ONE MINUTE you're young and carefree, driving a fab sports car and partying like it's 1999 and then, seemingly overnight, you morph into a grown up, with a couple of saucepan lids and a dog. You spend enough at ParknShop to finance a small nation, turn into a pumpkin at midnight, struggle into jeans that fitted when you were 20, and realise you've outgrown your car. But you can't bring yourself to trade the TT for a station wagon. So, is there a car that fits the gap between sporty and people carrier? Mazda thinks so. The Mazda MPV ($263,900) has been revamped with a sports appearance, with a smart grille, side skirts, front and rear bumpers and a roof spoiler all making a good-looking car. It's not as sharp as the Alphard, or as squidgy as the bubble-like Picnic, but the MPV (for 'multi-purpose vehicle') is sleek and striking. The interior is as luxurious as a mobile sitting room. The dashboard is trimmed with walnut and the leatherwork looks authentic. Everything is well finished, and without the hint of the plastic veneer that you see elsewhere. There are two rows of passenger seats and - the piece de resistance - an optional DVD player ($6,000). The MPV may be about the size of a small house (at 4.833m long, 1.83m wide, 1.745m high and 1,670kg) but its handling is light and (gasp) sporty in Causeway Bay. The six seats are electric and easily adjustable. After a terrible moment in the Lee Gardens car park, where I'm saved by the park assist (invaluable because you can't see much out of the rear window) I test the capacity of the car by filling it with as many items as I can buy. The spacious boot swallows up everything I can throw at it, including two cases of wine. The rear shelf is flimsy and pointless - such a shame when the overall quality of the finish is so high. I also fit the largest cup of coffee perfectly into the cup holders. The stereo has nine speakers and superb sound. Jacky Cheung Hok-yau's sweeping stadium sound fills the car as I fight the traffic around Hysan Avenue. Amazingly, someone lets me in and even smiles. This car has presence! I'm amazed at how easy the MPV is to drive. Granted, you're cushioned from the engine, which gives a feeling of detachment, but the steering is very responsive. The high driving position gives you a clear view of the road ahead. The overall design of the A frame is such that side vision is blocked, but the excellent mirrors make up for it. As with many similar cars, the gear stick is on the steering wheel and the notchy design is awkward to master. I'm sure there's a technique, but I haven't mastered it yet. The instrument panel is permanently backlit, a thoughtful touch. I borrow a ready-made family and load the car up for a day in the New Territories. The rear doors are power assisted but don't always respond. All is not lost, though, as they can also be opened remotely and be controlled from the dashboard. The back seats are comfortable enough to seat five people and have more cup holders than you could ever use, including one that slides back from the driver to the second row of seats, presumably in case you want to offer an in-car airline style service. The back of the car has fairly flimsy curtains which I'm terrified the children are going to destroy. Happily, disaster is averted when the 180-watt DVD starts playing. The volume can be lowered or muted from the steering wheel, but the whole car has to listen if you choose to play a film. Everyone is happy with the exception of the driver. After 10 minutes of listening to Barney I'm ready to commit murder. The car is superbly safe - rated five stars in US Government tests - and fitted with airbags, steel-reinforced safety cage and crumple zones, so the children are safe from any external harm, although Barney tries my patience sorely, and so I take advantage of the 'mute' button on the steering wheel. I flit off to Shek O at an ungodly hour of the morning. The MPV handles superbly around the tight bends. The 163-brake- horsepower, 2.3-litre, 16-valve engine surges quickly. You don't feel as much brute power as driving a sports car, but then you can't get seven people into one of those! It's tricky to see the speedometer, which is a problem on the straight roads, because you really don't feel the speed (honestly, officer). On the whole, the car performs much better than the pudding I assumed it would be. As a passenger, I recline in the middle row of seats to make extra leg room. Given that the doors are so wonderfully automated, you'd assume that the seats were equally easy to move, but this doesn't prove to be the case. At the end of half an hour, the seats are flat, but I'm left exhausted, with a couple of headrests that I know should fit in somewhere. Leaving them to one side, we set off. Driving a people carrier through Shamshuipo with the curtains closed, there's only one type of film that I could possible watch, so we drive around watching the classic triad series Young and Dangerous on the ceiling-mounted screen. The car echoes to the cries of Ekin Cheng Yi-kin's protests and whacks as I luxuriate in the leather seats. There's effective climate control in the back seats and I lie back in comfort, drinking coffee and watching the movie. I can see that the driver is slightly less relaxed but, hey, not my problem. Once I get used to the size of the car, driving is a sheer pleasure although I have a few tense moments in car parks. Amazingly, the 5.7m turning circle is tight. The handling is perfect in heavy traffic and around the winding Hong Kong roads, but the car really comes into its own on the motorways when you practically float to your destination. Mazda Hong Kong (2893 1112) says the MPV does 11.6km to the litre, making it reasonable to run. The distributor's service is superb. It even offer advanced driving courses for MPV owners. Hopefully, this includes an explanation of how the windscreen wipers work because the lever has so many options. So, the MPV passes all tests. I'm deeply impressed and have to have the keys prised out of my hands as I return it. Who'd have thought driving a grown-up car could be this much fun? Tested: Mazda MPV, a smart, hurtling, people mover How much? $263,900 What moves it? A real goer of a 163 brake-horsepower, 2.3-litre, four-cylinder 16-valve MZR engine How fast? Fast enough for Barney and the kids How thirsty? 11.6km per litre, on a 75-litre tank Safety features: Good. Five-star US government impact-protection rating; Triple H steel structural reinforcements; front and rear crumple zones; seat-belt pretensioners with load limiters; anti-lock braking system; dual airbags Alternatives? The Toyota Picnic is cheap and cheerful, as are Nissan's Serena range (2.0 litre: $226,800; 2.5-litre $249,800), Honda's two-litre Stream ($199,800) and 2.4-litre Stepwgn $259,880). Cross-border tycoons and image-conscious celebs like the lumbering Alphards, but please think if you actually need an MPV. A smaller, more parkable family saloon might suffice.
