I needed a car that was exciting to drive, had good performance and was versatile and practical enough to suit my new lifestyle. The Zafira GSi seemed like the answer to my problems.

I'd never really considered an MPV before because there was nothing on the market that was exciting or cool enough to run on our Fast Fleet. But Vauxhall claims to have created a new segment in the market, 'the hot MPV', and this silver bus is it. What makes it special is the same turbocharged 2.0 16v ECOTEC four-cylinder engine that can be found in the Astra Coupe Turbo and the recently launched Astra 888.

With 187bhp at your disposal ΂- giving a top speed of 137mph and a 0-60 of under eight seconds ΂- Europe's fastest MPV has enough power to give the perkiest of GTIs a good run for their money. Or at least it does in a straightish line. My daily journey to the office is an 80-mile round trip which switches from motorway to twisty B-road. Once you're off the motorway and driving quickly across country you're reminded that the Zafira is not quite the hot hatch it wants to be ΂- but then how many GTIs have seven seats?

For long-distance driving, the Zafira should simply eat the miles. The interior is well decked-out with super-comfortable Recaro sports seats in the front, white instrument dials and aluminium gearknob, though I'm not too sure about the cheesy 'turbo' lettering on the door sills. Then there's the extra pair of seats folded away in the boot ΂- just slide the rear seats forward and they cleverly pull up into place.

The Zafira has been styled to appeal to people like me and they've tried hard to make it look sporty with its deep front spoiler with large air intakes, 17-inch alloys, rear tailgate spoiler and tinted rear windows to finish off the look. Someone in the office commented that overall it looks like a squashed-up version of the Vectra GSi.

Unfortunately the Zafira has already had one unscheduled visit to a Vauxhall dealer. It began to make an unusual knocking noise that could only be heard at standstill and sounded a bit like a diesel engine ticking over. After a couple of days the noise had become slightly worse and a visit to my local dealership was the only answer.

The nice man at Sycamores of Stamford had a listen to the noise, decided that perhaps I shouldn't be driving the car and said it would be a few hours before they could take a proper look at it.

I called them later to be told that the crankshaft pulley had come loose. In fact three of the four bolts that hold it in place were missing and the car had to stay with them overnight to be fixed.

When I collected the car the next morning I asked, just out of interest, what would've happened if the fourth bolt had gone missing. Would it have been dangerous? Not really, said the Vauxhall man, though you might have lost some of the auxiliaries power, like the power steering for example. Sounded fairly dangerous to me. Let's hope nothing else rattles loose.

The Zafira is a worthy addition to the evo long- term fleet. It's a beast of an MPV, capable of whipping some hot hatch ass, and I'm looking forward to many more miles in it. Next job is to buy that 'baby on board' sticker.