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Interior dimensions - how is leg room measured?

22293 Views 3 Replies 2 Participants Last post by  mss42
Just finished spending the better part of a day in a relative's new Mercedes GL. The only lambda I've had personal time in was an Acadia with captain's chairs. In the Acadia, I first sat in the driver's seat and adjusted it to a comfortable position. I then got in the 2nd row chair behind the driver's seat. All the way back I had room like a king. I adjusted it up some but left plenty of leg room for comfort. I then attempted to get in the third row seat directly behind the driver's side captain chair that I had adjusted... and was amazed that I was able to sit facing straight forward without my knees pressed into the seatback at all.

This was surprising to me... because I am 6'3". That means the Acadia (and presumably the Enclave, though 2nd row legroom is reported to be a smidge less) can hold 6 tall adults. No easy feat!

Another vehicle my wife and I were considering was the Mercedes GL. I had test drove one, but neither of us crawled back into the 3rd row... so I was eager to spend the day on the road with my relative. I spent plenty of time in all three rows. Front seats have about the same room as the Acadia. Second row in the GL is a bench, and felt like legroom was the same as the Acadia adjusted all the way back. But the third row was surprisingly tight. I couldn't sit facing forward but had to slant my legs all the way to the side to squeeze back there. And my wife, at about 5'8", had to do the same. I don't believe the second row bench adjusts fore/back at all.

Now, this also was surprising to me, because I had in my research compared these two platforms directly, spec for spec, and the GL comes out on top in measured legroom (the Lambda's are wider vehicles though). Front seats are essentially identical, the GL measures just a bit longer in the second row, and is reported to have several inches extra third row room!

So what gives? Do they measure the lambda vehicles with the middle seats all the way back? I have a hard time believing what the numbers are telling me. Anyone have some insight here?
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i have found on edmunds.com that several specs are incorrect so, i would say test everything for yourself and measure if you have too.
I've been doing a little more research trying to clear this up. It seems that the standard procedure for legroom and interior measurements is to put all seats in their backmost position. The second row in the GL does not move, so the specs are saying that it has a bit more legroom than the Enclave in the second row when front seats are all the way back, and that the third row has a bit more room when the second row in the Enclave is all the way back. However, with a sliding middle row, you can divide the available legroom more evenly in the Enclave/Acadia such that three adults can sit on one side (front/middle/back), while in the GL (and many other vehicles) you are stuck with a short third row suitable only for kids.

I think I'd rather be able to slide the second row back when four or five adults are traveling (rear can sit in the middle... plenty of legroom!), and slide them forward (along with drivers, if needed) for a full load trip (which probably wouldn't be that common).
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yes osli,

that sliding second row seat comes in handy for those purposes.
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