THE Citroen C4 Grand Picasso has won more awards than a Steven Spielberg blockbuster and deservedly so.

Indeed, it's difficult to imagine a vehicle that combines so many positive attributes in a single package.

Not only does it offer the ability to transport seven people, but it also does so in some style, while combining practicality and ingenuity with performance and efficiency.

A stretched version of standard C4 Picasso, it essentially offers more room all round and a third row of two seats.

While the Grand Picasso isn't quite in the ‘big bus' MPV league occupied by the likes of the Chrysler Voyager, VW Sharan, SEAT Alhambra and Ford Galaxy it is remarkably practical and versatile.

For starters it looks good and while it's profile might not be described as sleek and sporty it's probably the best looking MPV out there at present, displaying some flowing lines in a subtle rather than an overt way.

It also offers all manner of ingenious storage solutions, particularly with all seven seats in use. Clever under seat storage areas under the two rearmost seats will actually fit a couple of medium/large travel bags and although the boot area looks small it's surprising just how much you can cram in.

I know because I took this one to France for a week with a full passenger complement.

They might have been warned to travel light but we managed to squeeze seven people in with ease, along with a bag for each traveller and more essential holiday accoutrements too, such as inflatables, laptops, iPods, portable DVD players and hand luggage.

Best of all the rearmost seats could even be occupied by adults. Okay they were average-sized women rather than six-foot plus men but the sliding middle row (where the children sat) meant they could have a decent amount of legroom and there was little complaint even on 300-mile journeys.

With the seating arrangement altered (as it sometimes was) adults in the middle row could enjoy almost limo-like levels of comfort and really stretch their legs.

The interior impresses too and the futuristic colour digital display looks very modern and classy and is clear and easy to read.

Noticeably comfortable seats (the front passenger seat even has a fold-out leg rest) also helped ease the trauma of long journeys and this car had the added bonus of massagers on the front seats.

It also had some particularly useful safety features, including a vibrating seat belt when changing lane suddenly and an impact warning system. I didn't actually use the automatic parking system but imagine like everything else on the vehicle it would have worked well if put to the test.

There's a range of diesel and petrol engines available but the 2.0-litre diesel fitted to this car combined performance and efficiency to great effect, particularly on long French motorway journeys.

But it proved more than just a capable motorway cruiser, displaying distinctly car-like driving manners while negotiating the twisting B-roads and winding country lanes of rural France with relative ease.

The ride quality is impressive thanks in part to Citroen's new lightweight EMP2 (Efficient Modular Platform) architecture.