IF you've ever wondered what travel would be like if greenhouses had wheels, then try the new Citroen Grand C4 Picasso.

The glass, the airiness, the expansive picture of everything in front, to the side and above opens up a new field of vision - to the point that the cabins of other cars can actually feel claustrophobic by comparison.

When darkness falls, white LED lighting on the ceiling, storage spaces, front seat back trays and inner door handles makes for a grotto effect.

But if interstellar overdrive doesn't launch your spaceship then there are plenty of other reasons why the lighter new ‘Grand' is such a multi-purpose heavyweight.

As the seven-seat version of the French manufacturer's latest C4 Picasso, it is aimed squarely at families desiring space, practicality and low running costs.

And if that suggests a stripped down, durable but basic offering then nothing could be further from the truth, because this car is also about ambiance, quality and a shedload of futuristic technology.

Ease of use is paramount in a vehicle of this type and the Citroen demonstrates how far models like this have come since the days of unwieldy people carriers with uncooperative seating.

Kids, and they are realistically the only ones suited by the smaller third row pair of seats, have no problem leaping into the back because the ones in front flip up cinema style and slide forward at the lightest of touches.

Even with a full complement travelling, the space - minus boot - is pretty impressive and with five aboard the boot's huge.

Up front a clean, simple dash features two digital displays - a 7-inch touchpad and a 12-inch HD screen, the former taking care of stuff like air-con, sat-nav and telephone while the larger screen shows driving info, speedo and - in the case of the test car - front, rear and 360 degree camera views.

As for driving, the Grand performs and behaves admirably and is efficient too. The e-HDi 90 Airdream engine with six-speed Efficient Tronic Gearbox for instance, emits only 98 g/km of CO2 and Combined fuel consumption of 74.3mpg, which is a record in this area of the market.

The tested 2.0-litre diesel with 150bhp of punch was both smooth and powerful, but though its official average consumption figure is 65.7 my return was well down at 41.4mpg.