 seconds to 62 mph. 
• Kuga 47.1 to 27.4 combined mpg, 156 to 244 CO2s, 114 to 130 mph, 10.3 to 7.9 seconds to 62 mph.
• Focus Estate 67.3 to 47.1 mpg, 139 to 109 CO2s, 112 to 134 mph, 12.7 to 8.8 seconds to 62 mph.
• Focus Hatch not significantly different from the Estate.

 You can see you can buy an MPV in the same price range as a hatch or estate. It will be as compact but as the MPV concept promises you get more space and more versatility. MPVs can be as fast and as quick as a hatch and you can throw them around like a car. You pay a little extra in terms of fuel and emissions over a hatch or estate but significantly less than a SUV.

It appears the MPV idea is viable and comparably affordable. Plus you get 7 seats with a Zafira. You could make the comparisons above with a shorter 5 seat Scenic, Picasso or C-Max. Using the criteria above, although they’re shorter they beat the estate concept by a nose.

Regards
Ralph
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Why Is The Nissan Qashqai Popular?

The Nissan Qashqai is an interesting car because it sells well and was one of the first modern-day crossover cars replacing Nissan’s popular Almera  hatchback car.

The Qashqai is built on a Renault Megane platform which Renault also use for their Megane estate, coupe, cabriolet and Scenic. This puts the Nissan Qashqai dimensions in competition with hatchbacks like the Focus, Astra and Golf plus MPVs like the Meriva, Scenic and Zafira.

Whilst the Qashqai is based on a hatchback and built like an MPV many see it as a sensible substitute for a SUV (Sports Utility Vehicle) with it being promoted as some sort of Sports Urban Vehicle – that’s not a class of car, I just made it up. Although the Qashai has 7-seat models you wouldn’t necessarily compare the Qashqai with Vauxhall Zafira models.

So how does the Nissan Qashqai compare with its competitors, what are its advantages that make it popular? We’ll see in a moment the Qashqai is fairly similar to the new Ford Focus for sale. It seems it all boils down to style which like comfort is a personal taste I can’t comment on for you. I can however compare size, versatility, driveability, economy and safety.

A car’s style seems to somehow play a part in a car’s standing in the market place and its prestige. For some reason many motorists attach prestige to cars styled like SUVs, maybe the imagine themselves as Royals in Range Rovers.

If you compare the size of a standard Nissan Qashqai with a Focus, Astra, Golf its about the same length and width. The difference is in the overall height with the Qashqai appearing significantly higher when in actual fact there’s not a lot in it – 4 inches. The added height and shape of the Qashqai helps it appear like a SUV.

You could take the view as its built on a Megane platform like a Scenic its more like an MPV than a SUV but we don’t associate Nissan with MPVs. Nissan are known worldwide for their 4x4s leading to the assumption the Qashqai is an addition to their SUV range. The Qashqai has 4×4 options.

As an MPV the Qashqai doesn’t compare too well with the Scenic and Zafira although it does have more internal capacity than the New Meriva. The nice thing about these cars are their ease of entry and exit plus an elevated view of the road ahead.

When it comes to driving the Qashqai it benefits from the Megane’s stable platform.

If you compare fuel consumption and take 1.6 petrol engines as an example the hatchbacks do slightly better than the Qashqai which is a tiny improvement on MPVs. The combined fuel consumptions are closely ranked so there’s no guarantee there will be a significant difference in real on the road driving that amounts to a significant cost difference with a Qashqai.

There are the same differences in CO2 emissions but again they don’t amount to a huge difference in costs. However it does pay to keep an eye on this cost as you consider different makes, models and their many engine options.

It’s a similar story when you compare maximum speeds and acceleration. All these cars will comfortably cruise at a legal 90 mph and more across Europe. There’s half a second, maybe one in times to 62 mph which doesn’t mean anything on the road. Around 11 or 12 seconds feels the same, it’s when you get single figure acceleration you feel the difference.

The last thing to watch out for is ESP. All the above cars have 5-star EuroNCAP ratings but not all have ESP as standard which becomes law at the end of 2011 so insist on ESP being thrown into the deal for free.

So you can see there’s no real difference in size, a little variation in load capacity, performance and economy are very similar. The big difference is in the way these cars are styled into the hatchback, MPV and SUV sectors which is why they call the Qashqai a crossover.

The difference in style stops cars becoming so similar to the point they’re could be considered simply as a commodity to be bought on price alone. It’s also comforting to know a mixture of competition and legislation keeps cars up to mark for safety, economy, emissions and performance.

Regards
Ralph