The new Carens’ bodyshell is both lighter and more rigid than the model it replaces and Kia secured a five-star rating from European safety body Euro NCAP.

The Kia Carens achieved 94 per cent for adult occupants, 76 per cent for child occupant protection and 64 per cent for pedestrian protection. It’s an impressive score and helped by six airbags (front, front side and curtain fitted as standard.

The Carens also scored 81 per cent for safey assist equipment which includes a lane departure warning system along with Electronic Brake force Distribution (EBD), which apportions the level of braking force to each individual wheel according to load and Emergency Stop Signalling (ESS) that warns following cars the driver is making an emergency stop.

Designed with one of the longest wheelbases in its class, Kia Carens practicality is more impressive than ever.

Although a five-seater version is sold in other markets around the world, all UK-spec cars are fitted with seven seats as standard arranged in three rows. There are two conventionally positioned seats in the front. The passenger seat’s backrest can be folded forwards to allow items over two metres long to be loaded through the cabin area as a whole – ideal for trips to your favourite Swedish flat-pack furniture shop.

There are three equal-sized seats on the second row, all able to slide and fold independently of each other and including ISOFIX child seat mount points.

Behind them is a fairly conventional boot area with a third row of two seats integrated into the boot floor in a 50:50 split. When dropped into the floor the seats don’t impact on boot space and can be quickly lifted into position by pulling a strap mounted on the back of the seats themselves. A second pull on the same strap unlocks the seats and enables them to be dropped back into the floor. It’s an impressively fuss-free arrangement, although access to the last row of seats can be a bit of a squeeze.

Behind the third row of seats under the boot floor is a short but wide compartment into which a removable tonneau cover can slot when it’s not in use. Inside the car, there are various storage compartments scattered throughout the cabin including under-seat drawers and storage boxes under the floor.