Volkswagen's Caddy Life may have started life as a van but it has emerged as a spacious and comfortable people carrier. Van conversions can be just that: a van dressed up, but for the Caddy Maxi Life the treatment is more than cosmetic. Michael Moroney drove the Caddy Maxi Life and this is his report.

For me a true MPV is a car that has the capacity to carry more than the standard five people. And for some there are compromises around that, but the essence of the name is in the M or multi.

The new Volkswagen Caddy Maxi Life comes with loads of space, good comfort and accessibility. The price starts are €27,070 before delivery charges for what is a stylish and value people carrier with comfort.

Volkswagen has adopted its Caddy van to a life as an MPV in a new incarnation called the Caddy Maxi Life. This is a factory-developed conversion with big specification changes over the van version and it's based on the long wheelbase Volkswagen Caddy van. This van is 470mm longer than the standard Caddy van and this extra space is put to good effect in the new people carrier.

The target for any MPV is seating capacity with room for the luggage. And Volkswagen hits the target well. The Caddy Maxi Life is a seven seat MPV with more ample legroom in the rear than most of the other seven seat units on the market. The rear row of seats gives reasonable legroom, there is excellent legroom in the mid row and there is good enough space for the bags in the space behind that. So the Caddy Maxi Life delivers when it comes to space.

The second MPV requirement is one of comfort. The seating is classically Volkswagen, firm but not too hard. The driver's seat adjustment is good and, combined with good steering wheel adjustment, it is easy to get comfortable behind the wheel.

The seat positions give good visibility. There is ample headroom to give a comfortable atmosphere with a full load on board. The rear seats are not for easy removal, as you find in some of the other more compact MPVs. These are bolted to the floor.

The Caddy comes with sliding side doors for good wide access. And you value sliding doors once you start to enter a regular car park area. These doors come with a child lock system. Once inside, the mid row folds forward for access to the rear seats in a simple process. For extra load carrying the rear seats fold forward but not flat to the floor, limiting in some ways the load carrying ability when you are passenger free.

Additional comfort is provided by a great supply of storage areas. There are side pockets for each seat section, plus along the top side panels and overhead the driver and front passenger area. The rear tailgate is big and could be a shade heavy. It opens up with a slight effort and has the advantage as doubling as a shelter and that was put to good use during my wet August test drive.

The Caddy Maxi Life comes with a relatively high specification for creature comfort. This car is designed to appeal to both MPV buyers and the commercial taxi market. And passenger comfort is important in both cases. That's why the higher standard specification of the Caddy Maxi Life includes 'Climatic' semi-automatic air conditioning, electric front windows, carpet, sliding windows and childlocks on both sliding side doors, four luggage nets in the roof lining and a 12v socket in the luggage area.