If at first you don't succeed? well look at Fiat's experience with their Doblo, an affordable van-based people-carrying mini-MPV. When first launched, it was a weird looking car with a poor diesel engine that was unforgivable in this sector. Today, styling changes have transformed its appearance and Fiat have inserted under the bonnet arguably the sector's best diesel line-up of engines.

Sales of van-based MPVs have rocketed over the past few years. Much of the credit for this goes to Renault and Citroen, but Fiat are targeting the market with this revised Doblo and look to possess the most appealing package. Five years ago, European sales of this kind of car amounted to 59,000 - hardly enough to bother the major players - but as more and more manufacturers took a tentative toe in the water, the true potential was revealed. The Doblo has always done well in diesel form and, since the recent facelift, there's a wider choice than ever for family buyers, starting with the 1.3-litre Multijet unit and culminating with the two 1.9-litre Multijet powerplants we look at here in 105 and 120bhp guises. Prices start from £11,300 for the 105 and £11,700 for the 120. There are three trim choices - Active, Family and Dynamic.

As already suggested, original Doblos had styling that was, to put it kindly, rather challenging. These days however, the facelift changes make it, from some angles anyway, really rather appealing. Bigger headlamps and wider underbumper intakes give the car a little presence without looking like it's been tagged by the ugly stick. If you're shopping for a 1.9-litre Multijet model and go for the 120bhp version, there's also (for an £800 premium) the option of a 7-seat Family version featuring the addition of a third row of passenger accommodation in the form of a sliding, foldable bench seat. This is the most affordable 7-seater MPV in the UK market today. In addition, uniquely in this market segment, the Doblò can be specified as a High Roof version, this format offering capacious interior volume and making this Fiat ideal for use as a Motability vehicle, or in the rapidly expanding taxi market.

"Think carefully. Do you really need anything more than this car can offer? If the answer is 'no', buy a Doblo?."

Although yet to make the same sort of impact as 'conventional' mini-MPVs, van-based versions are, as we have noted, on the up. Fiat, who have great experience producing low cost 'world cars' like the Palio, realised that here was a sector almost tailor made for them and developed the Doblo using low-cost labour in Turkey. As such it's said to be the final Fiat to utilise a conventional steel chassis rather than the more advanced 'spaceframe' system used for the Multipla. This being the case, it represents rugged and, above all, cheap engineering that keeps the basic costs down. In a sector where pragmatism scores highly, that can only be a good thing.

The interior styling is more conservative than the Doblo's still somewhat unusual exterior, and the latest revisions have brought things further up to date, successfully masking the Doblo's commercial vehicle origins. Standard equipment is generous with base Active trim including electric front windows, remote central locking, twin airbags, a split folding rear seat, three rear seatbelts and head restraints all round. Dynamic adds air-conditioning, ABS, a CD player, front fog lights and alloy wheels.

Should you really want to go to town (and not get lost) you could even splash out on Fiat's excellent CONNECT Nav+ which can give route guidance, take you to the nearest branch of Pizza Hut and a whole host of other ingenious features. It can't yet render screaming children unconscious but perhaps that feature will arrive in CONNECT v2.2.

Though the latest Doblo offers a new 1.4-litre petrol option, if you're going to buy this car, you really want a diesel version. Though the 1.3-litre Multijet entry-level variant is tempting, it is very similarly priced to the 1.9-litre versions and does have only 85bhp on tap. All of which may make many family motorists likely to use the car on longer journeys conclude that one of the 1.9-litre Multijet units offer a better bet. If our experiences are anything to go by, they could well be right. Even in the 105bhp variant, torque (or pulling power through the gears) is impressive at 151 lb/ft, reducing the need to row the car along with the gearlever in town and often negating the need to downshift when overtaking out on the open road.

Overall? Well, if you're buying in this category, think very carefully. Do you really need anything more than this car can offer? If the answer is 'no', buy a Doblo, spend the likely saving over an opposition model on a secondhand fun car for the weekend - and feel very smug. You've earned the right to be.

TOP 5 DOBLO DEALS

The results below show the top DOBLO deals on buyacar

	Fiat Doblo 1.9 Multijet Family 5dr [120] Estate
	ETR	Mthly £176	Saving £2,552	Price £10,053
	Fiat Doblo 1.9 Multijet Dynamic 5dr [120] Estate
	ETR	Mthly £173	Saving £2,578	Price £10,127
	Fiat Doblo 1.9 Multijet Active 5dr [120] Estate
	ETR	Mthly £163	Saving £2,342	Price £9,463
	Fiat Doblo 1.9 Multijet Active High Roof 5dr [120] Estate
	ETR	Mthly £175	Saving £2,539	Price £10,016
	Fiat Doblo 1.9 Multijet Active 5dr Estate
	ETR	Mthly £158	Saving £2,237	Price £9,168

typical 11.41% APR

PCP finance quote over 48 months,  10,000 miles pa,  deposit of £1000