Third-Row Seats

  • Rivian R1S

    Two years from now, the electric-vehicle startup Rivian hopes to be making its R1T electric pickup truck at a former Mitsubishi (and Chrysler) plant in Normal, Illinois. If everything goes according to plan, shortly after that, in early 2021, it will start to deliver its other so-called electric adventure vehicle: the R1S all-electric seven-passenger SUV. With the R1S, which Rivian has just previewed at the Los Angeles auto show, much is carried over from its also-hypothetical R1T—including the three model levels attached to 105-kwh, 135-kwh, and 180-kwh battery packs, with four motors...

  • 2018 Lexus RX L, 2017 Los Angeles Auto Show
    2018 Lexus RX 450hL hybrid three-row SUV priced from $51,600

    Lexus invented the idea of a luxury hybrid utility vehicle in a version of its RX crossover well over a decade ago, but sales haven't been strong of late. Cheap gasoline, better fuel efficiency from all types of vehicles due to rising CAFE rules, and a lack of interest in hybrids have all hurt the...

  • Jeep Yuntu concept, 2017 Shanghai auto show    [photo: Ronan Glon]
    Jeep Yuntu Concept for Shanghai may have plug-in hybrid powertrain

    The Jeep Yunto Concept made its debut Wednesday at the Shanghai auto show, and it appears to be a plug-in hybrid. The automaker has been tight-lipped about the concept's drivetrain, but the vehicle on display in China clearly shows "PHEV" badges on the front doors. No surprise there, as the Chinese...

  • 2018 Volkswagen Atlas
    2018 Volkswagen Atlas 7-seat SUV unveiled; plug-in hybrid coming, but when?

    Volkswagen's 7-seat SUV will launch without a plug-in hybrid powertrain.

  • 2017 Toyota Highlander Hybrid, test drive, Ojai, California, Sep 2016
    2017 Toyota Highlander Hybrid: brief drive of updated three-row SUV

    The 2017 Toyota Highlander Hybrid remains the only three-row hybrid crossover utility vehicle sold in the U.S. today. And for the 2017 model year, it's gotten some mild updates. a power increase, and a critical feature for family vehicles: a total of five USB ports. We had a chance to spend half an...

  • 2017 Chrysler Pacifica Touring-L Plus
    2017 Chrysler Pacifica fuel economy review

    They say you never really forget how to ride a bike, but if you're Chrysler, you may temporarily forget how to build a minivan. That's just what happened for the company that invented the multi-purpose vehicle more than 30 years ago. Its last generation of Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge...

  • 2016 Tesla Model X launch in Fremont, California

    Tesla Motors will recall 2,700 Model X electric crossover utility vehicles to replace seat backs in the third row after a recliner unexpectedly slipped during seat-strength tests. The vehicles in question were built prior to March 26, and are all located in the U.S. Tesla said in a letter e-mailed yesterday to owners that it discovered the recliner issue while conducting safety tests prior to starting Model X deliveries in Europe. DON'T MISS: Tesla Model S Recall Announced For Rear-Seat Latch Bracket (Jun 2013) The company will have its Service Centers replace the third-row seat backs, a task...

  • 2017 Toyota Highlander Hybrid  -  2016 New York Auto Show iive photos
    2017 Toyota Highlander Hybrid to be offered in four trim levels: Live photos

    The refreshed 2017 Toyota Highlander Hybrid will debut at the 2016 New York Auto Show.

  • 2016 Volvo XC90 T8 plug-in hybrid  [photo: Gary Renick, Twin Cities region]
    2016 Volvo XC90 T8 Plug-In Hybrid: An Owner's First 21 Days

    The 2016 Volvo XC90 T8 'Twin Engine' that went on sale last August was only the second plug-in hybrid SUV to be sold in the U.S., after the Porsche Cayenne S E-Hybrid. Since then it has been joined by the BMW X5 xDrive 40e, and coming up are the Mercedes-Benz GLE 550e, the Mitsubishi Outlander...

  • 2016 Volvo XC90, Catskill Mountains, NY, Aug 2015
    2016 Volvo XC90: Gas Mileage Review Of Luxury Seven-Seat SUV

    For green-car fans, the all-new Volvo XC90 seven-seat luxury crossover is most notable for its upcoming plug-in hybrid model. But that version will be just a small part of its sales, of which a majority in North America will have the company's supercharged and turbocharged Drive-E engine. The...

  • 2014 Nissan Pathfinder Hybrid information page on Nissan North America website, Jun 2015
    Nissan Pathfinder Hybrid 'No Longer Available,' Infiniti QX60 Twin Vanishes Too: UPDATED

    Four months ago, we inquired about the fate of the Nissan Pathfinder Hybrid. That version of the popular seven-seat family SUV, with a 2.5-liter four and a mild-hybrid system replacing the usual 3.5-liter V-6, had launched as a 2014 model. We weren't impressed with the car, either in prototype form...

