• Small exterior but huge interior
• Plenty of space for a family
• Includes a huge boot

There is a generous amount of interior space in the Rapid. There are five seats and yes, you could squeeze five people in, but the Rapid is much better suited to ferrying four adults. Head- and leg-room is plentiful.

Rear seat passengers have the opportunity to stow items in the netting on the inner sides of the front seats. There’s also a host of self-aggrandisingly titled ‘Simply Clever’ features.

There’s an ice scraper that slides into the inside of the fuel tank filler flap and even a removable rubbish bin in the door pocket meaning that you should always have a tidy interior.

The Rapid is longer than your typical supermini, but similar in width, so it’s easy to manoeuvre into tight spaces and use around town. In that sense, it makes an excellent family car, especially when you consider how much interior space is on offer.

Visibility is good which really helps to make life easier, and lots of big windows aids this further. Squeezing into tight spaces or nipping around town shouldn’t fill you with dread, thanks to its compact size.

With the seats in place the Skoda Rapid has 550 litres of luggage space and with the rear seats folded this expands to 1,490 litres.

Compare the boot space on the Rapid to the Ford Focus and you can see that the Rapid has much more space. With seats in place the Ford Focus has 363 litres and when the rear seats are folded flat this expands to 1,148.

If you compare that to the VW Golf, the Rapid comes out on top. The Golf has 380 litres with the seats in place while it has 1,270 when flat.

The Skoda Rapid has plenty of space on offer and that makes it a brilliant proposition for those motorists that need the extra versatility that this car offers.

• Five star safety rating for the Rapid
• Plenty of airbags and extra features
• More can be added at cost

The Rapid is a safe car. It achieved five star Euro NCAP crash safety rating when it was tested, which includes a 94 per cent rating for adult occupant protection.

Standard safety kit includes ABS, ESP, driver and front seat passenger airbags, head airbags, side airbags for the front seat passengers, seatbelt reminder for front seat passengers, fuel line cut-off on collision, child seat fittings on the rear seat, headlight levelling and daytime running lights.