Leaving aside the dynamics for the moment, the Grandis has one of the most versatile and ingenious interiors of any of the full-size seven-seater MPVs - behind the front seats, at any rate. The side-on styling may make it seem rather bulky, and towards the back there's certainly quite a depth of body panelling between the bottom of the windows and the top of the wheel arches, but the designers have built in no wasted interior space.Those wide rear doors mean that getting in and out of the third-row seats is less of an undignified hassle than in some other MPVs, allowing for the fact that the rear cabin doubles (or trebles) as a passenger area, an extendable space for luggage, and a two-person covered grandstand for watching race meetings, horse trials, sunsets or whatever.The 60/40 split middle-row seats recline, slide fore and aft into any one of three rather clunkily located fixed positions, and have another rather unusual movement in that you can slide them as far forward as the base will go, then tip the backrests forward as well, opening up a very long extended load bay.At the rear of the passenger cabin, the two full-size seats in the third row recline, fold forward into the floor, and can also be pivoted backwards from the base, so that what was the seat back becomes the sit-upon part, and the bit you would normally sit on becomes the back rest. With the high-opening tailgate in the raised position, there's the two-seat grandstand. Oh - and the second- and third-row seats can also be positioned so that they form a double bed.What with one thing and another, it's obvious that Mitsubishi didn't entrust the Grandis project to any Department of Haphazard Design.Up front there's a sweeping theme to the fascia and console design, with a discreetly lit instrument panel, a lidded fascia-top storage tray, and a handily placed console-mounted gear lever (or selector for the automatic option).Being the middle model in the range - between the Classic and the Elegance - the Equippe, repeating that curiously spelled name also used elsewhere in the Mitsubishi catalogue, comes as standard with a leather-rimmed steering wheel and gearlever knob, two glass sunroofs with pull-forward shutters, a 6-CD autochanger, a security cover for the rearmost part of the cabin when it's carrying luggage rather than passengers, and a separate ventilation system for the middle and third-row seats.The only item missing from the Equippe specification but standard on the higher-priced Elegance is full leather upholstery.Once it's out on the road, the Equippe also has the benefit of stability and traction control, and with a very sweet-acting gearchange this is an unexpectedly well-balanced car for its bulk, able to tackle winding roads more sportingly than a number of its direct rivals.There won't be a turbo diesel option until the middle of 2005, but there's a lot to be said for the 2.4-litre petrol engine. It's a more sophisticated design than you usually find in an MPV, with inlet and exhaust camshafts whose profiles adjust automatically in an effort to provide good torque below 3600rpm and more top-end power above that engine speed.Obviously, the Grandis can't offer anything like the same low and mid-range torque as a top-rated turbo diesel, but the spread of usable performance is pretty impressive, and it goes with 2004 standards of handling and ride.Mitsubishi reckons on something like 1000 sales between the July launch and the end of the year, and double that in 2005 when the turbo diesel comes along. If the marketing people can get the message across that the company has moved into the MPV sector, the Grandis itself should do the rest.Second opinion: Not a bad looker from the front, I thought. And pretty good to drive, too, though not quite as sporty as the mini-MPVs which are really pushing forward in that respect these days. The Grandis is a decent cruiser and more nimble than you might expect on twisty roads, but it doesn't take long to enter the final stages of front end grip, particularly in the wet. Caution is advised. David Finlay. Engine 2387cc, 4 cylinders Power 162bhp Fuel/CO2 30.1mpg / 223g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 10.0 seconds Top speed 124mph Price £20,499 Details correct at publication date
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