Category: Compact MPV 
Price Range: £11,495 to £16,495
Useful space with five or seven seats, good ride quality, strong diesel engine, improved quality.
Weak petrol engine, plastics could be better, lifeless steering.
Practical and sensible family transport; no more, no less.
The body is much stiffer than the old model's, helped by extensive bracing, which helps keep the Carens composed as you weave through a series of bends on a country road, and the fully independent suspension, which uses nitrogen-filled shock absorbers, does a very good job of soaking up bumps and ridges.
The steering isn't so impressive. It feels heavy when you're in town, especially when you're parking, and on those country roads it doesn't offer the feedback you need for precise cornering. Sure, it's not meant to be a sports car, but the Zafira and Scenic are both noticeably better in this area.
Unless your Carens is carrying seven hairy adults, the glass is big enough to give you a good view out. The front pillars are, however, on the large side - like those in all cars of this type - and the triangle of glass built into the bottom is there to let light in rather than to help you spot cyclists.
That's three stars for the petrol and four for the diesel. There's nothing wrong with the 16-valve, four-cylinder, 145bhp 2.0-litre petrol engine as such; it's just that it's not up to the job of propelling a reasonably large, reasonably heavy vehicle along in traffic. With less than half of its full load of people and bags, the petrol Carens makes a great deal of fuss around the national speed limit. Show it a particularly big hill and you wouldn't just be changing down through the gearbox, you'd be asking for volunteers to get out and walk the rest of the way.
The diesel is infinitely better. Don't be put off by the fact that it has a humble-sounding 140bhp - get the CRDi above 1500rpm and it has oodles of pulling power (225lb-ft of torque to be precise). It responds instantly to the accelerator, making for a much more harmonious and less stressful relationship between car and driver.
The diesel works well with both the manual and automatic gearboxes. The automatic suits a lazier style of driving, although you can over-ride it by switching into manual mode and moving the gear lever forwards for up, backwards for down. The full-time manual gearbox has a pleasingly precise action that encourages you to make the most of the engine's potential.
The diesel accelerates to 62mph in the same 11 seconds as the petrol car (with manual gearboxes in both cases) and has a marginally lower top speed of 116mph versus 118mph. But in the real world the diesel engine provides the performance you need, when you need it, and all too often the petrol version doesn't. Fuel consumption figures are not yet available, but as ever the diesel will be the better bet.
