Packing two large suitcases plus four sizeable wheelie bags recently tested the Optima’s boot capacity – and flexibility – to the max.
Given the car is a saloon and the family holiday required four seats, there was no tonneau cover tossing or seat-folding or sliding options, as you might get with an MPV or estate, but with 505 litres listed on the spec sheet, confidence was high.
Although competitive compared with other big-booted rivals (Passat 485 litres, Mondeo 500), in practice the Optima’s capacity has to be utilised with care. The boot is deep, but the wheel arches and boot lid struts intrude, while a more unusual obstacle is the loudspeaker undercarriage, which made swallowing six cases a little awkward. The solution was to put the two kids on either corner of the back seat and plonk the big stuff upright in the centre.
We found two other tiny boot niggles. Firstly, when you unlock the boot on the fob or using the switch in the cabin, the lid only hovers just above closed rather than rising all the way up. Secondly, having the hidden boot release on the right-hand side rather than the middle – like on most other cars – keeps catching us out.
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