Which five-seat large SUVs provide the best legroom for families with teenagers?

We know what it’s like playing taxi driver to your teenagers and often their mates too. They can take up a lot of space in the back seats and need a lot of legroom. Then you add their sports or music gear to the boot and the car is filled to overflowing.

It’s easy to assume that all large SUVs will be spacious and offer adequate legroom for our ever-growing teenagers. But that’s not how it works. Each vehicle has a different amount of internal space and some provide better legroom than others.

You may only need to use the first two rows of seats in your large SUV, leaving you with enormous boot space most of the time, but with the third-row seats available for occasions when friends or in-laws need a ride too.

Others may need to use all three rows of seats every day, so comfort and practicality in all three rows of seats are important considerations.

We also need to find the balance between legroom and practical boot capacity, as cabin space can be sacrificed for a roomier boot or vice-versa, potentially affecting practicality for your family.

Many electric vehicles and some petrol or diesel models are designed with a completely flat floor in the rear. This is preferable for rear passenger legroom and kick room. It means the centre-seat passenger no longer has to sit with their knees hiked up under their chin, because they can place their feet on a flatter transmission tunnel as a platform, or exploit the space in the footwells for the outboard passengers, with their feet straddling the central tunnel.

A flat floor also makes getting in and out of the back of the car so much easier, especially for the middle occupant.

There are some fantastic large family SUVs out there with really good legroom in all three rows of seats that I have tested with my family over the last eight years as a mum of two, family car journalist and founder of BabyDrive.com.au.

When we’re looking at rear legroom, we’re looking at all the factors; kick room under the seats, plenty of space in the back for long legs and adjustable seats that slide back and forth to determine the appropriate ratio of legroom to luggage capacity behind the seats, according to your family’s needs.

Every car is slightly different, and varying combinations of family members – as well as the height of the driver and front passenger – will play a part too, but large SUVs that provide plenty of rear legroom are not ubiquitous.

Here’s my top five large family SUVs with great rear legroom for lanky teenagers.

The Ford Everest makes a great car for tall families, especially those who tow or like to go off-road. The interior space is very good, lending generous legroom in all three rows, especially in the back for tall teenagers. Whether you are using two rows of seats or you’re ferrying your kids and their mates as well, you will have good legroom in all three rows. We could sit a 186cm passenger (a six-footer in the old money) comfortably in all three rows of seats.

Second-row seats are split 60:40 and slide back and forth so you can distribute legroom however you need to do it.

Kick room is good in both rear rows of seats, the central floor area is not flat, so the second-row central passenger will have to straddle the small hump in the middle.

The rear windows are large, providing the rear-seat passengers a good field of vision while driving.

Boot space has not been compromised; the Ford Everest has a generously apportioned boot to hold the kids’ sports bags or instruments, fitting six shopping bags when using all three rows of seats or 18 bags when using two rows of seats. Your large family dog will travel happily too.

This is an incredibly spacious seven-seater for families with long-legged teenagers. The Jeep Grand Cherokee has oodles of interior space and great legroom in all three rows of seats.

I have used it to transport seven adults very comfortably, and everyone enjoyed the available space in all three rows of seats.

Legroom is fantastic throughout; 186cm passengers can sit in all three rows of seats. Kick room is good under the front and second-row seats, but the centre passenger has to straddle the hump in the floor.

Visibility is very good for rear passengers in the Grand Cherokee L, with large windows and built-in window blinds too – to protect rear passengers from the sun.

The boot is very practical, holding seven shopping bags when using all the seats or 20 shopping bags when using just the first two rows. Your large family dog will fit in the boot as well, or you can leave the dog at home and cart your teenagers’ camping, sports or music gear instead.

Legroom is generous across all rows of seats in the Nissan Pathfinder. We found a 182cm passenger can sit in each row. This large seven- or eight-seat SUV will comfortably transport six lanky teenagers and a tall driver. The second-row seats are split 60:40 and can slide to optimise legroom or boot space (or you can opt for plush separate captain chairs).

Kick room is great for passengers in both rows of rear seats and the centre-seat position is lightly compromised by the transmission tunnel.

The Pathfinder also has built-in rear window blinds providing shade to rear passengers.

Space has not been conceded at all in the boot, where eight shopping bags fit when using all three rows of seats, while a large family dog or the kids’ sports equipment will fit nicely too, when using two rows of seats – or a massive 22 bags.

The floor is flat across all three rows in the Hyundai Palisade large SUV. Passengers have excellent kick room and easy access in and out of the back of the car, because there is no transmission tunnel afflicting the legroom. Plus the doors are massive.

Legroom is very good in all three rows of seats. In the third-row bench seat, there is plenty of head, knee and kick room for a 180cm passenger and you can sit a 180cm passenger in all three rows of seats, still with ample legroom.

In the seven-seat model, the captain’s chairs slide to balance legroom with luggage capacity, and in the eight-seat model, the sliding bench seat is split 60:40 so you can adjust that for legroom too.

The back seats are generous in size and comfortable for three passengers to sit across with good visibility out of the side windows.

Boot space is very generous in the Palisade, which like the Pathfinder can fit eight shopping bags when using all three rows of seats. It’s slightly smaller with the third row folded, fitting 21 bags. That’s more than ample for your large family dog or the whole soccer team’s kit bags.

The Isuzu MU-X is a great large SUV for families that want to do some off-roading and camping trips in the holidays, as well as being a practical daily driver for everyday life.

Spacious throughout, we could fit my 186cm hubby in the third row, and a passenger of equal size in the second row and front seats as well.

Kick room is great for outboard second-row passengers while the centre-seat passenger straddles a small hump in the floor.

The wide seat base in the back makes it comfortable to fit three adults abreast, and two lanky teenagers will fit comfortably in the third-row seats as well.

Space is well distributed throughout the MU-X. In the boot, six shopping bags fit when using all three rows of seats, or 18 will fit when you’re using the first two rows of seats. There’s abundant room for the kid’s sports, camping or musical equipment or a large family dog as well.

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