SEAT Alhambra (2010-2020) review - Practicality, comfort and boot space

As you would expect of a full sized MPV, the Alhambra's greatest strength is its practicality. The car measures 2,081mm wide, which helps make the cabin feel light and airy. There are seven seats, and you can fold the second and third rows completely flat. As an option, you can choose a front passenger seat that can can be folded flat too, allowing the SEAT to carry loads up to 2.95m long.

Boot

With all seven seats in place, the boot is a little on the small side, at just 267 litres, although that makes it still deep enough to hold five full supermarket carrier bags. With the rearmost seats folded there's 1,167 litres of space on offer, increasing to 2,297 litres with the second row folded as well. However, like many MPV rivals, the third row is only really suitable for carrying children. The good news is the boot and rear sliding doors can be electrified as an option, which makes access incredibly easy.

Size

As well as being relatively long at 4,854mm the Alhambra measures 2,081mm wide, so it might make it a bit tricky to drive through width restrictions. That compares to 4,656mm x 1,884mm for the Vauxhall Zafira Tourer, or 4,820mm x 2,154mm for the Ford Galaxy.

Leg room, head room & passenger space

As in most of its 7-seat MPV rivals, the third row is only really suitable for carrying children, but the second row offers acres of space for three adults with lots of leg- and headroom. There are three individual seats in the row that slide back and forward and recline independently.

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More good news comes with the rear sliding doors that can be electrically powered as an option (along with the tailgate), which makes access incredibly easy – even to the third row.

The sliding doors are also incredibly helpful in confined car parks if you’re trying to load children into the middle seats. Another useful option is the ability to add two built-in booster cushions to the outer seats, which also come with an optional head rest that adds wings on either side of a child's head, like a child car seat, to boost protection. ISOFIX child seat mounts are standard on all three middle seats.