SINCE it first appeared in 2002 the Vauxhall Meriva has garnered a deserved reputation as a durable and versatile family shuttle due largely to it's innovative interior.

The FlexSpace seating system featured in this mini-MPV, and its bigger sibling the Zafira, rightly caused quite a stir because of the ingenious way in which the seats could be manipulated into seemingly endless combinations to suit the needs of passengers or to carry large loads.

In the compact five-seat Meriva the second row could be moved forwards and backwards, or folded down to create increased boot space.

The rear could also accommodate two or three passengers. In the two-passenger mode, the seats are separated from the doors and from each other much like the front seats. In three-passenger mode the back seat looks like a regular one piece seat.

The front seats could be pushed fully backwards while rear passengers still enjoyed more than a decent amount of leg room.

This flexibility unsurprisingly proved a big hit with families and served the Meriva very well for eight years as it clocked up the sales largely unaltered barring a cosmetic facelift in 2006 and a few new engine options along the way.

Vauxhall, quite rightly, recognised that at the heart of its appeal was the FlexSpace system and stuck rigidly to the theory that if it wasn't broke, it didn't need fixing.

The good news about the all new Meriva then, is that this system is still at the heart of the car.

But there is a thin line between innovation and gimmickry at times - and it is difficult to decide whether Vauxhall have crossed that line with the major changes that they have made to the new version.

The headline-grabbing modification is the introduction, uniquely among MPVs, of rear-hinged rear doors which, in keeping with the FlexSpace concept, the company have christened FlexDoors.

There is no doubt, as Vauxhall point out, that these backwards swinging doors make access to the rear seats considerably easier which is of great benefit to the elderly, frail and those of us who have to regularly persuade over-excited kids to sit still in their booster seats while we strap them in securely.

However, when you are parked snugly between a couple of hatchbacks in the slender spaces laughingly regarded as parking spaces by local councils and supermarkets these days there is little advantage to be gained whether your door opens forwards or backwards.

In these circumstances the tried and tested sliders which are available on some of the Meriva's rivals might not seem such an innovation, or gimmick, but they are the ideal solution.

Similarly, after my week with the Meriva, the jury was still out on the new FlexRail storage system which runs down the centre of the cabin.

It will undoubtedly hold plenty of your stuff - magazines, sweets, drinks bottles, games consoles, handbags and all manner of family baggage will be swallowed with ease - and running the length of the cabin as it does it is also accessible to the rear passengers.

If, however, you are unlucky enough to be sat in the quite narrow centre seat in the back, you'll find that it seriously compromises your leg and foot room and, therefore, comfort.

Ultimately, I guess, whether these things are seen as useful innovations or superficial gimmicks is in the eye of the beholder and you'll have to make your own minds up.

What is certain is that the new Meriva, particularly with this 1.3-litre diesel powertrain on board, will make sound economic sense for families.

You'll get an impressive 62.8 miles per gallon on average and with CO2 emissions of just 119g/km you'll only be paying £30 a year in road tax.

The turbo diesel delivers some impressive oomph for it's size and I was nipping along at a fair few knots on the motorway. In fact, it had a tendency to grumble more in the slower, stop-start traffic around town and perhaps the ratios in the five-speed manual transmission could do with a slight tweak.