WHEN it comes to travelling in style with the family, luxury saloons are taking a back seat.
Upmarket MPVs seem to be all the rage, and when you see what they have to offer it's hardly surprising.
While you can get basic models which will get you efficiently from A to B, more and more buyers are after the more exclusive models.
With that in mind I tried out Citroen's Exclusive Captain Chair model in the C8 range, equipped with a host of extras, to see what you get for your money. And you get plenty.
While the owners of most MPVs have to open the side doors on their vehicles for example, Exclusive model owners simply have to press a button on their ignition key. It may not be an essential item on a people carrier but it's good fun to watch the surprise on the faces of friends who put their hands out to open the door and then jump back in shock as the whole thing happens automatically.
With the side doors open you look into what is more like the inside of an executive jet than a car.
Individual armchairs in sumptuous leather ensure that you have your own space and travel in luxurious comfort.
For those in the "first class" or second row of seats, the aircraft analogy continues with "inflight" entertainment. For set in the rear of the headrests of the front seat passengers are small screens which show the films you load into the DVD player located below the steering wheel.
And while not being able to see any movies from the driver's seat, it was nice when, having arrived at our destination on a Sunday afternoon out, to move back a row and relax with the "Diary of Bridget Jones". So you don't disturb anyone else in the vehicle you listen through earphones, which means other travellers are free to listen to CDs.
The headrest screens are not generally available but, instead, Citroen is offering an overhead screen priced at £1,410 plus the £622 DVD player.
Like most luxury saloons the Exclusive comes with climate control air conditioning and sunroof. But while a saloon will have one sunroof, my Exclusive C8 had three, one for each row of seats.
The Captain's Chair model comes with blackout side windows on rows two and three to ensure passengers have film star privacy. And those same passengers have individual climate control switches as well as individual interior lights.
If those passengers are youngsters you can keep a wary eye on them courtesy of a second driver's mirror which folds into the roof. Using this, either driver or front seat passenger can get a panoramic view of all the seats behind them - to make sure the kids are behaving themselves.
The backrests of seats in the second row fold down to create a table, and all of the second and third row seats can be taken out to give van-like proportions if you need to carry large loads. Using the flexible system to the full you can even take out seats on one side of the vehicle and stack them on the other - freeing up almost half the C8's luggage space.
The new Citroen C8 is certainly an MPV with style, from its trendy "face" with teardrop headlights, through its sleek body line to its sporty roof bars which push together to cleverly create a rear roof spoiler.
On the road this trendy model handles like a large saloon rather than a people mover and you soon forget how much vehicle you have behind you.
It is super smooth and in icy weather the heated seats cosset you, keeping you warm until the heating system has reached its correct temperature.
FAST FACTS
Citroen C8 HDI Exclusive, Captain's Chair
Price: £26,300
Mechanical: 130bhp, 2179cc 4cyl diesel engine driving front wheels via 5-spd automatic gearbox
Max speed: 113 mph
0-62mph: 12.6 secs
Combined mpg: 35.3
Insurance group: 12
CO2 emissions: 210g/km
BiK rating: 27%
Warranty: 3yrs/ 60,000 miles; 12yrs anti-rust; 3yrs paint