When there's no substitute for sheer size, the Hyundai i800 eight-seater people MPV might well be the last name to be crossed off your shortlist. Andy Enright reports

Car manufacturers have become so clever at making a little go a long way that as consumers we've become accustomed to getting a whole bunch of people into what is ostensibly a modestly sized vehicle.

There are many shapelier MPVs around but a sleek silhouette is no substitute for acres of space, especially if you've got a big family. The Hyundai i800 isn't the most sophisticated but at over 5.1 metres long, it is massive and can seat eight and still have room for some bags.

Bombarded by reports that cars are getting bigger and heavier, it's instructive to see that a modern seven-seat MPV like a Vauxhall Zafira is actually shorter than the sort of four or five seat vehicle, such as a Ford Sierra Sapphire, that would have served as family transport when some of us were kids. Still, there's only so much that smart design can do and as anybody who has travelled any distance in the back seats of a Zafira will testify, there's no substitute for size. The Hyundai i800 is a firm believer in this maxim, offering big, unpretentious family transport that can seat eight.

Rather than using the same chassis as a commercial vehicle, this people carrier has a purpose-made coil sprung rear suspension system with five locating links to ensure optimum ride quality and manoeuvrability.

As you might well expect, you're not going to see the i800 gracing the cover of evo magazine anytime soon, the i800 not doing a whole lot to hide its H-1 van roots. Despite the fact that it never feels anything other than a big, tall bus, the i800 does get a very good diesel engine. At the moment, there's only a 170PS version of the 2.5-litre four-cylinder diesel but it does have a massive 392Nm of torque; enough to ensure that the i800 never feels sluggish even with a full load. Balancer shafts also mean that the engine remains reasonably smooth and refined. Power is transmitted via a rather long-throw five-speed manual gearbox, but the engine offers a genuine turn of pace and a triple digit top speed means that you aren't going to be embarrassed on the motorway, even when fully loaded.

This is the acid test for an MPV. Many manufacturers will fit small diesel or petrol engines to their models and claim sales on the back of impressive looking economy and emissions figures. This all comes to naught if you must then thrash the guts out of the car to make any progress when it's loaded with people and luggage. A much cleverer option is to go for a bigger, less stressed engine and waft along on a fat slug of torque.

Park the Hyundai i800 outside your neighbours house and you may well have them googling their claims to 'Right to Light'. It's a big unit, the 5125mm length making it longer than a Mercedes S-Class and the 1925mm height making it taller than Rio Ferdinand in stockinged feet. While it's not going to win any beauty prizes, that blockhouse shape is undeniably the most efficient way of maximising internal space. That eternal quandary that faces most MPV owners (namely that when they've loaded the vehicle with passengers, there's nowhere to put the bags) just doesn't apply with the i800. Even with eight up, there's a 581-litre luggage bay - almost twice as much as some estate cars.

The car features a pair seats in front and two benches behind, each accommodating three adults in comfort with uncompromised head and legroom. Both rear benches feature a 60:40 split-fold and recline while the centre row also slides forwards or backwards to tailor space as required. All of the rear seats are accessed by pair of sliding doors, making access easy wherever the i800 is parked. Once inside, the ambience is far more car-like than other 'minibus' style rivals, with two-tone interior trim, privacy glass, a six-speaker audio system and ducted air conditioning throughout. Individually-controllable overhead vents in the rear make sure all of the occupants can keep their cool.

The i800's value proposition can best be put into context by the fact that the closest comparable vehicle, the Volkswagen's Transporter Shuttle or Caravelle, would cost around £28,000 when equipped to the level of a 170PS Hyundai i800. Given that the i800 costs around £20,000, it looks very competitive value for money indeed. The other salient point is that if you need a vehicle this big for your family duties, it's probably fair to assume that the brood isn't exactly cheap to run and any savings made on transport will come in very welcome.

Despite its torquey performance, the i800's engine is also capable of decent economy with a combined figure of 33.2 mpg. Thanks to a 75 litre tank, it means the i800 driver could go more than 560 miles between fill ups.

We tend to think of vehicles like the Hyundai i800 as what marketers dub a distress purchase. In other words, it's a product you're forced into buying rather than one that you actually want. Given that you need an eight seater vehicle, the choices are rather slim, even the biggest 'conventional' MPVs like the Chrysler Grand Voyager seating a maximum of seven. What you're left with are van-based vehicles, some of which are nevertheless notably better than others. A distress purchase maybe, but you can still derive a measure of satisfaction from seeing your money spent wisely and that's where the Hyundai i800 scores.

The most refreshing thing about the i800 is that it is what it is. It doesn't pretend to be anything clever. There's nothing pretentious about it and it does a very good job of carting eight people and their gear around without being a misery to drive. That's all you can really ask of it at this price point. A modest aspiration maybe, but one that's fully realised.