Honda will soon be waving goodbye to the Honda FR-V, which is a pity as it’s a great, affordable family car with a deceptive amount of space and handy features.

With the gearstick and handbrake situated on the dashboard, it leaves space for three seats on the front row, although three adults would be a tight squeeze – better to have a child sat in the middle.

The rear seats stow into the boot floor, which increases boot space to a very practical 1,000 litres.

The Honda FR-V is built on a wide chassis to minimise body roll and has easy manoeuvrability thanks to a small turning circle and nippy engines.

Priced from around £17,000, there are a few engines to choose from – the most popular being the 2.2-litre i-CTDi (diesel) and a 1.8 i-VTEC, which has the poky performance reminiscent of the old 2.0-litre engine, but with better fuel economy and lower CO2 emissions. There’s also an additional gear on the manual transmission and an automatic five-speed gearbox.

It’s a versatile, six-seater car with plenty of storage space and clever hidden compartments.

Climate control air conditioning is fitted as standard and all models have a radio and CD system that is fully integrated into the FR-V’s dashboard.

Safety is a priority and the FR-V has impact absorbing bumpers and collapsible hinges that minimise impact on pedestrians in an accident, and passengers are strategically situated away from the car’s crumple zones.

There are full-length curtain airbags and twin dual-stage airbags in the facia and side airbags in the two outside front seats.

The design of the FR-V’s body structure offers good crash protection because of the large cross section of the front frame and the ladder frame structure of the rest of the body.

The rather quirky FR-V drives really well for a people-carrier with a decent chassis and agile responses.

Although wind and road noise becomes apparent at higher speeds, suspension is good but it’s the good use of space that is its unique selling point.