I took the keys to the Rondo this weekend with the intention of putting its handy third-row seat to the test, to really get the full effect of its mini-minivan utility. Unfortunately, I quickly realized it couldn’t be done with a child seat installed in the center position of the second row (my current reality), unless my third-row passengers didn’t mind crawling into their seats from the Rondo’s cargo area. You just can’t access that third-row the proper way without canting and sliding one of the second-row seats forward, which you can’t do with the car seat in the center position (well, you can cant it a bit, but not nearly enough, as you can see in the photo). Third-row access is quite convenient when one child seat is mounted at an outboard seat position...
Which leads me to ask what I would do if I regularly needed to carry two young children in child seats, plus more than one adult passenger? If I did and I was looking to buy a third-row seat-optioned Rondo to solve all my person-toting problems, I’d be outta luck. At least until one of those kids was old enough to travel without an extra seating accoutrement, which could be years away.
But who knows? Maybe the kind of people I’d be transporting back there wouldn’t mind clambering over their seatbacks to get to their seats. Then again, maybe not: “Sure I’ll drive, Granny Bea. If you don’t mind just hoisting yourself over those headrests. Here, I’ll spot you.”
Bryn MacKinnon, Senior Editor, Edmunds.com @ 8,136 miles
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