Meet a vehicle that’s exactly the opposite of those infuriating cars. The Volkswagen Caddy Maxi Life is incredibly practical as we found on our road test, but only its designers, and perhaps their mothers, would find its boxy shape attractive.

 

 The front end is sort of borrowed from the VW Golf so carries a degree of fashion, though the attempts to tizzy up the looks of the headlights are on the odd side. But behind that car-based front end there's nothing but a big box, with no pretence whatsoever at being anything but sensible and spacious.

 Caddy is usually sold as a compact van. When stretched out with a longer wheelbase it’s called the Caddy Maxi. Add five more seats and side windows and it becomes the Caddy Maxi Life, a compact people mover.

 Though ‘compact’ isn’t really the right term. While it’s small on the outside, and therefore easy to drive and park, the Caddy's interior is simply staggering in the amount of room on offer.

 The Caddy Life has seven seats, all of which can be occupied by average-sized adults. Yet behind the seats there's a load area bigger than that of many a mid-sized sedan. Which is certainly not the norm in this class.

 Entry to the rear compartment is through sliding doors (this is a van, remember). Getting into the centre row is simple enough, but the rearmost area could be a struggle if you’re not as supple as you used to be.

 Seeing out from the back seats of the Caddy isn’t particularly easy, especially from the second row. Its van heritage is shown up by small sliding windows in the doors. These look big enough from the outside due to an optical illusion created by darkened glass that’s much bigger than the opening, but make sure you take the kids for a run during your pre-purchase road test to make sure they can see outside properly.

All seven seats have the safety advantage of lap-sash belts, with the centre-centre seat having a neat arrangement for the upper mounting that doesn’t steal interior space.

Drink holders are there for all, but those for the centre row occupants are actually in the rearmost area so awkward to reach.

Our test vehicle came with the well-regarded VW 1.9-litre TDI turbo-diesel unit. Though it doesn’t generate a lot of power it has 250 Nm of torque at just 1900rpm so pulls strongly after you get past the initial turbo lag. Typical consumption is about six to seven litres per hundred kilometres in country driving and seven to nine litres when carting hordes of kids around the suburbs.

Standard equipment includes ABS brakes with electronic brakeforce distribution, dual front airbags, traction control, rear fog lights, semi-automatic air conditioning, height adjustable driver and front passenger seats and heat reflective glass. Cruise control is standard on all TDI models.

Volkswagen's Caddy Maxi is almost car-like to drive. Large side mirrors provide excellent visibility and our test vehicle had reverse parking sensors, a $790 option. The latter is money well spent because rearmost vision when reversing is not good.

With a five-speed manual gearbox the VW Caddy Maxi Life is priced at $34,990. The DSG transmission option adds a not insignificant $37,990 to the price. This makes it pretty good value for money, an important consideration when you are at that stage of life when carrying children and their friends, and paying off mortgages seem to dominate your waking hours.