Best people carriers and MPVs of 2025 in the UK
SUVs have taken over the car market, but there are still a few holdouts in MPV-land, offering lots of space and practicality.
Some think that MPVs are dead, killed off by our rush to buy SUVs. Once upon a time, MPVs were seen as THE thing when it came to car design — sensible, one-box shapes which maximised interior space, lots of multi-adjustable seats, big doors, lots of glass, and unbeatable levels of family-friendliness. No wonder cars like the Renault Espace and Scenic, and the Ford S-Max, sold so well.
Fast forward a couple of decades and everything has, apparently, changed — now we want long bonnets and chunky ride heights, and a sense that we’ve just crossed the Serengeti when actually we’ve just driven to the shops. For all the dominance of the SUV in the current car market, though, there are still some MPV holdouts, cars which offer maximal interior space and comfort, and which won’t have any local eco-warriors letting down your tyres overnight.
Fashionable? Not very, perhaps but when you need a car that can carry lots of people in comfort then nothing beats a good MPV.
MPVs aren’t necessarily the platonic ideal of a family car for everyone, though. They can be big and bulky, and their tall, boxy bodies don’t really lend themselves to being much fun to drive. Seven-seat MPVs don’t always have much luggage space when all the seats are in use, so you may have to decide whether passengers or their suitcases are your priority. And a general lack of interest from buyers means that car manufacturers aren’t really investing in their MPVs - most of them don’t get the very latest and greatest technology or the most up-to-date engines.
Carwow’s expert road test team intensively tests every new car on sale, whether they’re right for the family or not, so that we can give our recommendations. We drive cars on the road and on the test track, and we look at the individual strengths of each model — from how sharp they are to drive, to how easy they are to park, to how much luggage you can stuff into the boot. Have a look here to find out more about how we carry out our rigorous tests.
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The slightly confusing thing about the Volkswagen Multivan is that it has the word ‘van’ in the name. That, and the shape and style that looks somewhat like a big Transporter van and the electric ID. Buzz have had a baby means that many will assume that the Multivan is just that — a van with some windows and seats. And the word ‘Multi.’
Assume away, but you’d assume wrong. While it might have all the breeze-block style of a delivery van, the Multivan is actually a car underneath — it uses the same ‘MQB’ chassis and the same engines and gearboxes as the likes of the Passat, the Tiguan, and even the Golf. While Volkswagen does have a seven-seat SUV — the Tayron — made from the same box of bits, this Multivan absolutely annihilates its multi-seat brother when it comes to space and seats.
In the back, behind the twin sliding side doors (optionally electrically powered for maximum kid-impressing power) there are five generously-sized seats, all of which slide, recline, fold, or even come out altogether. You’ll have to sacrifice some seat space if you want to maximise boot space, though, and the passenger versions of the Transporter van can carry more people.
Up front, there’s an all-digital dashboard, and although you’re sitting at van height, the seats are comfy. The view out is unbeatable, but the digital touchscreen is lifted from the old Mk8 Golf and so can be awkward to use — especially the annoying ‘slider’ controls for heating and stereo volume.
To drive, the Multivan is so much smoother than the Transporter van, although it will feel more ponderous than the likes of a Tiguan or Tayron. You can choose from diesel, petrol, or plug-in hybrid power, and now there’s also a California camper version, which seats only four, but offers sleeping space for them too. It’s definitely worth going for the longer-wheelbase version, as that offers considerably more interior room, and allows you to carry much more luggage when all the seats are filled.
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The Dacia Jogger isn’t an SUV, although it looks a bit like one. It’s also only really an MPV on the basis that it can actually provide seats for seven people. It’s also not quite an estate, as although it’s definitely got a long roof, it’s a bit too tall to strictly be called that.
So what is the Jogger? Well, it’s actually one of the best cars you can currently buy, as long as you take the price into account. Fail to take the price into account, and the cheap-o cabin plastics and the way the third row seat adjusters have a habit of trapping your fingers will start to irritate. However, when you remember just how little this car costs — less than half the price of some of the other cars on this list — you’ll not care about any of that, because the Jogger is the most affordable car that can carry seven people.
Seven full-sized people too, as there’s space in the third row seats for genuinely big adults, something that almost no seven-seat SUV can boast. In fact, if you’re tall, it’s actually comfier to sit in the very back than it is in the middle row, which is slightly cramped and upright, and the area in which the Jogger most clearly shows that it’s actually a Dacia Sandero hatch that’s been stretched. Yes, you read that right.
There’s a choice of a 1.0-litre turbo petrol engine or a 1.6-litre hybrid, and it’s best to go for the hybrid as not only is it impressively economical, it’s also the only Jogger with an automatic gearbox which makes it nicer to drive. Handling? Yes, it has some. Actually, the Jogger corners quite tidily, but it’s no hot hatch, and it can be noisy on longer journeys.
