The Internet is a funny place both in the ha-ha and peculiar senses of the word. I’m always on the prowl for coffe-snorting PR irony: the discrepancy between spinmeisters’ all-too-realistic expectations of media complicity and my time-tested, hard-won, inherently non-commercial cynicism. As for the peculiar part of the program, I get emails along the lines of “Do you know where I can get a windscreen for my Chevy Trailblazer?” I answer them politely, referring the proto-TTAC fans to model specific forums or websites. A request came over the e-transom today that took me aback—to driving automotive oddballs like the Chrysler Pacifica, E55 AMG Wagon and minivans. So I thought I’d toss this one (geddit?) to our B&B to see if you could save me the postage. “Could you please provide a list of new four door sedans that have six passenger seating available by make and model? I have long legs and really like the extra legroom provided when the shift lever is placed on the steering column. I currently drive a 2008 Buick LaCrosse with six passenger seating. However, I’d like to consider all possible four door sedans for my next purchase. Thanks very much, XXXXX, Edmonds, Washington.”
The only sedan I drove with 5 passengers on board was Lumina. Or is “new” the key word in the question?
Errrr…. do they still make cars with shifters in the Column???? is the front center seat up to modern safety standard, or will an airbag have to pop out of the CD/casette slot?
i never liked the idea of 3 passengers in the front. but the guy’s query regarding leg room is legitimate. so i say why not upgrade to a CUV/SUV, or if that is politically incorrect. try to get a recent model sedan that has a mounted shifter like a past generation 7 series. hope that helps….
Cadillac DTS can be optioned with 6 passenger seating. But it really isn’t much better than the LaCrosse, and it’s a lot more expensive.
Mercury Grand Marquis I think is the only other 6-passenger sedan on the market right now.
…but I agree with Ronman, with the upgrade idea. By most accounts the Ford Flex is pretty good.
Only ones I can think of, and these are on the chopping block but can probably still be found on a dealer lot somewhere:
Grand Marquis
DTS
Lucerne
LaCrosse
Otherwise, you’ll have to go for a truck with an extended cab. However, the current Buick may suit the driver well enough that a second Buick may be in order. I wonder if you can get the V8 with a 6-seat option. I’d take a look at a current 500/Taurus if you want a roomy 5-seat interior.
Ronman: if you look at some old brochures from when dual airbags first came out, the passenger side airbag was much larger and covered both the middle and left side of the vehicle.
Does the mazda5 count as a sedan ? Do how the doors open matter?
If you really need to carry six people get something with three rows of seats. Seating someone in the front center position is a big pain unless it’s a small child and the driver is a bean pole.
Pretty sure you can het can get a good deal on a used Crown Vic or Grand Marquis. A used Buick Century is another option.
What about the Fiat Multipla or the Honda FR-V?
“I currently drive a 2008 Buick LaCrosse with six passenger seating. However, I’d like to consider all possible four door sedans for my next purchase.”
A well maintained LaCrosse should be good to go for 10 years, so shouldn’t the question be what will be available in 2019?
Chevy Impala
Cadillac DTS
Buick Lucerne
Lincoln Town Car
Ford Crown Vic
Mercury Grand Marquis
Toyota Avalon (I think you can still get 6 seats)
Of the list, if 6 seats was the main key, I’d probably pick a certified pre-owned DTS because you can get a lot of car for the money. A DTS with an MSRP over 40-something thousand will go for $20-$21k a couple years old.
I have long legs and really like the extra legroom provided when the shift lever is placed on the steering column.
I have a 36″ inseam (I’m 6’8″). I did a lot of research in this area before buying what I ended up with
As for six-seat sedans: I find these cars problematic because, despite the lack of a floor console, the dash is often pulled quite far forward (towards the driver), eating into kneespace. If leg space is a priority, the best cars are those with tall seating and logs of seat-track travel. Think Kia Rondo, Mercedes B-Class, Honda Element, most minivans (excepting GM’s models) and the Nissan Cube (which is awesome).
