• Obscene levels of boot space for the price
• Plenty of room for four adults
• Poorly thought-out features will drive you to distraction

There’s no sense beating about the bush – the Dacia Logan MCV Stepway offers more boot space than anything else you can buy at this price. Its 573-litre load bay is larger than many cars from classes above – larger than a VW Golf, the famously practical Citroen C3 Aircross or even the enormous Audi A6 Allroad.

The area is flat and square, with a low loading height – albeit slightly higher than the norm for this jacked-up Stepway model – and a really wide boot opening.

On sheer volume, then, it’s definitely a winner. You’ll have no issues fitting flat-pack furniture, pushchairs or other clobber in here – and dogs will love having so much space to stretch out in.

Fold the seats down and they don’t sit totally flat, but the slight slope they leave isn’t too big an issue. When folded they leave a cavernous 1,518 litres of space, and a loading length of up to 2.3 metres.

However, cost-cutting is evident, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the boot area. The most annoying thing by a country mile is that there’s no external release for the boot. You either have to use the key, or pull a catch in the driver’s footwell. It’ll only take a few times forgetting this before you start cursing it.

The load area is poorly finished, too, especially the extremely flimsy parcel shelf.

Space for rear seat passengers is ample. Head and legroom are both well provided, and you’ll find Isofix points on both sides.

The Logan MCV isn’t the widest of cars, so three adults will be a squeeze along the bench, but that’s certainly something you can say for similarly priced car. A more pressing issue is the unsupportive rear bench, which quickly becomes uncomfortable if you’re sat in it for too long.

Safety

• Poor Euro NCAP rating
• Lack of sophisticated safety aids
• A lightly used rival will likely be more safe

The Dacia Logan posts a fairly poor three-star Euro NCAP crash test score. That’s not great for a family car, and the tests have only got tougher since it was put under scrutiny in 2014.

The Safety Assist category returned a really disappointing 38 per cent score, thanks mainly to a total lack of advanced safety aids. You get ABS, traction control and four airbags, but there’s no front collision alert, autonomous emergency braking or lane-keep assist. The headlights are only halogen, too, and seem very dim when driving at night.

Scores for adult occupants are similarly low, but child occupants have a 75% score which is reasonable. Still, a two-year old example of a similarly-priced supermini will provide more safety equipment.