There's not a lot of basic change can be made to the package around a large MPV. So it is in the detail that different manufacturers make their mark. Especially in joint ventures, as is the Citroen C8, one of a triumvirate under a Citroen, Peugeot and Fiat partnership.

Cleverly, Citroen in Ireland made available for review the top of their C8 line, the VSX, because it is the extras that remain strongest in my mind after a time with it that impressed.

Like the electric sliding rear doors. Not unique, sure, but smart, and useful. And for anyone who might not be able to take the strain of manually sliding doors of this heaviness, a real boon.

I've also lately come to the conclusion that one of the most useful innovations of the age, in large or small cars, is the automatic wiper function. Call me lazy if you want, but until we get wiperless windscreens (they ARE on the way, by the way), this little gizmo is simply great.

And one safety item on the C8 should be mandatory on EVERY road vehicle ... a hard braking action will automatically set off the hazard flashers, adding that little bit of extra urgency in warning the driver behind. The flashers switch off when normal speed is resumed.

One more little detail: that the big door-mounted mirrors automatically fold themselves inwards when you 'plip' the central locking mechanism is one of the best applications of small electric motors I've seen. Replacing a damaged (usually by an unknown miscreant) electric mirror is very expensive.

And after that, the very low-tech elastic strap on the lower inside of each C8 front seat, to stop handbags or briefcases or even the newspaper from straying around the floor area, are the kind of detail which leave impressions way better than what they cost.

They call it an 'Executive MPV', and suggest it is the 'next generation' in that genre. A bit of Star Trekiness, I suppose. And indeed, there is a sense of Enterprise or Voyager about the vehicle, both in the way it encourages 'going where nobody has gone before' and in the interior design, certainly in the 'bridge' area.

And from the outside, even that rear aluminised 'spoiler' which can also do load-carrying duty when split into its roof bar elements, suggests something space-age powerful. Indeed, there IS a feeling of strength about the whole C8. This is a whole-life vehicle.

If I still had a teenage family at home, the C8 would be the ideal vehicle for regular weekends to sail in Dingle, or hill-walk in Connemara, or camp on the strands of Donegal. Just as many French families would think nothing of heading from Lyons to Biarritz or Brittany or Northern Italy for a weekend.

The C8 has particular advantages for such a lifestyle. It is tough, it is comfortable, it is long-legged and it is extraordinarily economical given its size.

And though thought needs to be given to seating configuration to get the best format for any particular passenger/leisure equipment requirement, the accommodation options are very wide-ranging.

A 2+2 'outdoor' family, for instance, could easily set up the cabin to hold a brace of mountain bikes, a couple of sailboards, dual tents, and all the essential bits of 'roughing it' without real sacrifice. And still have ample room for themselves.

At the other extreme, five adults wandering Ireland from hotel to hotel wouldn't feel much pain even on the worst of what our Department of the Environment laughably call roads, and would manage to bring enough luggage to include dressing up for dinner each night. If there was a full seven, a pod on the roof could hold some of the dress gear. They would also be getting the best possible view of the scenery, because in the C8, everybody rides high.

There could be one drawback: with more than 50 different storage compartments dotted around the extensive cabin of the C8, treasure hunts might occasionally be necessary to recover items put away for safe-keeping.

But there would be no shame in driving up to the door of a 5-star hotel in the same C8, because, in as much as an MPV can exude class, this one does.

The highly-styled headlamps (automatic-lit in the review car, too) are a complex glitter of jewelled componentry. And the porter coming to take the bags is going to be very impressed indeed by those electric sliding doors.

As a driver I'd probably be finding myself loth to leave the 'bridge', even if it had been a long day's journey into night. With all-ways adjustment of both seats and steering wheel, I found the perfect driving position easy to achieve.

We wouldn't be turning up to the hotel sweaty, either, because there's a digital airconditioning control system that gives each passenger their own preference. And bottles of water or cans of soda stored in the centre console will have been kept cool all day.

The futuristic instrument pods in the centre of the dash retain an essential readability, and the designers also made sure that any emergency information is transmitted close to the driver's eyeline on another pod above the steering column.

The safety levels are high, including in the six airbags total a full-length head-protection system for all three rows of outside-seat occupants.

The review car was powered by the 110bhp 2-litre HDi turbodiesel option. It was quiet and smooth, as I would expect from PSA Group cars. It was also leisurely enough in operation, pulling as it does a pretty heavy vehicle. But while it is significantly slower in the 0-100 km/h run than its petrol-powered sibling, it does the standing kilometre in shorter time, showing the overall more composed performance of the oilburner.

It also has a phenomenal range: an 80-litre tank will take the car close to 700 miles on a long run, at 39mpg, while the worst possible performance in urban tipping about will still return more than 30mpg.

While fuel running costs aren't going to drink your bank balance dry, the C8 is otherwise not exactly cheap. You'll pay between E37,550 (SX petrol) and E42,970 (VSX diesel), and that kind of car value is going to have your insurers reaching for their exponential calculators. Though the 2-litre engine size will ameliorate things a little.

And, sensibly, you're probably going to spend the little extra on the diesel, even if you don't go for the VSX, so significant fuel savings will soften things a bit more.

Also, because nobody buying a new C8 is likely to let it go for at least five years, and will probably hold on for a few more than that, since that is what you do with a car like this, my recommendation is that you go the whole way up to the VSX.

You won't really notice the additional financial pain over the period, and the extras are what will make the C8 all the better to live with over the long haul.

And on many long hauls, I hope.