THINK of a people carrier or mini-bus and Korean car makers hardly spring to mind - and they are hardly styling gems.

Your small business user or taxi-driver is hardly concerned with beauty, but Hyundai's i800 delivers all-important practicality and people-carrying capacity and doesn't look that bad either.

It features smart alloy wheels, neat foglamps and tinted rear privacy glass. It is not beautiful, but this people carrier is certainly an attractive financial proposition at just over £23,000 for what is a big car and a five-year, unlimited mileage warranty.

It also features frugal 2.5-litre diesel engine, which although struggling at times when fully laden, still has a claimed economy of 37-odd mpg. It is mated to a slick-shifting five-speed gearbox.

It is a full eight-seater with full-size rearmost seats, it has loads of standard kit, offers substantial luggage space and rear wheel drive. it is huge though, both long and wide, so parking spaces need to be chosed carefully.

You can see who would be attracted to this - big extended families who do plenty of travelling or the taxi driver specialising in runs to the airport.

Eight adults are accommodated in comfort - two at the front and three in the middle and rear bench seats.

The middle row are 60:40 split-fold and recline and slide forward to allow easier entrance to the rear via the side, sliding doors.

There is bags of extra room between the front two seats, while all occupants have good head and legroom, while rear occupants benefit from subtle, ambient lighting.

Boot space is restricted by the third row, but 841 litres of space still available. In addition, there is a large overhead storage console and other containers throughout the cabin.

The ride can be a bit bumpy when unladen but the vehicle, but is far from uncomfortable.

What still comes as a surprise, but shouldn't really these days, is the fact that the vehicle is kitted out so well.

Standard kit includes tinted privacy glass, remote central locking and alarm, air conditioning, electric windows and door mirrors, heated front seats and front cup holders, automatic dimming rear view mirror, heated driver's front seat, reversing sensors, steering wheel audio controls, stereo RDS Radio/CD player with MP3 and USB and AUX connections.

Safety kit includes two airbags, stability and traction control, seat belt pretensioners, second row rear ISOfix child seat anchorage points.