One vehicle or two, for a group of six

Sliding doors are underrated until you use them. In a tight London street a saloon door opens into traffic and a sliding door does not, which matters at a restaurant kerb on a Friday evening. The step-in height of a V-Class is higher than a saloon, so most people step across rather than dropping down, and for anyone with a hip or a knee that is considerably easier.

The exception is anyone who finds a step up difficult. A V-Class has a step and grab handles; a saloon has a low seat and a wide aperture. Which is easier genuinely depends on the person, and it is worth asking rather than assuming that the larger vehicle is automatically the accessible one.

• Sliding doors that do not open into traffic
• A step across rather than a drop down into the seat
• Grab handles at the aperture, which help most people
• Not automatically easier for someone who struggles with a step

Six passengers in a V-Class means four large cases behind the rear row. Six passengers in two E-Class cars means four large cases too, two in each boot, plus more room for coats and soft bags. So on pure volume the two arrangements are closer than people expect, and the two-car version has the advantage of two separate boots.

Where the single vehicle wins is awkward shapes, because a V-Class with a row folded takes things no saloon will take. Where the two-car version wins is a group with a lot of hand luggage, because there is simply more cabin to put it in. Neither is dramatically better, which is why luggage is rarely the deciding factor at six passengers.

When the group is not really a group. Six colleagues who have spent all day together, two of whom want to sleep and four of whom want to talk, are better served by two cars. So is a party where half are going to one hotel and half to another, or where two people are leaving at nine and four at midnight.

On a long journey, two saloons are more comfortable than one people carrier. A V-Class is taller, noisier at seventy and less settled on a poor surface than an E-Class, and over three hours that becomes the dominant fact. For anything over about ninety minutes with six passengers, two saloons will produce a better arrival even though they cost more.

And when the day involves several stops in central London, two cars is often more flexible: a saloon can wait in places a V-Class cannot, and parking a large vehicle in the City on a weekday is a genuine constraint on how an itinerary runs.

Seven or eight passengers is either a Sprinter or two vehicles, because the V-Class seating in chauffeur configuration is six. Ten to twelve is a Sprinter, or two V-Class for well under half the money, and the two-vehicle answer is much the cheaper one. The Sprinter earns its money when the group needs to be together and the journey is long.

Below four passengers the question does not arise: an E-Class carries four including the front and does it better than a people carrier would. The V-Class is a genuinely narrow answer to a genuinely common problem, which is why it is the second most-booked car in the fleet after the E-Class.

• Six is the practical V-Class limit in chauffeur configuration
• Ten to twelve: a Sprinter, or two V-Class for well under half
• Under four passengers, a saloon is simply better
• Over ninety minutes with six people, two saloons ride better