VAUXHALL'S smallest family friendly MPV might be a little bland but it is comfortable, clever and very reasonable to buy, making it a good bet for smaller families.

The Meriva is based on the Corsa supermini and uses the same range of 1.4, 1.6 and 1.8 petrol engines plus 1.7 and 1.3 CDTi diesels. Power ranges from 75 to 118bhp.

It's very comfortable over all surfaces - even at slow speeds over town potholes - soaking up knobbly-surfaced country roads with great ease and leaving both front and rear passengers sublime and unruffled.

It also handles well, taking the bends much faster than any such family oriented car has a right to, making it great fun.

Good handling balance helps make it very safe, but although it comes with front and side airbags, curtain airbags were an extra, and so was electronic stability control on many models.

The power steering is very good, giving all the help it should at slow speeds and plenty of driver feel on the open road.

Very flexible seating gives rear seats that can slide back and forth and that fold easily down into the floor in a 40/20/40 pattern to make a completely flat load area.

The boot is big even with the seats in place and both front and rear legroom are very good for the size of car, but equipment is sparse in cheaper models.