14 Nov 06
This optional centre console doesn't actually do anything fancy like supplying air or Toy Story 2 to the third tier of seats (side-mounted vents miles astern already effect the former with impressive vim), it merely serves as an arm rest, with farm tractor and Thomas the Tank Engine storage within and a couple of US-proportioned cup holders bolted on. Useful, but still a dirty great chunk of car to lug off and stow somewhere else.
Moreover, once the third-tier seat bases have been swung through 180 degrees and are now facing forward, upside down, they flop about like fish in a dinghy, completely unsupported at the front, unless you locate a fixing pin on the edge of the seat into the back edge of the seat in front. And you can't do that unless the seat in front is fully collapsed...
Finally, even when you have got everything flat, there are huge gaps in the loadspace floor, particularly in the absence of that rear centre console. Still, topped with a tightly stretched luggage net, this volume would at least pass muster as a perfectly serviceable terrier pit...
It's a mercy, then, that this is the long-wheelbase version.
