The Volkswagen Tiguan SUV was always a great family car but the seven seat Allspace takes it into another league.
The extra two seats fold up out of what is otherwise a completely flat floor in the boot to give the increased capacity and the body is longer than that of the standard Tiguan.
Those rearmost seats are only big enough for fairly small children, but most families who need a six or seven seater have younger children they need to ferry around on a regular basis and they want to sit in the back.
The Allspace feels marvellous on the road with very accomplished and safe handling as well as tenacious road holding and excellent grip. It also has much less roll than I expected.
All this is helped tremendously by the marvellous VW power steering, which for me is one of the most informative and tactile systems in the world.
The ride is slightly lumpy on rough surfaces in town, and oddly for a high riding SUV, it doesn't like speed humps very much,
But out on the open road its very comfortable, even though most poor surfaces are felt by the occupants to a greater or lesser extent.
There's a lovely feel to the whole car, which gives the impression of being solid and chunky even on the inside.
There is very little noise from the engine, suspension or tyres, even over rougher surfaces, so that refinement is excellent.
This car was powered by the very good VW 1.4 petrol turbo, which has already been replaced by the latest 1.5 in some models.
Power output is the same in both and so performance - with 150bhp on tap - is very good.
The petrols are rarer than the diesels, but for families who don't do mega mileage every year, they make a good initial saving.
It's very smooth and quiet right through the rev range, willing and quick although acceleration is pretty linear.
It will pull happily if gently from tickover in fifth and sixthgear and can take even slow corners in third gear without any problem.
Real acceleration starts at 1,500 revs and by 1,800 it's on full chat.
This was the front wheel drive version that most owners would be quite happy with, but if you need it, four-wheel-drive is available on most models for extra cash.
The clutch is light, the gearchange a dream and the brakes are superb - as they are in all new cars these days.
Economy in real driving is 33-36 miles per gallon with a gentle right foot, but if you're pressing on this will drop to mid-20s.
This two-wheel-drive version is an SUV for the road - like so many others - but would still make an excellent towcar for a caravan or trailer.
I drove the cheapest SE Nav and it comes very well equipped straight out of the showroom, with an electric tailgate, sat nav of course, Bluetooth, USB and aux, DAB radio, eight inch touch screen, Apple Carplay and Android Auto.