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You really shouldn’t let too much emotion work its way into your car buying process. This is supposed to be about cool-headed, rational, rigorous decision making, especially when it comes to buying a car as sensible as an MPV. And yet, when it comes to the VW ID. Buzz, it’s kind of hard not to let the heart rule the head. Even if you’ve never been a hippie, nor a surfer, nor an attendee of music festivals, there’s an almost atavistic appeal to the Buzz’s friendly sixties style, as successful an update of a classic model as Renault’s adorable new electric 5.
What trips the Buzz up a bit is its price — £57,000 and counting — and its relatively short real-world range, although recent updates have seen that climb to a more useful 293 miles, even if more like 240 miles is what you’ll actually get, especially if you venture near a motorway.
The Buzz, which originally launched as a strict five-seat model, has now at last gained the version it should have had all along; a longer-wheelbase design with seats for seven. There’s decent room in the third row seats too, thanks to a middle row that can slide back and forth by up to 200mm. Boot space remains just the right side of useful when all the seats are in use, and the big sliding side doors make getting in and out in tight parking spaces much easier.
There is a 340hp high-performance GTX model, but that rather flies in the face of the Buzz’s laid-back personality. Much better to stick with the standard model, enjoy the extra range (the GTX loses a good bit in real-world conditions), and just enjoy the panoramic view from that high-set driver’s seat.
You can have a nice six-seat layout in the back if you prefer, and the third row seats get useful ISOFIX anchors for child seats, bringing the total in the Buzz to four.
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The Ford Tourneo Connect, unlike the Volkswagen Multivan mentioned above, really is a van with windows. That fact maximises its functionality, but perhaps not its dynamic performance.
However, it’s related to the Multivan in more ways that one — the Tourneo Connect is part of Ford’s tech-sharing agreement with Volkswagen, so if you strip off the bodywork (don’t try this at home…) you’ll find the bones of the Volkswagen Caddy van.
It means that this Ford actually uses Volkswagen engines, so you get a choice of a basic 112hp diesel engine, or a 1.5-litre petrol plug-in hybrid, which has a maximum potential electric-only range of up to 73 miles, which is great for silent school runs.
As standard, the Tourneo Connect is a five-seater, but spec it up to Grand Tourneo status and you get a longer wheelbase and seven seats. Up front, you do get some nice digital displays, but a lot of the materials used are very much van-spec, and more hard-wearing than they are attractive. Mind you, that’s probably better for a hard-working family car.
The Tourneo’s boot space is simply massive — up to 1,720 litres for the Grand Tourneo — which should cope with any amount of luggage, buggies, shopping, and dogs that you can throw at it. The downside is that the Tourneo is rubbish to drive on a twisty road, with lots of body lean and a poor ride quality. The older Ford Focus-based Transit Connect Tourneo was more fun.
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The original Citroen Berlingo was one of the first truly popular van-based cars, and while it is still very much a commercial vehicle with windows and seats, it’s also a van-based MPV with a bit more personality than most.
Part of that is down to the styling, which manages to look a little more distinctive than most of its commercial-based brethren — even if you’d hardly manage to call it pretty — and part of that is down to the faintly quirky Citroen-like way it drives, with lashings of body roll, but also with a comfy ride and nicely springy seats.
As with the Ford Tourneo Connect, you can choose between short five-seat and long seven-seat versions, and it’s definitely the long ‘XL’ model that you should go for. Not only does it have far more space inside and much more flexible seating, it also has an absolutely massive boot — up to 806 litres depending on which seats are in use. There’s a fully-electric e-Berlingo too, but that has a truncated range of only 213 miles, so buy carefully. Better than that is the basic 1.2 petrol, which has a zippy little engine and undercuts the price of its Ford-badged rival by £10,000(!).
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The Lexus LM is something of an odd car. It’s a type of vehicle not often seen in the UK outside of specialist Japanese import garages — a big and tall MPV with a massive chrome grille and space for lots of seats inside. Such cars are hugely popular in Japan and other Asian markets, where they’re seen as better for chauffeuring and airport transfer work than the more common likes of a Mercedes V-Class.
The LM is based on a more humble Toyota Alphard, but in the back it’s gone full Lexus with soft leather seat upholstery, a drop-down video screen, and five roomy seats. If you want the ultimate in back-seat luxury, though, go for the Takumi version of the LM, which has just two rear seats, but they’re rather special ones. Think more Club Class recliner than MPV back seat. They fully recline, have built-in foot rests, massage functions, and heating and cooling. There’s an optional divider panel to keep those in the front at their distance, and even a 48-inch telly that slides down from the roof.
Even without those luxury touches, a seven-seat LM is pretty comfy and roomy, and it’s practical too, with sliding side doors. It’s just not much fun to drive, with lots of body roll. Still, the ride is comfortable and the 2.5-litre hybrid engine is reasonably frugal.
