The Renault Kangoo has never sought to disguise its origins, coming as it does from the seedy commercial side of car making. Despite the van origins, it seeks to make a virtue of its practicality, offering bags of room and honest interiors that can stand up to the sort of abuse a van might expect.
The Kangoo has a real unpretentious charm about it - it doesn't seek to be what it isn't; a premium machine or a real driver's car. It an easy car to own - it's easy to drive, with its simple setup, and cheap to run too.
The boxy lines on show here exist outside of fashion or any such frivolous considerations, but Renault has managed to make the Kangoo look better than rivals from Citroen or Fiat do. Those square sides and a boot door that goes straight down from ceiling to bumper means that the Kangoo offers exceptional space inside for its footprint.
Five people can be seated comfortably inside the car and with incredible amounts of luggage too. The Kangoo is even more exceptionally commodious when the seats are dropped as well - you don't have to be embarrassed about its van origins all the time.
You would not expect the materials used inside to be premium plastics, but they're not even distant cousins if truth be told. The dashboard feels robust, but the quality is short of what most people would consider acceptable in a car today.
It's likely to be this part of the car that will decide the Kangoo for you. If you're after a robust van-like car then it will appeal, but if you're pitting it against the likes of Nissan's Qashqai then it will lose that particular fight.
The Kangoo's refinement is particularly poor, too, with lots of engine noise getting into the cabin and that bluff shape generating lots of wind noise on the motorway. That and the relatively poor standard equipment level conspire against the Kangoo. The Kangoo is well-behaved on the road, though, and rides well even when fully laden with stuff.
Most buyers are going to go for the frugal yet punchy diesel engines that are on offer - they represent good value and suit the Kangoo's workmanlike roots. Our favourite is the 86bhp diesel that sits in the middle of the range.
The Kangoo is an honest, no-frills car - perfect if that's what you're looking for.