THERE is a wide choice in the family friendly people carrier market, but one of the best must be the Peugeot 5008.

I just did over 450 miles in a week in the range-topping Allure diesel automatic and I couldn't fault it.

On top of that, it's a bargain. With the same level of equipment, the Ford Galaxy is a whopping £5,500 more expensive.

Throughout all those miles, some of them with seven up and all their weekend luggage, it performed brilliantly and managed to average 41 miles per gallon.

It didn't feel the extra weight of all seats being filled and everyone who rode in it remarked on how comfortable it was.

The engine is smooth and quiet and the gearbox suits it perfectly with a manual setting just in case anyone wants to do it themselves.

It is also incredibly agile and surprising fun through the corners making it great fun to drive.

Sumptuous well shaped front seats hold in all the right places and the centre row of three have individual adjustment. The rear two fold up out of a flat boot floor in one very easy movement, but as with all such vehicles, access into them is not easy.

There's not much luggage space with seven up, equipment is excellent and the automatic gearbox is standard on this model.