No doubt about it, the People Carrier is what the people want. Where once Renault's Espace reigned supreme, now Chrysler, SEAT, Ford, Honda, Citroen, Peugeot and Fiat all sell six, seven and eight-seater MPVs, each designed to shake the French from their complacency and steal a slice of this family market. For all to succeed, a population boom of quite staggering proportions would be called for, particularly since this sector already has several other well established players. On the face of it, then, a tough assignment for Volkswagen's Sharan (pronounced shah-ran), recently revised to offer stronger competition to the market favourites. Business Systems Project Director Rosco Smith and his wife Angie were delighted to test drive the 2.0-litre 140PS diesel model at their disposal for a weekend. Their four children - Katie (16), Oliver (10), David (8) and Amy (6) - were equally thrilled. There are gadgets galore to while away a long journey. Six people in the seven-seater made for plenty of legroom and a permanent 'coffee table' for drinks and games. So far so good.

Angie, full time mum and 'taxi driver' for her busy children, loved driving the Sharan. "Getting back into the Serena, it felt sluggish," she said. The TDI, of course, with its 140bhp engine, will see off many 'warm hatches' with its powerful mid-range let alone people carriers, so this was no surprise. Volkswagen's people carrier certainly adds a sparkle to the daily routine. However, loading and unloading the children was less satisfactory. "I missed the sliding doors on the Serena, " said Angie. "And moving the middle seats forward to let the children into the back wasn't easy." There's a three-lever action to be performed, first folding the back down, then sliding the seat forward and tipping it up - not a one-handed operation and one which demanded a fair amount of physical effort and was much less smooth than the drive. However, the very flexible driver's seat allowed easy adjustment at the touch of a button. The boot space, with all the seats in place is limited, so shopping has to be loaded into the middle of the vehicle, which can be awkward. Another small negative, the pale grey of the upholstery in the test model wasn't ideal for family use, however careful the children tried to be. Nevertheless, full marks for comfort.

In terms of performance and handling, the Sharan was streets ahead of the Serena. The Smiths took the Sharan into the country, around town and onto the motorway and were totally impressed with its acceleration, smooth gear change and manoeuvrability. Rosco didn't like the square-topped gearstick, which he found uncomfortable, and like Angie, he found the rear view restricted by the centre seat headrests, but otherwise, they were delighted. The Sharan handles a good deal better than many ordinary saloon cars, while the Serena is more "van-like", Angie commented. She did feel slightly more vulnerable in the Sharan, though. "In the Serena you're sitting fairly high up and can see all around. The Sharan is bigger, so sitting lower down I found it more difficult to park even though the parking sensors did help."

Although Rosco felt that most of gadgets were icing on the cake rather than necessities and Angie regretfully decided that she didn't really need a powerful car, 'just a practical one', the family were unanimous. They could certainly live with a Sharan - especially one with a VR6 engine.