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It’s a shame that BMW has dropped the old Grand Active Tourer model from the tall 2 Series lineup — it wasn’t as if it had the most space in the cabin, and the extra seats in the boot were very much of the kids-only size, but it was usefully versatile.
Now, the 2 Series Active Tourer comes only in five-seat form, although it’s lofty roof and snub-nose very definitely mark it out as a proper MPV. It’s based on the same basic set of mechanical bits as the BMW X1 and the Mini Countryman, and it’s best experienced as a 225e plug-in hybrid, which can run for up to 53 miles on electric power alone. If you fancy something sportier, there’s a 230e with up to 326hp, which is pretty much hot-hatch quick, as well as a plain old unelectrified 2.0-litre 223i 218hp.
Inside, there’s plenty of space in both front and rear, and the 2 Series is especially good for tall passengers, as it has an excess of headroom. The boot is an OK size — 415 litres is perhaps nothing special, and that drops to 406 litres for the plug-in hybrid, although that still makes this PHEV more practical overall than a larger 330e.
Better still, the cabin feels nicely built and looks smart, and this 2 Series Active Tourer doesn’t let the BMW badge down when it comes to the driving experience. It’s far from being the best BMW to drive, but equally it’s not a let down if you’re a keen driver who needs a tall-ish practical car.
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The B-Class is kind of the forgotten model of the small, front-wheel drive Mercedes car lineup. That lineup is being culled at the moment — soon, only the next-generation of CLA, A-Class hatch, and GLB SUV will be left — but the B-Class deserves at least a slightly better fate, as it’s a roomy family car that’s good to drive.
As with its rival, the BMW 2 Series Active Tourer, it’s a five-seater only, with no seven-seat option, but those five seats are roomy and very comfortable. The digital dashboard, which uses Mercedes’ original MBUX software, is pretty simple to use and still looks smart, although there are some disappointingly cheap bits and pieces in the cabin, especially the nasty column stalks. Kudos to Mercedes, though, for keeping some proper buttons for the air conditioning controls, which makes life on board much easier.
Space in the back seats is very good, not least thanks to the tall roofline, but the 445 litre boot is nothing special. The B-Class now comes with only a choice of a mild-hybrid petrol or a diesel engine, as the sporty AMG version has been dropped. In standard form, it’s perfectly nice to drive, and resists body roll surprisingly well, but that comes at the price of a too-firm ride.
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The Mercedes V-Class (and its all-electric brother, the EQV) might be based on the humble Vito van, but you’d never guess it from the price tag. These are searingly expensive cars, certainly by the standards of family transport.
And then the penny drops. These aren’t really family cars at all, but professional tools designed to be used for discreet airport drops or pulling up in front of expensive country hotels, their occupants’ faces disguised by privacy glass. Indeed, the V-Class has now become the celebrity transport of choice, as the sleeker likes of an S-Class saloon were just becoming too obvious, and too much of a draw for the paparazzi.
The V-Class isn’t at all bad to drive, for something as big and tall as it is, and the interior up front is nicely made and feels suitably Mercedes. The back seats can be configured conventionally, or facing one another for a mobile boardroom look. The EQV is usefully more refined than the diesel-engined V-Class, but suffers from a distinctly abbreviated range and is really only useful for getting to hotels located in a ULEZ.
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How to choose the best MPV for you
As you can see from the list above, the number of proper MPVs on sale has dwindled drastically in the past few years. No more Renault Espace nor Scenic. No more Ford Galaxy, nor S-Max, nor C-Max, nor B-Max. Citroen’s rather lovely C4 SpaceTourer (neé Picasso) has gone too.
So, if you’re choosing an MPV, you’re kind of swimming against the tide of fashion in the motor industry, and that means you’re choosing from a smaller pool of potential cars.
The first thing you need to do is work out how many people you actually have to carry, as the five-seat versions of models such as the Citroen Berlingo and Volkswagen ID. Buzz can offer significant price savings over their seven-seat compatriots. Just remember that five-seat models will generally have a smaller boot, as well as fewer seats.
Then work out if you’re happy to drive a converted van. The likes of the Berlingo and Ford Tourneo Connect are based on commercial vehicles, and they can offer considerable savings compared to a car-based MPV, although that does come at the expense of both refinement and driving pleasure.
Finally, work out if you want to go for electric power. There are fully-electric MPVs, such as the Volkswagen ID. Buzz and the Citroen e-Berlingo, but remember that these will have shorter ranges than their SUV counterparts (a five-seat Volkswagen ID.4 offers as much as 60 extra miles of range compared to the Buzz, for example). It’s worth remembering that many MPV models — such as the Ford Tourneo Connect and the Volkswagen Multivan, offer plug-in hybrid models with decent electric-only ranges, which may be more flexible than going fully electric.
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