The 7-seat MPV Renault-espace has just been listed in China, and the second row is 3 seats, but in order to adapt to the "Chinese national conditions", the European 3 independent seats are changed into the car type 4/6 points - the French, the French, have to smile again for your naivety and cute.
When you buy an MPV, you buy the space and the seats, and how the seats are arranged is the core project of MPV design. European MPV, the second row is usually 3 independent seats, such as Citroen Picasso, Volkswagen Sharan; And Japanese, American MPV, the second row is mostly two independent seats, such as Buick GL8 and Honda Odyssey, Alesun.
Is 3 or 2 seats better? Or is it European or Japanese? Buyers will struggle between Odyssey and Sharon, and after the entanglement, two camps are formed, each with its own reason, each feeling that their choice is more reasonable.
European MPV, the second row is born with 3 independent seats
Renault-Espace, many people have not heard of it, but in fact this goods is not small, is the originator of modern MPVs in Europe. That's not all, the seat design of the first generation of Renault-Espace was amazing at the time.
The first-generation Renault-Espace went on sale in 1984, a few months after the Dodge Caravan and other MPVs of Chrysler (Chrysler's MPVs, sold under multiple brands such as Dodge and Chrysler).
In fact, Renault-Espace was first developed by Chrysler's European subsidiary, and Chrysler's MPV can be said to be "born from the same roots".
In the 1970s, several car companies in the United States and Europe were trying to develop a new model that could seat several more people, which was different from the traditional van (van) and station wagon, but a hybrid of a sedan and a van.
The first to bring this car to the market was Chrysler in the United States, Renault in France, and the first MPV launched by Renault was Renault-Espace.
The most innovative thing about the first-generation Renault-Espace is its seating layout. It has three rows of seats inside, the second and third rows, which can fit 3 and 2 separate seats respectively.
If the seats are all fit, this is a 7-seater car; But the most outstanding layout is that the second row has only one seat in the middle, and the third row has two seats.
The driver's seat and passenger seat of this car can be rotated backwards, and the second row of seats can be folded back to form a small table, so that the car feels like a small room, the back and front seats sit opposite each other, and there is a small table in the middle, and the atmosphere is quite warm.
Since then, European MPVs, including Citroen Picasso, Volkswagen Touran, Sharon, etc., have followed the design of the rear two rows of independent seats. The arrangement of three independent seats in the second row has also become a European MPV design tradition, which has been used until now.
The second row of seats in the sedan are all conjoined "couches", and Renault's method of dividing the "couch" into 3 "small sofas" is very clever, so that the seat arrangement of MPV is much more flexible than that of the sedan.
More than 30 years ago, Renault-Espace was able to open up its brains, so when we saw that the Chinese version of Espace actually made the second row of seats into a sedan-style, we couldn't wait to use a saw to see it into several parts
MPV second row, 2 seats or 3 seats is better?
First of all, it can be said with certainty that the second row of the MPV, whether arranged as a 2-seat or 3-seater, is significantly more functional than the sedan.
But if you make the second row into a sedan-style 4/6 point like the Chinese version of Renault-Espace, it will really be blind to an MPV.
The second row of the MPV has a function that is difficult to achieve in a sedan, that is, the seat can be moved back and forth, and the backrest angle can also be adjusted within a certain range. Why this difference?
Mainly because the authentic MPV has two characteristics: one is the long wheelbase, and the other is the flat floor. The long wheelbase means that the second row of seats has more room to move forward and backward; The flat floor means that the rear of the seat is not limited by the position of the fuel tank and spare wheel.
The second row of seats of MPV has more freedom than ordinary cars, and if it is designed with 3 or 2 independent seats, the degree of freedom is greater, and each passenger can adjust his front and rear position and sitting posture to make himself more comfortable;
Another advantage of independent seats is that they can be folded separately to make the use of space in the car more flexible - so the second row of the Chinese version of Renault-Espace has been reduced to a sedan-style 4/6 point, which is really worrying about the IQ of some people.
Is the second row 2 independent seats good? Or is 3 independent seats better? ——It is definitely good for each of them, but it should be said that 2 independent seats are more in line with the spirit of MPV.