If sedans are your thing, the Passat, Jetta, Malibu and Cmary are the best best for taller folk. The Fusion, 6 and Accord are a bit short of roof, the Crown Vic, Impala and Lacrosse have that cursed dash and the Taurus has a narrow footwell. The Passat is probably the best option: VW does good work carving out people-space.
I think the question being asked is more about perceived footroom than legroom, though. Again, you’d be hard-pressed to beat the front-seat footspace of a minivan, and some vans (the Sienna, for one) get reasonable mileage. If the Sienna seems too big, the Rondo has the same front-seat space, seats seven and costs less. It’s quite nice, too.
Limiting the choices to Pass Cars, a Town Car would be the only way to roll if you need 6 Passenger capacity on a regular basis, in my opinion. Otherwise, Suburban.
In the North American market there are only 7 choices in 6-passenger sedans:
Lincoln Town Car
Mercury Grand Marquis
Ford Crown Victoria (fleet only)
Cadillac DTS
Buick Lucerne
Buick LaCrosse (5-pass only starting 2010 my)
Chevrolet Impala
BTW, you can also get a front bench with column shifter in the Chevy Tahoe, Chevy Suburban, GMC Yukon/XL. The big pickups like the Silverado, Avalanche, Ram, and F-150 also offer front benches with column shifters. Also, vans and minivans are a good choice if you need knee room — no middle seat but the shifter is high and out of the way.
Strangely, I was actually thinking about this this morning while drinking my first cup of coffee.
I’m surised no one has said this on but the Impala with the bench seat seats 6. My brother-in-law bought one for his family of 6. One of the kids gets crammed in the middle, they don’t obey booster seat laws. They are’t very smart either since they traded down from a paid for under 80,000 mile Expedition with not a problem other then cheap interior during the $4 gas scare. I sure wish I had that Expedition they got nothing for trading in so they could pay $400 a month for a car to saved $50 a month on gas. And they didn’t buy it during one of GM’s cash on the hood give away sales.
There aren’t many 6 passenger 4 door sedan options without going to a third row these days. I guess their just isn’t a demand for that kind of car like it was in the 70’s and 80’s.
If the issue is the driver legroom, it looks like things got worse in last few years. I have a 34″ inseam and a beer belly. Malibu and Fusion are really narrow for me and push against my knees. Even in Element my knees bump into the door handle and the pod around the console shifter.
Kia Rondo seems OK, but the seat is short and hard. I wonder how much a custom seat would cost.
I say get one of those Ford Transit Connects or whatever they’re calling it now. Y’know, when it becomes available for sale. Granted, it’s a van, but it seems to be a kickass van at that. I can’t really recommend anything else besides keeping what you have now.
@Mirko Reinhardt: sadly, neither on sale on this side of the pond. I would have seriously considered the FR-V a couple of years ago if it were available Stateside.
I was a teenager when Dad insisted that the 1984 Buick Electra Wagon could hold 8, with me being the front seat middle passenger. The enormous front tunnel meant that my knees were in the dash, so can’t help being cynical here when I hear the phrase 6-passenger car.
I’m 6’3″ with a 34″ inseam, and LOVE the previous generation Malibu Maxx. Since the new Malibu has the same extended-Epsilon underpinnings and wheelbase, it’s at least worth a test drive. Yes, the shifter is on the floor, but I find I have more than ample knee room nonetheless.
Unless you want a dinosaur like the Grand Marquis or DTS, you’re going to have to go with an C/SUV for greater foot/knee/leg room. I’ve never driven most of the recent CUVs, but some of the smaller ones get similar or better gas mileage than behemoth sedans. Specifically, the Ford Escape, Honda CRV, Toyota Rav4, and Nissan Rogue are worth looking at. They might not be much better than a midsize sedan, though.
