The most spacious medium SUV to own in 2022

Interior space and practicality are important factors to consider when making a car purchase. We delve deeper into the most spacious medium SUV in Australia and, more importantly, explain how it claimed its title.

Interior space has never been more relevant, especially when you take into consideration the number of growing families that are buying SUVs. 

As part of our medium SUV Megatest, we went beyond measuring space based on appearance; rather, we broke out the tape measure to thoroughly assess the dimensions of each cabin.

This included measuring elbow width, knee room, headroom, cargo width, height and length, along with luggage load height and luggage door maximum height.

Once all of these components were measured for each vehicle, we then ranked them accordingly. The Subaru Forester was crowned the most spacious, with the Honda CR-V finishing second ahead of the Haval H6.

The MG fell short on real-world interior room and finished at the bottom. Another surprise was the Mitsubishi Outlander, which has the largest exterior of the bunch. The Outlander was the only seven-seater in this Megatest, but unfortunately sacrificed useable interior space for the additional seats.

Check out our top three below:

Australia’s most spacious medium SUV

First: Subaru Forester

The Subaru Forester boasts the biggest headroom in both the front and rear. It also ranked highly for elbow width in the front along with a decent luggage load height.

It sat further down in the rankings for cargo length but was high on the list for its cargo height. It scores ample storage space throughout with a slot for your smartphone, handy compartments in the centre region and decent-sized door bins.

Second: Honda CR-V

The second row of the CR-V has the most generous knee room that makes it feel incredibly spacious. It also ranked highly for its elbow width up front, boasts generous cargo height, and has the most generous luggage load height of the bunch.

While the team were divided by the old-style gearshifter, the fact that it sits up higher gives this car ample storage space in the centre console. It contains a convenient lift-up centre compartment and decent-sized cupholders in the centre and doors.

Third: Haval H6

The H6 finished on top in the rankings for elbow width both front and rear, along with cargo height and cargo capacity in the boot.

Storage is one of the best in the class, with a large centre console including an open compartment underneath that is large enough to fit a small handbag.

To find out how the rest of the bunch fared, be sure to check out our full article of Australia’s best value Medium SUV in 2022.

Interior dimensions and ranking:

INTERIOR SPACE	Ford Escape	Haval H6 Luxury	Honda CR-V VTi 1.5T FWD	Hyundai Tucson base 2.0p FWD	Kia Sportage S 2.0p FWD	Mazda CX-5 Maxx Sport 2.5p FWD	MG HS Excite X AWD	Mitsubishi Outlander LS 2.5p FWD	Nissan X-Trail ST+ 2.5p FWD	Subaru Forester 2.5p AWD	Toyota RAV4 GX 2.0p FWD
Elbow width front	1510	1550	1530	1520	1520	1530	1530	1500	1460	1530	1510
Elbow width rear	1450	1550	1500	1510	1510	1500	1520	1480	1440	1500	1520
Kneeroom min	235	200	230	80	80	160	190	200	250	180	100
Kneeroom max	480	430	480	420	420	430	430	460	450	440	420
Headroom front	910	980	980	960	960	940	930	990	950	1000	940
Headroom rear	950	950	940	950	950	950	950	930	930	970	940
Cargo width	1040	1000	1020	1030	1030	1050	1030	1060	1090	1030	1000
Cargo length	850	930	960	970	1000	950	880	970	890	920	1020
Cargo height	760	910	900	750	740	750	720	800	760	810	810
Cargo cap 5-seat	556	600	552	539	543	442	463	478	565	509	542
Luggage load height	750	820	650	750	750	760	820	780	760	750	700
Luggage door max height	1880	1800	1810	1870	1870	1870	1790	1850	1840	1900	1890
Seats	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	7	5	5	5
RANK	4	3	2	6	5	9	11	8	10	1	7

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