But how does the French manufacturer’s new five seat model measure up?

Web Editor Adrian Higgins put it through its paces at the UK launch.

Auto Trader’s Assistant Editor Stuart Milne loves the seven seat Grand Picasso.

After driving it for a day he declared it was the biggest development to hit MPVs since the original Renault Espace broke cover in 1984.

The bar has been set high and Citroen is keen to stress the five seat version of the car is not simply a version of the bigger vehicle with two less seats.

The front of the car is similar, but from the centre pillar back every panel is new, giving it its own distinctive look. From there on the addition of a roof spoiler gives a more sporty profile which contributes to an eye-catching chic look.

It is a car with its own identity rather than looking like a mini-Grand Picasso.

Inside Citroen has concentrated on repeating the trick of creating maximum space and light, which is partly achieved by the panoramic windscreen unveiled with the Grand version and partly by intelligent use of storage.

Space is freed between the driver and front seat passenger by locating a handbrake button on the dashboard with steering wheel mounted paddle controls the means of operating Citroen’s six-speed clutchless manual transmission (called Electronic Gearbox System).

The clutchless manual transmission is easy to use though drivers who opt for this set-up can switch to automatic mode if desired.

A manual five-speed gearbox is also available.

Like the C4 hatchback the steering wheel is unusual in that while the rim rotates, the central, control-laden part remains static in the middle.

More storage lies on either side of the hooded, central information display, the one in front of the driver housing the six CD changer. Storage that looks good? Now there’s a novelty.

And it’s not just during daylight hours that the C4 is a nice light space. There are more than 30 different sources of light within the car, unfortunately a blindingly light March day in the West Country wasn’t the best day to show this off but we liked the sound of it!

Elsewhere the car is drenched in nice touches and intelligent design.

We liked the fact that the rear-seat mounted DVDs are concealed behind tray tables and the air-conditioning can be tailored to four positions within the car.

So what’s it like to drive?

There’s a choice of two petrol and two diesel models and we drove both diesels and one of the petrols.

All three were deceptively quiet, it was a shock to see the speedometer had crept above 60mph when noise levels led us to believe we were going much slower.

It certainly nips along quite easily, though initial acceleration (0-62mph times vary between and 11.5 and 13.4 seconds) did feel a little sluggish.

The driving position is good and the ride smooth. It wallows a little in corners, but this is an MPV and not a sports car.

The only other criticism we have from three half-hour drives is a bright day made the speedometer and rev counter hard to read.

Fuel economy is good with the petrol models returning 46-and-a-bit mpg and the diesels upping that to 55-and-a-bit mpg.

And it should tick all the safety boxes with its big brother having achieved a top-rated five stars in EuroNCAP tests.

Like the Grand C4 Picasso, the 5-seater is a very good, stylish, competent MPV.

It also looks better than the seven-seater and if the resale values hold up as well as Citroen claim buyers should still be smiling when they come to sell.