"Whoah! Don't fancy yours much." That was the emotion I interpreted from fellow drivers in Turin's traffic the first time I drove a Fiat Doblo. You couldn't fault its practicality, its rugged build or its aggressive pricing but when it came to aesthetics, let's just say the Doblo had a nice personality. Fiat have been beautifying their range of late, taking a scalpel to the excesses of the Multipla, launching the quite startling Grande Punto and now giving the Doblo a nip and tuck. It's never going to turn it into an object of widespread desire but the latest version is no longer quite such an eyesore.

The rather odd looking front end has been thoroughly revised, Fiat ditching the gratuitously odd-looking horizontal bar that appeared plastered onto the front of the old car for a look that's more like a compact 4x4. Bigger headlamps and wider underbumper intakes give the Doblo a little presence without looking like it's been tagged by the ugly stick. The changes are likely to put the Fiat onto the shortlists of many buyers who previously rejected it on the grounds that it looked a little unconventional. Prices start at £10,010 and there's a choice of three trim levels - Active, Dynamic and 7-seat Family.

The availability of the 7-seat Family version reinforces the versatility of the Doblò range, with 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.

The old Doblo, from unpromising beginnings, developed into quite a decent package. It was certainly good enough - from a technical perspective at least - to worry the likes of the Citroën Berlingo Multispace, the Renault Kangoo and the Peugeot Partner Combi, the big players in the van-based MPV sector.

"Doblo buyers need no longer be concerned about their vehicle frightening small children"

After this vehicle's original launch, the company did themselves a big favour by ditching the lousy 1.9D diesel engine and replacing it with the 70bhp 16-valve Multijet diesel. The contrast was just night and day and excised the Achilles heel from the Doblo line up. This engine has now been massaged out to 85bhp, while a pair of 1.9-litre Multijet diesel powerplants of 105 and 120bhp are also offered. The old 1.2-litre petrol powerplant has felt the weight of Fiat's axe, being supplanted in this instance by a 77bhp 1.4-litre unit. An extra 12bhp makes a lot of difference when you're toting a fully loaded Doblo.

The 1.3-litre diesel unit is likely to be the big seller and it's a very impressive piece of engineering. In traditional diesel engines, fuel is fed to the injectors by a mechanical pump, the injection pressure rising with the rpm of the engine. This has repercussions on how efficiently the fuel is burnt, leading to noise, poor emissions and so-so fuel economy. A common-rail engine, however, maintains a constant injection pressure regardless of the weight of the driver's right boot, the Unijet injectors also using so-called pilot injection to pre-warm the combustion chamber. This decreases noise, and vibration. Fire up the Doblo 1.9-litre JTD and you'll appreciate the technology. The 1.3-litre Multijet engine is a progression from the JTD, it divides that main injection into a series of smaller shots, the idea being to reduce emissions and noise while at the same time increasing performance. This latest version of the 1.3-litre engine is quoted at 200Nm of torque - exactly the same as the two 1.9-litre engines.

What will be of more relevance to prospective purchasers is the cavernous load bay. That rudimentary rear suspension comes into its own here, as it allows for a near perfectly flat floor, and the almost vertical sides of the Doblo help to create a 750-litre load space with the seats in place and a gargantuan 3,000 litres with the seats folded. Opt for the Family version and all that space is partially filled by two extra seats albeit seats that are really only suitable for smaller children. That's a 7-seat MPV for about £11,795 and that can't be bad.

The interior styling is more conservative, and the latest revisions have brought things further up to date, successfully masking the Doblo's commercial vehicle origins. There's a two-tone dash and by excising body-coloured metal from the doors, Fiat have upped the perceived quality factor a tad. 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. Go for the Family version and there's ABS and front fog lights amongst other things, while the Dynamic adds air-conditioning, a CD player and alloy wheels.

To get a perspective of where the Doblo fits into the marketplace, it's probably best to consider its rivals. These include the Renault Kangoo and Citroen Berlingo Multispace. Whilst these are still by no means common sights on UK roads, sales in this class have rocketed over the last four years. In many ways, this is good business for Fiat. Built using low-cost labour in Turkey, the Doblo is the last Fiat to utilise a conventional steel chassis rather than the more advanced 'spaceframe' system used for the Multipla. As such, it represents rugged and, above all, cheap engineering that keeps the basic costs down.

Two variants of the Doblo design are available: the Doblo car, as we have here, and also the Doblo Cargo, a commercial van with numerous different body permutations. To further emphasise the Doblo's status as a 'world car', a factory in Brazil produces Doblos to cater for the huge South and Central American markets. If you are trying to build a reliable, bulletproof mode of transportation, you need low maintenance, dependable workhorse engines. This was both the Doblo's greatest asset in emerging markets and its Achilles heel in the eyes of more sophisticated Western European consumers, accustomed as they are to more refined fare. And two of the three the engines available in the Doblo couldn't really be described as either the first nor last word in refinement. Now, though, things have changed. The old agricultural diesels were consigned to the scrapheap and the engine range has taken on a refreshingly modern tone.

The Doblo was always a very good car saddled with a face that could curdle milk from fifty paces. The latest model's nip and tuck puts it at the forefront of van-based MPVs. If you're looking for a vehicle of this type, try your Fiat dealership last. Then you'll see.

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 1.3 Multijet Family 5dr Estate
	ETR	Mthly £167	Saving £2,374	Price £9,526
	Fiat Doblo 1.9 Multijet Dynamic 5dr [120] Estate
	ETR	Mthly £173	Saving £2,578	Price £10,127
	Fiat Doblo 1.3 Multijet Active 5dr Estate
	ETR	Mthly £154	Saving £2,163	Price £8,937
	Fiat Doblo 1.9 Multijet Active High Roof 5dr [120] Estate
	ETR	Mthly £175	Saving £2,539	Price £10,016

typical 11.49% APR

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