There's still a great degree of confusion in the midi MPV market. Does the public want seven or five seats in its cars? Doubtless the debate will continue for some time, but in the meantime Vauxhall must be glad that it brought out its Zafira with seven seats as in many ways it set the class standards. The Zafira's star feature is its FLEX7 seating, which allows the third row of seats to slide away under the middle row when they are not required. It means that no matter what seat configuration you are using, you always have all seven with you. Many MPVs require you to remove seats and leave them behind when you fit in loads, a nuisance if you need a combination of layouts on the same journey. The star rival of the Zafira in terms of sheer sales is the Citroen Xsara Picasso but really there's no contest unless price is your only consideration. Citroen has now toughened the fight with its new Grand C4 Picasso seven seater. The Xsara Picasso is cheap because of Citroen's amazing discount policy in the UK. It only has five seats, which proves that most buyers in this sector don't really want seven. However, where there's a choice of five or seven seats on the same model, as in the VW Touran, then pundits predict it will always be the seven seater that sells more readily than the five seater purely because it's a more versatile car. In fact, VW was forced to add the extra seats at no cost. The Zafira makes a lot of sense because it's better built than the Xsara Picasso and will probably last longer, too. And although this is a purely personal viewpoint, I also reckon it looks better too. The Zafira may be boxy, but it still beats the blobby look of the Picasso. The Zafira arrived in June, 1999, so there are nearly eight years' worth of cars to choose from. Beware that some have come in as personal or grey imports from the Continent and should be wearing Opel badges as a result. If in doubt check the documentation because it will still say Opel even if the car is showing Vauxhall badges. Opels are worth less than Vauxhalls because of their grey status. The trade may deny it as they sell you the car but will confirm it when you want to trade in. There's a wide range of trim options on this model, but of course they all have seven seats, unlike some larger MPV rivals which only offered five rather than six or seven in lower trim levels. There's a huge range of engine choices, from 1.6 to 2.2 petrol plus some good diesels, too. The diesels are the ones to go for as they hold their values so much better, as I'll explain below. I've just been running a 1.9 litre diesel and loved its combination of performance and 45 mpg economy. I've always found petrol Zafiras a little thirsty. Service intervals were 10,000 miles but have now been stretched to 20,000, but you still really need an annual check. Some Zafiras will be wearing high mileages from an early fleet life but as long as the service history is up together that's no problem. Insurance starts at Group 5. When it comes to values, diesels do better. An 05 plate two litre DTi Elegance, for instance, is £10,925, £1,200 more than a 2.2 petrol equivalent even though the petrol was £200 dearer when new. Early 1.6 Zafiras are down to less than £4,000 on a 99T, which is cheap family motoring. A new model launched in 2005 which could start defleeting this year. An 06 plate 120 bhp 1.9 litre diesel Club is £13,000, while petrol cars on an 05 start at £9,900. Maurice Hardy