YOU DO THE PEDALS, IT DOES THE PARKING

Our 2008 was fitted with the Full Park Assist option, a £250 extra that’s available with the auto gearbox. Activate the system via the central touchscreen and the next step is to choose from either a parallel park on the left- or right side of the road, or a perpendicular park, say if you’re looking for a space in a supermarket car park. Make that choice, drive along at no more than 19mph between half a metre and 1.5 metres from the parked cars, and the 2008 will flash up a green ‘P’ and steering wheel alert when it spots a space large enough to fit the compact SUV (ie 60cm longer than the car in parallel spaces, or 70cm for perpendicular spaces). Then just slot the 2008 into reverse and it does the steering for you – leaving the driver to take care of the pedals and gear selection. Parking sensors front and rear reduce the workload too.