Meet the man who measures car boot capacity with banana boxes

Swedish car nut Bjorn Nylander is a man on a mission. His quest? To cut through all of the manufacturer claims and discover one simple truth: how many banana boxes fit in a car’s boot. 

To that end, he’s compiled a dataset over the last seven years of cars tested that shows exactly how many boxes can fit into their luggage bays.

The current champion among passenger cars is the Maxus Mifa – sold under the LDV badge here – with a monster 31 boxes, or 39 with the rear seats folded.

Drop the rear seats of a Hyundai Ioniq 9 six-seater and you’ll also get 39 boxes inside, although that figure drops to a mere 24 boxes with the rear seats in place.

Bjorn Nyland. Image Credit: Bjorn Nyland's YouTube channel

And have you ever wondered how much room really is in the back of a Tesla Model Y (largely due to the fact that Tesla has a completely different system of measuring boot space top every other manufacturer)?

Now you know. Nine banana boxes in the boot and one in the frunk. So the Tesla’s boot has the same banana box capacity as the Zeekr 7X.

The more traditional VDA measure of calculating boot space is conducted by arranging standardised 1-litre green blocks that measure 20 × 10 × 5 centimetres. Arranging the blocks is governed by a technical standard (ISO3832).

Banana Box challenge. Image credit: Bjorn Nylan's YouTube channel

It’s usually calculated by computer first and then technicians actually arrange the blocks like Tetris into the boots of cars. In reality, the techs are often better than the computer calculation, with Skoda typically ‘finding’ another five litres of space.

Banana boxes, however, simplify things quite considerably.

And try as he might, there was no way Bjorn could fit a second one into the back of a Fiat 500e.

Andy brings almost 30 years automotive writing experience to his role at Drive. When he wasn’t showing people which way the Nürburgring went, he freelanced for outlets such as Car, Autocar, and The Times. After contributing to Top Gear Australia, Andy subsequently moved Down Under, serving as editor at MOTOR and Wheels. As Drive’s Road Test Editor, he’s at the heart of our vehicle testing, but also loves to spin a long-form yarn.

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