Methodology

This page explains what each number on 69cars.com means, how it is obtained, and how the computed results (fit verdicts and VE scores) are derived from it. The site is maintained by Toby.

Cargo volume

Cargo volume is stored in liters and shown in liters and cubic feet (1 cu ft = 28.3168 L). There is no single way to measure it, and the two common standards give different numbers for the same car:

• SAE J1100 is the method used by most US manufacturers. For SUVs, wagons and hatchbacks the volume is generally measured up to the roof, behind the relevant row of seats.
• ISO 3832, which German manufacturers apply through the VDA method, counts how many standard 200 x 100 x 50 mm blocks (1 liter each) fit in the space, usually only up to the parcel shelf or window line. Blocks cannot fill corners and curved surfaces.

Because of these differences, an SAE figure for a vehicle is usually noticeably larger than an ISO/VDA figure for the same vehicle. We record a volume as its source states it, converting only units. We do not yet record which standard a figure used, so a European source and a US source can disagree, and there is no reliable formula to convert one into the other.

A vehicle can have several storage configurations, each with its own figures: behind the rear seats (seats up), with the rear seats folded (seats down), a front trunk (frunk), a gear tunnel, a pickup bed or an under-floor bin. Where a generation was sold in several seating variants (a 5-seat and a 7-seat version, say), each variant has its own set.

Dimensions

All lengths are stored in centimeters and shown in centimeters and inches.

• Floor length: usable load floor, front to back, from the tailgate or trunk opening to the seatback in that configuration.
• Floor width: the narrowest usable width, normally between the wheel wells. Where a source gives it, the widest point above the wheel wells is recorded separately.
• Height: usable height from the load floor to the ceiling, or to the window line for a trunk.
• Opening width and height: the clear size of the hatch, trunk lid or door opening an object has to pass through. Manufacturers rarely publish these, so most of them come from community measurements.
• Lift-over height: from the ground to the top of the load sill, the height an object has to be lifted to get in.

When measuring yourself, measure the usable space: stop at trim panels, seat hinges and latches rather than at the bare metal, and measure the opening at its narrowest.

The fit check

The “Will it fit?” verdicts are computed for every object in the object library against every storage configuration of a vehicle (roof racks excluded), and the best configuration is reported. An object's three dimensions are sorted into longest, middle and shortest. Soft objects such as duffel bags and mattresses are first reduced by 12% on every axis to allow for squashing. Two gates must both pass:

1. Cavity gate. The object must fit inside the floor length, floor width (narrowest) and height in one of three placements: lying flat (longest along the floor, middle across it, shortest upright), on edge (middle dimension upright), or with the longest dimension along the floor diagonal.
2. Opening gate. The object goes in longest dimension first, so its cross-section (shortest x middle) must pass through the opening in either orientation. If a configuration has no recorded opening size, this gate is skipped rather than guessed, and the page says so.

A placement counts as fits when every dimension clears with at least 3 cm to spare, and tight when it clears with less than that. The worse of the two gates decides the result.

Tilt rule. Flat objects, no more than 40 cm thick (sheet goods, mattresses, panels), get two extra options that can only ever produce a tight verdict: in the cargo area the object may lean against the side wall, so its middle dimension spans the diagonal between floor width and height; and it may pass through the opening angled corner to corner, so its middle dimension only has to be shorter than the opening's diagonal. Pages show these as “fits only tilted”.

If the floor length, width or height of a configuration is missing, its verdict is unknown and nothing is shown. Each verdict comes with the measurement that decided it: for a fit, the dimension with the least room to spare; for a miss, the dimension that fails by the smallest amount in the placement that came closest.

Computed verdicts are the lowest tier of evidence. A published fit report from an owner overrides the computed result, and a report with a photo is marked as photo verified.

Volumetric Efficiency (VE)

VE describes how much a vehicle can carry relative to the fuel it uses.

• VE raw = maximum cargo volume in liters x best EPA combined MPGe across the generation's trims, rounded to a whole number. The maximum volume is the largest of the vehicle's configurations (roof excluded); figures labelled estimated and figures outside plausible bounds for the vehicle class are left out. MPGe puts electric, hybrid and gasoline vehicles on the same energy basis (33.7 kWh per gallon equivalent).
• VE score is the percentile rank of VE raw within the vehicle's EPA size class: the share of class members with a lower VE raw (ties count half), from 0 to 100. A class with one scored vehicle gives it 50. Scores of 80 and above are labelled excellent, 60 to 79 good, 40 to 59 average, and below 40 below average.

The leaderboards merge EPA's two-wheel-drive and four-wheel-drive versions of a class (for example both small SUV classes) and rank the merged list by VE raw; the score shown is still the percentile within the EPA class.

Data sources

• EPA (fueleconomy.gov): the list of models sold in the US, model years, trims, body class and fuel economy. Refreshed weekly.
• Manufacturer pages: cargo volumes and dimensions read from the carmaker's own specification pages. Values are extracted by a language model into a fixed set of fields, and every stored row keeps the URL it was read from.
• Secondary sources: where the carmaker does not publish a figure, a reputable third-party page (a review or specification site), extracted the same way and also kept with its URL.
• Community corrections: measurements and corrections submitted by readers. Each one must cite a source URL (a spec sheet, a review, or a photo of the tape measure) and is reviewed before publication.

Every value on a car page links to its source and shows the date the figures were last checked.

Confidence labels

• Manufacturer: read from a page on the carmaker's own domain.
• Secondary source: read from a third-party page. A real citation, but not the carmaker's own figure; community confirmation is welcome.
• Community measured: a reader's measurement or correction with a citation, approved through moderation.
• Estimated: an older value with no source URL, kept until it is replaced. Estimated volumes do not count toward VE.

Corrections

To correct a figure, open the car's page and use Suggest a correction in the Contribute section. Enter the new value and a citation URL; a correction without a citation is not accepted. Submissions go to a moderation queue: contributors with enough reputation vote, three net approvals publish an edit and two net rejections reject it. A published correction replaces the figure on the page and is labelled community measured. Every change is kept, and each car page links to its edit history.

To report that a computed fit verdict is wrong, add a fit report on the car's page, ideally with a photo.

Contact

69cars.com is run by Toby. Data corrections go through the correction form described above, so that they carry a citation and an edit history. For account and privacy requests, email privacy@69cars.com. For copyright and content removal, see the content takedown page.