8 seater van or SUV? We compare the diesel Hyundai Palisade Highlander with the petrol Kia Carnival Platinum and Mercedes-Benz Valente.

Worth watching is the video review (above) in which Nedal and I put the Palisade, Carnival and Valente cargo bays to the ultimate family test.

We fill each one with a certain amount of family gear to determine which one will fit the most with all three rows of seats in place.

Here's what you need: a tent, an Esky, a balance bike, a small BMX, a scooter, a backpack, four helmets, four netballs, a pram, two umbrellas, and a canopy. 

Only one of our test vehicles was able to fit all eight seats. Any suggestions?

Well, it wasn't a Palisade - we were only able to fit half of our gear into its trunk with the third row installed. 

That said, rear boot volume isn't bad at 311 liters considering you can haul eight people at once, but it's tiny compared to the Carnival's cargo capacity.

With the seats up, the Palisade's boot capacity is 311 liters.

The size of Carnival's boot is almost grotesque. Not only is the cargo area tall and wide, but it also has a deep recessed floor the size of a bathtub. 

Ready for capacity? With all the seats, the Carnival has a whopping 627 liters of luggage space, and yes, every piece of family gear fits inside with the tailgate closed.

With the third rows of cargo folded down, the Palisade's capacity is 704 liters, while the Carnival's is 2785 liters.

Valente is a special case, and we knew Mercedes-Benz didn't list the payload capacity of their van.

However, his trunk swallowed up all of our family stuff, but that's because it was a scam. You see, the second and third rows of the Valente are on rails, and you can almost turn it into a moving van by sliding all the seats forward. 

So, to be fair, we spaced each row apart so that a family of eight can sit comfortably without too much legroom. The resulting cargo space was also excellent, with all the gear except for the netballs fitting.

While the Valente did an excellent job with cargo tasks, luggage space is not its forte. No, you can definitely tell that this van was built primarily for two people sitting in the front, because while the driver and co-pilot have cup holders, giant door pockets, and a huge open storage tank between them on the floor, the rear passengers are almost completely forgotten.

Aside from two bottle holders and letterbox-style phone holders, there are no cup holders or door pockets for rear passengers in the third row.

The Palisade and Carnival are excellent when it comes to storage space, especially for rear passengers. 

The Carnival has nine cupholders (four in the front, two in the second row and three in the third row). Kia also has four door bottle holders and four phone holders. That's along with a giant center console storage box, map pockets and a glove box.

The Palisade has eight cup holders (four in the third row, two in the second and two more in the front), as well as door pockets and a decent-sized storage box in the center console. Since this center console is floating, there is also space underneath to store books and magazines.

Hyundai and Kia also have plenty of USB ports for charging devices. 

The Carnival and Palisade have seven USB ports spanning all three rows on board, with outlets in the backs of the front seats for second-row passengers.  

Valente shows its commercial roots again with just two USB ports and they are on the front.

Now which of these suits people best? Well, I'm close to the passenger's worst-case scenario, and not just because I'm getting seasick in the back.

I am 191cm (6ft 3in), mostly legs. This means that if I can sit anywhere comfortably, there is plenty of room. Also, if your child is the same height as me, it's time for him to leave home.

I sat in all three rows of all three cars and here's what I can tell you.

First, I can sit in the rear driver's seat in the second row of them all, but the Palisade is the plushest, with superbly comfortable seats.

Secondly, the third row of Valente is the most spacious for the legs and head. Valente also offers the widest entry in the third row.

The Palisade's third row is the hardest to get into from the curb, but once there, it offers more headroom than the Carnival.

However, the Carnival offers more legroom than the Palisade, and third-row entry is also easier than the Hyundai SUV, though not as good as the Valente.

The seats in the Carnival are flatter and firmer than those in the Palisade, while those in the Valente offer the least comfort but are still good for an hour or so.

The Valente captain's chairs in front allow access to the second row through a small corridor. This proved to be handy for climbing over to my own child when it was raining to buckle him in the car seat.

All three cars offer great ventilation for all three rows, but only the Palisade and Carnival have second-row climate control.

The extra tinted Valente glass looks cool, but also does a great job of protecting the baby's face from the sun. Even better are retractable sun shades at the Palisade and Carnival. Kia even has curtains in the third row windows.

Now is a good time to note that GVM Palisade is 2755kg, Carnival is 2876kg and Valente is 3100kg. Now, given that the Palisade weighs 2059kg, which gives you a load capacity of 696kg, and just for comparison, eight 70kg adults weigh 560kg. The Carnival weighs 2090kg, which means it has a higher payload capacity than the Hyundai (786kg). Valente weighs 2348 kg, giving it a load capacity of 752 kg.

	Hyundai Palisade Highlander	Kia Carnival Platinum	Mercedes-Benz Valente
Luggage compartment (all seats up)	311L	627L	NA
Luggage compartment (third row down)	704L	2785L	NA
Spare	space splash	space splash	space splash

Hyundai Palisade Highlander	Kia Carnival Platinum	Mercedes-Benz Valente
9	10	8