Larger CUVs also are not horrific mpg-wise. The Taurus X certainly deserves a look. If I had 3+ out-of-carseat kids, that would probably be at the top of my shopping list. There’s also the Toyota Highlander, and the eight or nine badge-engineered GM Lambdas (Outlook/Acadia/Enclave/Traverse/???).
And there are minivans, of course, which provide all of the driving thrill of an employee health benefits meeting.
In this day and age, instead of large sedans, we have CUVs. Instead of hatchbacks, we have CUVs. Instead of station wagons, we have CUVs. You can usually get 16-ish city, 25-ish highway even in the larger ones, though, so it’s not all bad. You just can’t drive them like they’re cars :(.
Mazda 5.
Seats for 6. Tall enough for a tall driver. Small enough to squeeze into the “sedan” category.
Mercury Grand Marquis or Lincoln Town Car. If six people and a column shifter is your thing, that’s the best bet. Plus they’re practically giving them away.
To follow up on my previous post, I went to fueleconomy.gov to compare the large crossovers with a typical large sedan: the Buick Lucerne. All models are base engine, 2WD. Here are the numbers of gallons consumed in a typical 15K-mile year:
Ford Taurus X: 789 gallons
Toyota Highlander: 751 gallons
Chevy Traverse: 789 gallons
Buick Lucerne: 751 gallons
Surprisingly, a large CUV is very competitive with a large sedan. In a year with average gas prices at $4/gallon, and fairly heavy driving (15k miles), the Taurus X is only going to cost you $150 more to feed over the Lucerne.
Something to think about if MPG is the only thing keeping you out of a CUV.
BTW, I think a guy asking for a column shifter and six-seats, in a sedan, WANTS to buy a dinosaur. So he’d probably love the Grand Marquis, Town Car, or DTS.
If it’s legroom – skip the benches and just buy a 7. With seat stop clips removed, the driver’s seat in my 740iL has a ridiculous amount of travel.
Cadillac DTS with the luxury 3 package.
Hello this is why people buy SUVs/CUVs!
A 2009 Crown Vic gets 16/24mpg. A 2009 Chevy Traverse gets 17/24mpg.
What is the reason for looking at sedans only?
What is the reason for looking at sedans only?
Maybe handling, breaking, etc? Though yeah, full size sedans aren’t great at that, they’re better than CUVs. It could also be he just likes the style of a sedan better.
What is the reason for looking at sedans only?
If you read the text of his request, he’s not really looking for a six-seater per se, so much as he is looking for a bench seat and a column shifter. He must want some room to sprawl out a bit, and a bucket seat doesn’t do it for him.
The question here is whether he can live with a column shifter, but bucket seats. If he can, then that might open up a few more options for him. Otherwise, he’s going to have settle for a domestic dinosaur or a well-used Avalon. (The Avalon no longer offers a bench seat option.)
I do enjoy large vehicles for my travels… but I really think that the answer depends on your budget.
Overall, on the more expensive I would opt for a near-new Toyota Sienna or the Cadillac DTS. The former is just as comfortable as any luxury car costing twice as much, and the later is truly a big bang for the buck in the used market.
You can also get a very strong deal on a loaded Hyundai Entourage since those are going to be defunct by year’s end. Minivans are generally the best buy for six to seven passenger seating period. Unless you do a lot of towing, they’re unbeatable values.
On the cheap side I would consider a three year old Malibu Maxx or the Lucerne IF you must get a sedan. Otherwise most any minivan will do.
You may be bigger, wider, or have unique needs that I’m not aware of. Given today’s market, I’d go for a lightly used minivan. The lots are waist deep in them and they’re incredibly challenging to move given the fickle fashions of the day and ramapant oversupply.
Mazda 5.
Seats for 6. Tall enough for a tall driver. Small enough to squeeze into the “sedan” category.
