The entry-grade Vivaro Life mannequin, known as the Combi, comes as a nine-seater, with three rows of three seats every – the center one within the entrance successfully being the same old smaller ‘leap seat’ fashion one. That is the automotive at its most elementary and easy. The center row of seats tilts and slides to grant higher entry to the third row, however in any other case there are not any versatility tips to unearth right here. The Combi actually is the ‘Grocery store Fundamentals’ minibus model (and it comes with a worth to match; £35,400 on the time of writing, together with the UK authorities’s Electrical Automotive Grant).
Above it sit the Design and Final mannequin grades. The Design loses the central leap seat in row one, making room for passengers to step by means of between the primary and second rows – however retains the material upholstery, and doesn’t add any flexibility or configurability for the seats additional rear.
With the Final, nonetheless, the Vivaro Life’s cabin format begins to get fairly fascinating, as our take a look at automotive proved. Just like the Design model, the automotive comes as an eight-seater as customary, with two rows of three seats behind the entrance two-. The entrance chairs have armrests, heaters and massagers as customary – and ‘Claudia’ black leather-based upholstery is customary all through.
In case you favor, nonetheless, you may select both a seven- or six-seat cabin configuration as a substitute; which substitute both one or each of the three-seater rows for a pair of particular person chairs, every with its personal armrests inboard and out-.
These repair to what Vauxhall calls ‘Drop and Go’ mounting rails, simply as the usual seats do; and people rails allow the entire automotive’s seats aft of the entrance row to slip – or to be eliminated and returned, as essential. The person chairs include a sliding storage console that matches between them, with fold-out picnic tables to every aspect, cupholders in between, and a lined storage cubby to the rear. It, too, may be eliminated.
All of which suggests, if in case you have a prime quality Vivaro Life, you actually can configure the cabin precisely as you want. Take the entire again seats out and also you’re left with an enormous cargo-cum-sleeping/residing space. Take the center row out and you’ve got what appears like an outsized taxi, full with powered sliding aspect doorways and both govt seating for 2 within the rear, or a traditional three-seat bench. Take the third row out and you’ve got one thing akin to a four- or five-seater ‘crew cab’ van.
You in all probability wouldn’t mess about and experiment with seating preparations for enjoyable, as a result of the seats themselves are fairly heavy and cumbersome (the two-seater bench models significantly); and they could be a little tough to fit again into the rails from which they have been eliminated. However, nonetheless demanding the method to undergo is, the top result’s nonetheless spectacular: the flexibility to tailor your Vivaro’s huge cabin format to completely fit your specific passenger/cargo wants – to ideally present vacation transport, or for main flatpack furnishings buying runs. The potential for flexibility is each bit as huge because the obtainable house.
It’s also possible to pay for a separately-opening rear window for the automotive as an possibility, in the event you discover the fact of coping with the marginally awkward, wide-swinging, full-height bootlid a chore each day (which, belief us, you’ll). Regardless of the carrying want, the Vivaro Life can seemingly present for it.
