Honda Stream flows serenely in a crowded life

With such a wide choice of MPVs now available to the Irish market, buyers can be faced with quite a bewildering choice. Between small, compact and full-size, you really have to look hard at your lifestyle before picking one to suit.

Enter Honda’s medium-sized 2-litre SE Sport Stream, a full 7-seater people-carrier in the compact segment, built for comfort. The 2-litre i-VTEC engine, offering an output of 156bhp, will provide all the power you need.

The 4-door Stream is an attractive looking car, if a little peculiar in shape for some people's taste. That end quarter seems to have a fight going on between the roofline and the end window.

More like a car in height, the Honda Stream offers one of the most comfortable rides in its class. It’s not that the seats, (and there are three rows of them), look a whole lot better than those in other models, it’s that they are so very comfortable. It is a car you could go a long way in.

The Stream is mostly aimed at the needs of a growing family or those with a pretty hectic lifestyle who need to truck around a lot of equipment.

Visibility is great, due to the low scuttle line in the front and all that glass (tinted) which includes a very steeply raked windscreen, three good sized windows and a small A-Pillar window along the sides, as well as a huge rear window. High-mounted brake lights frame the rear window.

It is easy to get in and out of the car and this could be a boon if grandma and grandpa or an elderly aunt are being taken along for the ride, even sitting in the very back seats. An important factor, too, is that the centre headrest is lower so as to allow the driver a good rear view.

The cabin is bright and airy with good quality materials and lots of chrome effect. Added light filters through the electric sunroof which comes with a slide across panel for those who have an allergy to light.

The central stack is square in shape, aluminised and with two big air vents on top. The Panasonic radio is a bit fiddly but the sound is good. Two big temperature knobs are situated on either side of nine big square buttons, all marked clearly with diagrams to tell you what they are. Dials are set in aluminium surround. Orange numbers stand out against the black background.