WHEN I first spied the Corolla Verso, I was pleased to see it followed the spacey Verso range shape, with high roofline and vertical back end. Getting inside, I found the interior spacious and light. The driver's seat was firm, upright and reminded me rather of a Parker Knoll.

The Verso comfortably accommodated my family party of five on a weekend excursion, which is no mean feat considering the size of the wrinklies concerned – me included – and there was a pleasant lack of the usual shouts of 'squash up a bit' and 'I can't get the door shut!' – but we did have a problem getting all the shopping into the boot space.

The central console is laid out in a rather basic fashion but there are one or two quirky elements which add character to the interior: the 'drive-thru takeaway' cup-sized holders in the large flat dash (tested both at McDonald's and Burger King), the large rectangular 'pop-up' map box (it's the only thing that I can think would fit in it as it's so shallow), and the vertical 'stash' alcoves on the centre console. But considering the spaciousness of the interior I thought there were not enough pockets and storage spaces.

After living day-in day-out with the Corolla my first brush with Verso range has been a little disappointing.

I think it tries too hard to do too much – not quite enough boot space, not quite enough power and too much noise. You also have to take into account that there is some red hot competition, in particular the new Peugeot 307 SW.