Space for everyone

It may look like a minibus but this will suit even the biggest of families

SO you bought one of those 5+2 SUVs and you spent hours ferrying your four or five young kids to all their sports practices – and to mak sure they were fit and healthy to play those sports, you fed them well. And they grew and grew until one day, the eldest was a 16-yearold six-footer and the rest were catching up, and suddenly there were massive fights because no one would sit in the back row with their knees pressed to their chins.

So where do you go next? Well, one option certainly would be this Space-Tourer from Citroen. OK, so it looks like a van, or one of those minibuses that takes you from an airport hotel to the terminal when there’s only you and two others standing outside at 6am to catch a Ryanair flight to Paris, but as these sort of vehicles go, it has a certain catchy charm. It looks squat, yes, and it seems longer than it actually is, but depending on the wheelbase you opt for, you’ll get seven or eight seats, all of which slide and recline, and there’s still legroom for everyone. For a quiet life, that’s got to be worth a shot.

The test model I drove came with a medium wheelbase (small and large are available as well) and seven seats, though an eighth could be added to the track system that allows you move them backwards and forwards. Access couldn’t be easier – the remote control opens and closes the sliding doors on both sides, each almost a metre long, so getting in and out with ease is not a problem. Cargo space often is an issue in this sort of vehicle, but there’s quite a bit here and, rather cleverly, the back window opens upwards so you can add or subtract luggage and sports equipment through the hatch, rather than opening the tailgate only for everything to come tumbling out.

So far, so good. There’s lots of space elsewhere, too – deep door pockets, a sizeable open glove area with 12v socket, another socket in the back and, in the absence of the eighth seat, enough space to pile a few carry-on bags on top of each other when you head off on holidays.

Up front, the driver and passenger seats both come with armrests. Adding an electromechanical parking brake could have opened up more space; my test car came with a standard handbrake so big it was like the arm on the biggest one-armed bandit in Las Vegas. Every time I released it, I kept expecting to hear the noise of hundreds of euro coins tumbling down a chute.

Extras on this model were mica black metallic paint (€760), adding a touch of Secret Service mystery when allied to the tinted rear glass; Park Assist 180 (€950), very useful when driving anything that feels this big; and Connect Nav (€750), which included satnav with a seven-inch touchscreen, DAB radio, Bluetooth handsfree phone operation, USB port, aux-in jack, hifi surround sound with voice recognition, and Mirror Link to project all your smartphone apps onto the touchscreen.

Of course, there’s a compromise when you need a car this size, and here it comes in the shape of performance and driving fun. It handles fine, but it’s a bit like driving the Wanderly Wagon, with the 1.6 commonrail diesel engine pushing it to 100km/h from a standing start in a tardy 13.4 seconds.

And, while you never feel less than in control, nor does it ever offer any feeling of real engagement. I drove it about 250km and I didn’t find it unpleasant, just uninvolving, but then I never would need a car like this.

There is good news too, though. Returning fuel economy of 5.6 litres around the city, you’re never going to pay through the nose for the school run or driving it to a rugby final, and the easily cleaned floor means you wouldn’t be too worried about muddy boots. Annual motor tax of just €280 isn’t going to make you sweat either.

Best of all, though, is the price. Just under 40 grand might seem like a lot of money but that’s on par with a lot of the 5+2 SUVs I was talking about earlier. If you really do have a rake of kids, it ticks a lot of boxes. You do have to think a bit ahead about where you’re going, because you’re not going to shoehorn it in an on-street parking space with ease (or grace), and it’s a little high for some multi-storeys. But if you have that many kids, it might be no harm to get a lesson in family planning anyway!