If you’re a chauffeur who regularly drives more than four people at a time - then you’ll already know the choice of vehicles to do this in luxury are seriously limited.

So I’m checking out one of those few options. - the Mercedes V-Class.

At over £52,000, the V-Class Extra Long it’s not a cheap option, but then it has no real competitors when it comes to luxury people moving in numbers apart from the Volkswagen Caravelle. This AMG Line model is fitted with the superb Mercedes Agility Control suspension giving it an extremely soft ride - but the real party trick in this V-Class is hidden in the boot.

So, you’ve crammed all your six passengers in the back but they’ve all turned up with a large suitcase each - well, this is where the extra long wheelbase V-Class really matters (open boot). In here we have 1600 litres of boot space, probably enough for ten cases I’m guessing. The only issue with the boot of the V-Class is this huge tailgate - fine for a trip to twickenham in the rain, but not so good when you haven’t got a space three metres behind you.

The V-Class replaced the Viano in 2014 and offers whole new levels of luxury in the attempt of making it the ultimate choice for chauffeurs wanting space and versatility. And on first impressions it certainly feels more special than it ever has done.

However, large people carriers always have the same issue…

The problem with vehicles like this is that ultimately they are vans with seats in the back, so they are very difficult to make really luxurious, but to be fair, the V-Class has done quite a good job. This soft Nappa, stitched leather is great quality, and there’s carbon fibre trim with useful prominent cup holders. As you can see this is the conference seating set up, but I wouldn’t really want to be moving these heavy, bulky seats around for all jobs, so I’d say you’d need to find out the preferred set-up for your client base, and leave it like it.

From behind the wheel the V-Class is an excellent place to be sat with a more car like feel about it. On the move the pocket friendly engine is impressive too.

I must admit I was surprised when I started driving the V-Class as to how punchy the engine actually is - and I was even more surprised to learn this is in fact a 2.1 diesel 4-cylinder engine. Obviously this perfect for high MPG figures and low Co2 emissions, but I’m concerned when this bus is loaded with people and cases, it might struggle for power. In the days of the Viano a chauffeur would opt for the whopping 3.0 V6 diesel, but that beautiful engine is now a thing of the past unfortunately.

Chauffeurs who drove the V-Class’s predecessor wouldn’t have had problems like that.

You see back in the day, a chauffeur would of chosen the whopping 3.0 V6 Diesel engine that was fitted in the Viano, the V-Class predecessor. But unfortunately, that’s now a thing of the past with the new V-Class range.

So if your day-to-day bread and butter work are airport transfers, then the V-Class would certainly do the job very well indeed - but it comes at a price.

There are other options out there - the Toyota Proace Verso, Hyundai i800 and Caravelle are worth considering and would result in a big saving, but in terms of a bus with a luxury feel and acres of space, you can’t beat the Mercedes V-Class.

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