Geneva Motor Show - Skoda

The oddest Skoda for years
Yes, but it's also a peculiarly beguiling and practical one too, we think.

We reckon Skoda could be on to a winner with the Roomster, its new small MPV, as long as it gets the pricing right.

It's designed to slot in between the Fabia and Octavia in Skoda's range and, hopefully, should start at about £10,000. It'll be on sale in October.

Styling is pretty faithful to the original Roomster concept, although the asymmetrical sliding door layout has been lost. Instead, the five-seater gets a pair of conventional rear doors.

Although it's shorter than a small family car such as a Ford Focus, Skoda has created a spacious interior with clever seats. When the slender centre rear seat is removed, the two outer chairs can slide inwards to give passengers more shoulder room.

The rear seats slide, recline and tumble, but can also be removed entirely to almost quadruple the size of the 460-litre boot.

What's next from Skoda?
We'll probably see the all-new Fabia in 2007, which will almost certainly have the front-end styling in the same mould as the Roomster.