Six into one really does go

When I rolled up to collect the other five members of our six-strong party for a weekend away in the Lake District, they looked aghast at my mode of transport and began making plans to travel on the train.

Not that there was anything wrong with the Kia Carens I was driving, only that they were convinced that they, and the mountain of luggage that lay heaped up on the pavement, would never all fit in.

But, fit in we did. Granted it was a bit of a squeeze and the third row passenger didn’t have a great deal of room, but we agreed that with regular stop-offs to switch places we’d be good to go.

The Carens is a seven-seater but as the head and leg room is restricted in the third row the extra two seats are best kept for children or for adults undertaking short journeys.

It’s a good looking SUV with the now familiar ‘tiger-nose’ grille courtesy of designer Peter Schreyer; the streamlined profile gives an overtly sporty appearance.

And despite its large internal diameter it actually looks quite compact - hence my passengers’ alarm when they first saw it - and it drives more like a family saloon than a lumbering people carrier.

Although there was a little bit of body roll around corners when driving along some of the more tortuous roads through the Lakes , there were no complaints about the handling and it has a pretty impressive turning circle for a vehicle of its size.

Carens is available with three direct engines - one petrol and two turbodiesels - and three trim levels; 1,2 and 3.

Our test car was the top of the range 3 with sat nav, powered by the 1.7 diesel with 134bhp at its disposal and mated to a six speed manual transmission.

It has bags of torque and pulled up the hills without any problems at all - even when fully laden.

Fuel consumption is a posted 56.4; overall we generally managed in the mid forties which is acceptable given the conditions we were testing it under.

Inside, the dashboard and other control centres are nicely laid out and the touchscreen for the radio and sat nav is responsive.

Happily there are also buttons and knobs for key functions - something that is becoming increasingly rare in these days of digitalisation.

Standard features on all models include air conditioning, a full complement of electric windows and cruise control with speed limiter.

Prices for Carens start at £18,195 and our test car an on-the-road price of £24,845.