What Car? Car of the Year 2006 - Best compact MPV

Toyota Verso 2.2 D-4D T3
Price: £17,995
Target Price: £16,783

Toyota's Verso lost its 'Corolla' tag in 2005 and gained a couple of cracking new diesel engines in the process. One of these, the 134bhp 2.2 D-4D, was enough to help the Verso to its first, well deserved, Car of the Year award.

We've always admired the ease with which the Verso transforms from seven- to five- to two-seater car, along with the way it looks, the way it was built and the way it drives. Yet it never had a diesel engine good enough to do the rest of the car justice – until now.

Let's start with the most important aspect of MPV ownership – practicality. If you're buying a compact MPV, then out-and-out space isn't the main priority – you'd be looking at full-size MPVs instead. Here, though, flexibility is the key, and that's where the Toyota beats its rivals hands (and seats) down.

Each seat in rows two and three folds flat into the floor in a matter of seconds, while there's none of the knuckle-grazing, muscle-straining action that's required to remove some of the seats from last year's winner, the VW Touran. The seats in the middle row tilt and slide forward independently of each other, while there's enough width for three adults to sit in the middle row in reasonable comfort.

Space isn't fantastic if you happen to find yourself in row three (it's best left to the kids), while you'll struggle to carry much luggage with seven on board. Still, you do get an excellent safety package, with nine airbags, a generous level of luxury kit in our favoured T3 model.

That new D-4D diesel engine is clean, frugal, powerful and refined. Combine that with tidy handling and a ride that is firm, but not jolting, and you get an MPV that is most unlike an MPV to drive. What's more, it looks good from the inside or the outside.

Highly recommended
Mazda 5 2.0 D TS
Price: £15,900
Target Price: £14,997

Vauxhall Zafira 1.9 CDTi 120 Club
Price: £17,695
Target Price: £16,168

Volkswagen Touran 1.9 TDI S 7st
Price: £16,050
Target Price: £14,857