I'm on my second Octavia estate now but this has gone in for repair (don't let that put you off though), and I currently have a Skoda 1.4 TDi Roomster as a courtesy car. On the strength of this temporary ownership I feel compelled to write a review.

I must say that I wasn't too impressed with the outward appearance of this car, in fact in my opinion it's pretty ugly. I think it has the look of a van which has had rear side windows installed as an afterthought, and to the wrong specifications. This would have been enough to put me off buying one but now that I've driven it my opinion has been seriously affected. It is certainly well named: once inside, any notion of it being a small car is dispelled and you can forget how it looks, if image is not a problem.

The designers have incorporated plenty of storage space in the cabin for bits and bobs and have succeeded reasonably well. There are two glove compartments, but these are a tad small in my opinion. However, it is the flexibility of the rear seats which is impressive. The central seat drops to become a wide armrest or, as the manual would have it, a table. When the seats are dropped, the level of the boot space is consistent (not so with the Octavia - there is a step). What is more, the rear seats are completely removable simply by flicking a couple of levers, bringing us back to the idea of a van, but what a great idea. All of which makes for a versatile storage arrangement.

Being quite tall, I have to have the drivers seat pushed well back and with the Octavia this sacrifices some leg room in the back. The seats in the Roomster are much higher, which allows comfortable driving in a more upright position, leaving plenty of leg room for the rear passengers.

Even with the rear seats in the normal position the boot size is still impressive; it has plenty of volume which is due to the depth rather than the length and compared to the Octavia, it's probably similar. Unfortunately there is a gap between the rear seats and the boot cover which means that contents are not entirely hidden from view. Why this should be I don't know, but it is not a completely satisfactory arrangement.

The heating controls have reverted back to knobs, which I feel is a much more satisfactory arrangement than the push-button computer based system in the Octavia - I can't get to grips with this at all. The Roomster's heating controls are high on the dashboard which makes for ease of use.

Performance is not something that I'm too concerned with as I'm not particularly bothered about how fast it gets from 0 - 60 but this model is pretty nippy and acceleration is adequate if you need it. Fuel consumption is important though and would appear to be very good but this obviously depends on how you drive. In my opinion the engine noise is intrusive and I imagine that this is more to do with lack of sound insulation.

I know that, probably unfairly, I've made comparisons with the Octavia in this review but having driven both, if I could afford it (but it's not that expensive for what you get), I'd probably buy a Roomster from the point of view of space and economy. I'd have to look at the outside before I got in, but I could probably live with that.