The Popular Choice
by Mike Grundon (11 Jun 08)

It's not going to light the fire of desire in your nether regions but Vauxhall's seven-seat Zafira is one of the most practical and flexible cars on the road. Sales figures prove its popularity – nearly 48,000 were sold last year and it can't be for nothing that it's by far and away the best-selling vehicle of its kind in the UK.

My test car is a 1.9 CDTi in Design specification. It's a five-door compact multi-purpose vehicle that shares much of its gizzards with its hugely accomplished sibling, the Astra. Design level of specification is around the middle of the ladder.

There are two 1.9-litre turbocharged diesel engines in the range – this one is the more powerful version with 148bhp on tap and 236lb/ft of torque. Pumped through the six speed gearbox to the front wheels, that's enough to pull the 1.5-tonne people carrier up to 60mph in 10 seconds.

Vauxhall tells us with a perfectly straight face that the Zafira has "sharp styling" that's "definitely got the X-factor". Well this year's facelift has certainly turned it from a worthy-but-ugly geek into something resembling a real car, but the plain truth is it's really just a box with a bonnet. It's tidy, it's clean and it looks no worse than the competition, but the only heads it will turn are those on the buttercups than nod in the slipstream as it passes.

With this in mind, I wasn't expecting to be stirred much when I got into the driving seat. Gazing around the roomy but tasteful interior, with perhaps rather too much black plastic trim, I was getting my mind into the space occupied by a steady-away family guy who's wanting to carry all his precious little eggs in one big, safe, efficient basket. But it was on the hill up towards the Scord of Tresta on Shetland that my perception changed somewhat.

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