Suzuki Ertiga review: seven real seats for less than a five-seat crossover
motorssouq Editorial Team
Buy the Ertiga if the seven seats need to be genuinely usable rather than a marketing checkbox, and the budget does not stretch to an Innova or a Carnival. Third-row passengers get real space rather than a token perch, and running costs stay in family-hatchback territory despite the extra capacity. Refinement and highway manners are the honest trade-offs for the price.
Pros
- All three rows are genuinely usable by adults, not just children
- Undercuts a Toyota Innova or Kia Carnival substantially while offering real seven-seat capacity
- Running costs stay close to a family hatchback despite the extra seats
- Fold the third row for a big, useful cargo area the rest of the week
Cons
- Boot space with all seven seats up is tight for anything but soft bags
- Engine and gearbox work visibly hard fully loaded in summer heat
- Highway overtaking with a full load needs planning ahead
- Road presence and styling trail purpose-built crossovers
Most seven-seat crossovers treat the third row as an occasional-use afterthought — fine for children on a short trip, cramped for adults on anything longer. The Ertiga's tall, boxy body is built around the opposite priority: all three rows are genuinely usable by adults, at the cost of the styling and road presence a crossover buyer expects.
Living with a family of seven's worth of errands
With all three rows occupied, the 153-litre boot behind the third row is tight — enough for soft bags, not for a family's luggage on a trip. Fold the third row and cargo space grows substantially, which is the practical reality for most owners most of the time: seven-seat capability for the odd trip with extended family, five-seat cargo space the rest of the week.
The 1.5-litre engine and four-speed automatic work harder with seven aboard and the air conditioning fighting a Bahraini summer, and highway overtaking with a full load needs planning rather than being instant. This is not a car that disguises its load; it announces it.
The value case
The Ertiga's real competition in Bahrain is not other MPVs but five-seat crossovers priced similarly — and against those, the calculation is simple: a genuinely usable extra two seats for roughly the same money. Families who actually need seven seats regularly, rather than wanting the option for once a year, get more real utility here than from a nominally seven-seat crossover with a token third row.