ASK THE EXPERT: WHICH ELECTRIC CAR HAS REAR SEATS THAT FOLD COMPLETELY FLAT?

In our regular Ask the expert series, Alex weighs in on your car dilemmas to save you money and make your driving life easier.

Having spent brief periods in the motor trade and renting out cars, Alex decided to try writing about them instead, and has done so ever since. He’s been reviewing new cars for more than 10 years, has written extensively about used and classic cars and, ever the glutton for punishment, has now owned more than 50 motors of his own, with varying degrees of success.

Dear Alex,

I bought an MG4 in April 2023 but its rear seats do not lie flat when folded – not ideal as I have a few dogs. Is there an EV that has a decent, flat rear space when the seats are down? I need one that is not too long or wide, due to the size of my garage, and I would prefer one that is not made in China or Russia, for human rights and political/economic reasons. Any ideas?

LC

Dear LC,

You already drive a Chinese-made EV. While MG is a brand with British origins, it’s now a wholly owned subsidiary of SAIC Motor, a Chinese state-owned car maker, built in the city of Ningde.

Most electric car boots don’t offer a completely flat load bay with the seats folded because the rear seats are mounted slightly higher to make space for the battery beneath.

However, there are a couple of options. The Mercedes-Benz EQB electric SUV should hopefully fit your garage. It’s built in Hungary by the German brand.

Its trump card is that it has seven seats. Why is that significant, if you are unlikely to use them? Well, when all five of the rearmost seats are folded down flat, their backs join together to create a vast, flat load space, capable of handling a plethora of pooches.

The downside is that it is hugely expensive – considerably more than your MG4. But I do have an alternative: the Citroën ë-Berlingo. Some might deride it as a van with windows, but it’s only 10cm longer than your MG and almost identical in width.

Even with the rear seats up, there’s a huge, square, easy-to-clean load space; when they’re down, they fold flat, albeit with a shallow ramp up from the main boot area. Not ideal – but about as close as it gets to an affordable EV with a fully flat floor.

The best part is that while Citroën is a French brand, the ë-Berlingo is now built in the UK, at parent company Stellantis’s Ellesmere Port factory. So you’d be supporting British workers by buying one.

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2025-01-17T07:32:53Z