  • 2016 Honda Pilot
    2016 Honda Pilot Seven-Seat SUV Rated At 22 Or 23 MPG Combined

    The 2016 Honda Pilot gets a slight bump in fuel efficiency as part of a ground-up redesign. The new Pilot was unveiled back in February at the 2015 Chicago Auto Show, and we now know that it will achieve an EPA-rated 23 mpg combined (20 mpg city, 27 mpg highway) with front-wheel drive and the...

  • 2017 Volvo XC90 Excellence

    If you need to fit more than five into your vehicle—even just sometimes—and the thought of getting less than 25 miles per gallon in daily driving repulses you, the pickings for U.S. vehicle shoppers are still surprisingly slim. Why are there no hybrid minivans at all, no three-row crossovers you can plug in for electric-only city driving, and so few vehicles in general that will fit six or seven and achieve nearly 30 mpg or more? ALSO SEE: Why Nothing Competes With Tesla Today, Plug-In Hybrids Included The answers aren’t entirely straightforward, as we have to point to a...

  • 2014 Nissan Pathfinder Hybrid, Irvine, CA, Aug 2013
    Nissan Pathfinder Hybrid: Missing In Action, Or Just Slow-Selling?

    The Nissan Pathfinder crossover utility vehicle seems to be doing well for Nissan, following its 2013 reinvention as a seven-seat family vehicle rather than the tough truck-based 4x4 that had previously defined the Pathfinder name. There's one model of the Pathfinder, however, that seems to be...

  • 2016 Volvo XC90 T8 'Twin Engine' plug-in hybrid, Spain, Feb 2015
    2016 Volvo XC90 T8 Plug-In Hybrid 'Twin Engine': First Drive

    By the end of this year, there will be several luxury SUV models offered in the U.S. with plug-in hybrid powertrains that let them run 12 to 20 miles on electricity alone. We've now driven one of them, the 2016 Volvo XC90 T8 "Twin Engine" model, which will go on sale this fall. And based on our...

  • 2014 Nissan Pathfinder Hybrid Platinum 4x4, upstate New York, Dec 2013
    2014 Nissan Pathfinder Hybrid: Gas Mileage Test Disappointing

    Hybrid SUVs and crossover utility vehicles remain rare compared to the growing array of hybrid passenger sedans and hatchbacks. So we've been eager to test the new 2014 Nissan Pathfinder Hybrid, one of only four hybrid crossovers. MORE: 2014 Nissan Pathfinder Hybrid: Is It Hybrid Enough To Matter?...

  • 2014 Nissan Pathfinder Hybrid, Irvine, CA, Aug 2013
    2014 Nissan Pathfinder Hybrid: Is It Hybrid Enough To Matter?

    Last year, we drove a prototype Infiniti JX Hybrid, as it was then called (it's now in production as the 2014 Infiniti QX60 Hybrid). At that point, we wondered whether its mild-hybrid system would be "hybrid enough" to compete against the Lexus RX 450h that spawned the hybrid crossover segment two...

  • 2014 Infiniti QX60 Hybrid, at 2013 New York Auto Show
    2014 Infiniti QX60 Hybrid: Video From New York Auto Show

    The second of two large seven-seat hybrid crossovers at this year's New York Auto Show, the 2014 Infiniti QX60 Hybrid is the glamorpuss of the pair. Known for the first year of its existence as the Infiniti JX, and now redubbed QX60 in a complete shakeup of the model names for Infiniti's high-end...

  • 2014 Nissan Pathfinder Hybrid

    Last week's New York Auto Show had a number of green vehicles, but there were relatively few new production models there that truly qualified as green. So a new hybrid model of Nissan's seven-seat crossover Pathfinder comes as close as we can get. It's likely to be considered by a number of families looking for a large comfortable crossover who want the boost in gas mileage--15 to 25 percent--offered by the mild-hybrid system in the Pathfinder, an all-new vehicle last year. The smaller of two corporate hybrid systems, the one in the Pathfinder has a 15-kW (22-hp) electric motor sandwiched...

  • 2012 Toyota Highlander Hybrid
    Third-Row, 7-Seat Family Vehicles With Highest Gas Mileage

    We get asked a lot about hybrids with seven seats. The answer is simple: There's only one, the 2012 Toyota Highlander Hybrid. But the question is really more about fuel efficiency: What family vehicles with a third row of seats that can carry seven people get the best gas mileage? It's a major...

  • 2012 Toyota Prius V launch press conference, 2011 Detroit Auto Show
    2012 Toyota Prius V Station Wagon/Minivan: Arrives This Fall

    There's nothing like a story translated from overseas media, concerning a related but not-quite-the-same model of a new hybrid car, to get people all in an uproar. So here's the real deal on the 2012 Toyota Prius V station wagon/minivan: It will still arrive in U.S. dealerships this fall. That's...

  • 2011 Honda Odyssey Touring
    Guide: How To Get Good Gas Mileage AND Third Row Seats?

    "We have not yet fully accepted the fact that we need a new car. Some call it denial. But we do need one." That's how our friend Gordon Platt began a note asking our advice on what cars he should consider as he sets out to replace the family's aging 2003 Toyota Sienna minivan. "What are your...

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