Skoda Roomster: To Skoda, it represents a mix of aeroplane and living room. It's a child-like idea, undoubtedly drawn up by someone who spent a lot of time playing with Lego.
To the rest of us it represents a stylised version of a car-van. Call it plucky, perplexing or just plain weird, the new Roomster certainly makes a statement.
There's no getting over the design. Anyone who buys one will have to deal with this issue from the moment they first set eyes on the car and from then on, the moment everyone else that knows them does.
Skoda points to the high curve in the side windows, but that's about it from the world of aeronautics. The rest of the front is basically a smartly-styled front nose for a hatchback or saloon. Inside the front, the same applies. There's no joystick, nor a plethora of buttons lining the cockpit.
Instead it's understated Volkswagen switchgear and inoffensive plastics, with a quality and feel we've come to expect from the increasingly tasteful and respectable Czech brand.
The fit and finish - from the brushed aluminium-effect plastics surrounding the air vents to the trendy door handles - are all there to provide the look and feel for driver and front passenger of a regular family saloon. It's Octavia qualities in a rather cooky outer shell.
The back (or the livingroom as Skoda refers to it) is much more innovative, even if the styling is less so. As much as the front is quirky due to the side windows, so the rear is traditional square box in format. The high roof sets the car above most of its rivals, and the large glass areas make it appear even more boxy.
Yet inside, the rear is where the Roomster really comes into its own.
First off, there is the cinematic style of the rear seats. The second row is positioned 20mm higher than the first, which along with the enormous rear side windows give superb visibility to rear seat passengers. For young passengers, that's a huge advantage, particularly if they're bored or tired travellers.Then there's the flexibility: these rear seats can be set in so many different variations, it's hard to know where to start. Each rear seat individually moves up to 80mm forward or 70mm backwards. With the middle seat removed, the two side seats can also be moved 110mm to the centre.
The rear seats also recline and can be folded flat into the floor, giving a perfectly flat and covered loading area. They can also be flipped up to give a deeper bootwell or ultimately removed.
That's an incredible combination of moves in a car for this price, and all the more impressive when you try to do it. There are several cars that offer this sort of flexibility, but the Meriva is the closest in terms of practicality and even it can't match the Roomster for all its tricks. What's more, the Roomster does all this with only the slightest of effort. A tug on a bar here or a tag there and hey presto, the back seats are up or out.
Admittedly the seats can be heavy to lift in and out but that's only really going to be necessary in the most extreme of circumstances.
Our test car also came with the optional storage packs, including pockets on the rear door lining and two open boxes above the wheel wells. If you are into DIY - and anyone seeking this sort of flexibility in their cars usually is - then this system is a must buy.
Away from the boot, there's a wealth of cubbyholes and storage areas in the car, enough to ensure that if you forget where you stored that parking pass, you're sure not to find it in here for months.
During our time with the Roomster we also had the chance to test the livingroom characteristics of the cabin, converting it into sleeping quarters as we spent several hours asleep in the back while waiting for a ferry home from Holyhead.
As a bedroom it wasn't up to much, but as a living room you could see how the children at least will find it better than most rivals.
So it's a servant to many demands. Yet certainly in the case of its more van-like rivals, the real tell-tale factor is when you get behind the wheel.
Most of these may feature rear seats and even the odd folding mechanism, but they handle and perform like a van.
The Roomster, for its part, retains much of its car features when it's on the move.
We got the chance to test two versions during last week: the 1.4-litre 70bhp diesel and the better-priced and more refined 1.4-litre 90bhp petrol. Invariably the petrol won the day.
Admittedly on open motorway stretches, both versions of the Roomster felt a little uneasy given the high sides, but the petrol engine was fine in city and suburban traffic and on the rural roads.
It's not fast - with a time of 13 seconds from start to 100km/h it's a steady performer. Loaded up with family and luggage you'd certainly spend your time in the inside lane of any motorway network. And this is one of the quicker engines: the 1.4-litre diesel only manages to reach the heady heights of 100km/h after 16.5 seconds, while the 1.2-litre petrol makes it there in 16.9 seconds.
At those sort of times, you won't be braving the outer lanes for overtaking manoeuvres unless you're certain there's nothing coming towards you for some distance.
Yet the four-cylinder petrol won the day and was an ample engine for a five-seater car that's not going to be asked to perform any high-speed manoeuvres.
For us, the three-cylinder 1.4-litre diesel is not the engine to choose. It's noisy and unrefined. It takes a lot of the positives away from the Roomster, which is unfortunate as this car has many worthy features.
The test cars were Comfort specification, but perhaps the best value package on offer is the style: just €700 more adds four more speakers and front foglights. The leap to comfort specification does add alloys, air-conditioning and cruise control, but it is €2,800 more.
To the all-important question: is it better than the rest, you'd have to say that with the right engine, it takes some beating. Honda's Jazz used to be king of this class, but it's starting to show its age. It's still quicker and more car-like to drive, but the Roomster has its beating for flexibility.
The Opel Meriva is a good buy and well-equipped, while the Nissan Note is nicer to drive than most of the rest.
Yet neither of these match the levels of practicality the Roomster has to offer. The only question mark over the Skoda lies with the design, and that's something potential owners are going to have to deal with on their own.
It may be a love/hate look, but we'd prefer this sort of emotional reaction to the ultra-safe and ultimately bland design that so many other mainstream models tend to opt for these days.
