The Combo Life comes into its own as a people-mover.

Life is suddenly so much easier with sliding doors

After several weeks behind the wheel of the Combo Life as its latest test driver, I am honestly a convert to having sliding side doors. This is quite a wide vehicle – 1,848mm to be precise – and there’s not exactly a huge amount of room either side in modern car parks. I’ve also learned over the years that my idea of opening the doors “carefully” and my kids’ don’t quite tally.

But with the Combo Life, these worries have all been erased, thanks to a simple slide of the door. Although actually, you do need to give them a bit of welly, as I had to tell an adult passenger last week when the Combo Life came into its own transporting both Fleet World team members and overnight luggage to our Great British Fleet Event – a role it performed with aplomb.

Not only is it spacious – it accommodated some six-footers with no issue at all on head or leg room – but it’s comfortable for passengers too, with nicely sprung seats, as commented on by the team. However, as I pointed out to one colleague, there’s little lateral support as both me and my phone on the front seat have discovered when taking corners. But at the end of the day, this is a car built for comfort and practicality and not for speed.

P11D (BiK): £22,400 (31%) MPG/CO2: 49.5-51.4mpg (WLTP) /115g/km (NEDC Correlated) Test MPG: 44.5mpg