It’s not easy to be big but nimble, powerful but economical, practical but fun. Few cars balance these conflicting demands better than the Galaxy, which has a five-star rating in Euro NCAP crash tests.

The cabin is usefully bigger than the S-Max’s, especially if you have a lot of kit to carry. One small crate was the only item of luggage we couldn’t squeeze into the boot.

Turning the Galaxy from Dad’s Taxi into a removal van is easy, thanks to seats that fold away into the floor – there’s no need to stash chairs in the garage when carrying big loads.

The 2.0-litre turbodiesel engine pulls well from low revs, but getting up to 60mph into a headwind took a heavy right foot and a bit of patience. Once at the legal limit, though, the Galaxy proved impressively stable and was unfazed by the lane-change test.

The hill start was a different matter. The handbrake had almost to be pulled free of its mountings before it would hold, although there was never any worry about making it up the hill with so much low-down pull to call upon.