You’d think that, but no. There’s a wicked bump on the centre console of the 5 that cramps the foot and lower leg of tall drivers. You have to wedge your leg around it to reach the gas pedal. It really is an unpleasant feature in an otherwise-excellent car. It’s also the reason I don’t own a 5 right now.
The best 6-passenger “sedan” is the Chevrolet Suburban/Ford Expedition that one rents for the 0.05% of one’s driving when one actually needs all of that capacity.
Otherwise, I suspect a ‘tall car’ like a Vibe/Matrix or PT Cruiser will provide the needed legroom.
I second what Mirko said:
Fiat Multipla
Honda FR-V
and would add
Peugeot 308SW
Ford S-Max
https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/reviews/ford-s-max/
Oh wait, these are only sold in Europe
Depends on what you mean by “best”.
I packed my 7-member family into the 5-seat xB once; it worked but wasn’t “best”, and had the visual effect of a clown car unloading.
On the original question: Isn’t this what the internet can be good for – to do real research and then go check the product, rather than just asking a buddy?
Checker Marathon. Style, attitude and a front bumper that seats three in a pinch.
My brother, two sisters and I rode with our folks in a ’62 Lincoln suicide-door Continental from LA to Minnesota. We took turns sitting in the front between Mom and Dad or in the middle in the back. It’s amazing what we used to do.
My son now has a Mazda 5, which I recommended to him, and has seating for 6. It’s not perfect, but it works. If that’s not good enough get mini-van.
6 passenger seating in a two row sedan is stupid.
Honda Odyssey all the way. Luxurious,with plenty of room in 2-2-2 configuration.
I’m not sure what 6 passengers we’re talking about, and I admire the Mazda 5, but unless numbers 5 and 6 are very short, or children, it is NOT a 6 passenger vehicle. A Sienna or Odyssey, on the other hand, will get you few or no complaints from passengers in any seat.
I’d suggest my first car: a 1975 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser wagon. Anything larger, and you were driving the Exxon Valdez. Come to think of it, Ol’ Joe Hazlewood’s ride and mine probably had similar MPG ratings.
It had it all – seating for six, plus the rear-facing third seat, pinky-finger steering, and vinyl seats impervious to every kind of dampness, from Tab to bong water.
Plus, mine had a 455 with all the smog controls removed, and no positraction. Unfortunately, they weren’t giving degrees in “Lawn Job” back then, otherwise I could have skipped college.
You can buy a used low mileage one or two year old Town Car for half of MSRP, sometimes even less, and have the ultimate in comfort (if not modern technology) for a six passenger sedan.
I would however suggest the Ford Flex, sitting in the nether-region somewhere between station wagon and CUV, it seats six or seven dedpending on configuration, and had absolutely huge amounts of space in the first two rows, and decent space for adults in the back row. I am a big guy, in both height and girth, and generally automatically move the seat of any car I am going to drive into the furthest back and furthest down position. In the Flex, I am actually more comfortable moving it forward and up a bit, and I could still wear a ten gallon hat and not have my head touch the roof.
Dodge Charger Police. I love me some black steelies.
https://www.fleet.chrysler.com/fleetcda/files/site1/type2/415_en_e_charger_12.jpg
https://www.fleet.chrysler.com/fleetcda/files/site1/type2/418_en_p_charger_10.jpg
https://www.fleet.chrysler.com/fleetcda/files/site1/type2/437_en_p_charger_1.jpg
Oh wait, that’s actually a desirable Chrysler. So you can’t buy one.
Ford Flex.
Not bad, but more like a wagon…
If you need “Old World” space without Suburban gas guzzling, I highly recommend the Ford Flex. I’m 6’3″ and my wife is 6’0″ (she’s a tall drink of water!), and we both comfortably fit in either first or second row. The third row isn’t bad if your on a short trip.
As a Buick man, I’m guessing you like quiet and comfort. The SEL or Limited trim Flexes are really very nice. I’ve driven several “comfy” cars over the years (Lincolns, 300s, Acuras) and Flex is probably the most comfortable.