Hey, at least it has a DIN slot !

True! I await the thread "Hey, has anybody installed an Empeg in a Fiat Multipla?"

Seriously though, while looking odd the Fiat Multipla (which is what is it) is a damn fine car. It is very well designed, fitting six seats into a size of a normal five seater small European car.

There definitely were functional aspects of it that would be positives for a family of six (that, as you suggest, doesn't want to drive a monster). In five days, I started to get used to the 5-speed shifter sticking out of the dash, and the design really opened up the floor in the front (but the shifter wasn't very precise for whatever reason -- didn't like to go into 4th all the time!). No, Brad, no rally car!

I did *not* get used to having all the instruments off to the side (and that's my one knock on the new Mini). I'm happier diverting my gaze in a straight line to 6:00, not somewhere out at 3:49.

We slept in the car 2 nights and had specified a mini-van for this purpose (thought we'd get maybe a Renault Megane Scenic). The seats in the Multipla didn't recline as much as we might have hoped, nor did the seats slide back very far, so there was no advantage to this part over a sedan (that could also be true of the Megane). It is meant to *seat* the family, for sure.

Oh, one big nit. Since the greenhouse is so big, the *front* windows did not lower all the way into the door! I would expect that in rear windows, perhaps, but I would have a hard time living with that.

We did see a bunch of other mini-van type models (including some newer Renaults) that looked similar in concept/size, but which were certaiinly prettier! Also, there was a VW van -- closer to true van size -- that parked next to us one night that we really lusted after.