FOR those who like to put vehicles into niches such as supermini or compact MPV, the Ford Transit Courier Kombi is going to cause a bit of head scratching.

From the front it looks like a tall Fiesta, from the side a B-MAX and from the back, a van with twin doors.

I was trying to remember if Ford had ever produced a similar model, but only came up with pure vans in the UK, if you discount pick-ups.

Now it's here it will rival more established combi models from the French who seem to revel in them and with the marketing behind the blue-oval it could be a well-priced alternative.

There are seven models in the Courier Kombi range based on 75 or 95ps diesel engines and a 100ps petrol in base or Trend trim levels.

This model is likely to be the best seller in the line-up and is aimed for the higher mileage user, possibly a taxi operator or small delivery business, but significantly one of the biggest orders for the car was from a forestry group.

The beefy engine was well up to pulling along the Courier with four people aboard but cross-country I found myself swopping gears very regularly to keep up progress.

That's no hardship with a light if long travel clutch and direct five-speed gearbox under hand, the brakes did not have a lot of feedback but slowed and stopped the Courier as expected.

The turning circle is reasonable but not particularly tight but at speed its arrow-straight and did not have any vibrations to tire on longer journeys.

Overall we bettered 53mpg but at times on main roads with fewer gearchanges it headed to 60mpg.

The engine revved freely and with 190Nm underfoot it pulled well if a little noisily. Road rumbles were present all the time and there was a slight wind ruffling around the mirror housings.

Inside the secondary controls were modest but well placed and operated easily while the basic instruments were clear although the info panel was small and not easy to read under reflections. Heating and ventilation was acceptable but not remarkable.

Oddments room was good, the bootspace held up to 1,908 litres and 565kg could be carried in total so it was fairly practical when the back seats were dropped.

The conventional hinged front doors were followed by rear sliders, good for access and loading, but the offset split back doors left a wide centre blindspot in their windows and the single wiper was of no use on UK roads as the design was patently for LHD markets. Visibility is therefore very poor to the back and I am unsure what a company's health and safety people would say about their drivers using it.

Seats were surprisingly comfortable for their thickness and size and there was modest front adjustment on them but room inside was good for four, a squeeze for five.