Every morning I get to the bottom of my road and I have to make an important decision: do I go right and join the hoards on a dull dual carriageway all the way to the office, or do I indicate left and follow a series of tortuous B-roads on a longer, but much more interesting route to the same destination. The decision is usually made easier by the car I happen to be driving. I was stumped for the first time this week though as I was driving Mitsubishi's latest full-size MPV, the Grandis. Easy enough you would have thought - take the dual carriageway and listen to Radio 4, but Mitsubishi is making bold claims for the driving experience, so I opted for the road less travelled...

The Grandis puffs out its chest with a sharp Japanese suit; sleek and distinctively sporty. Its nose is aggressive and shares its pointy beak with the Lancer Evolution. It's difficult to inject sportiness into the side profile of a large MPV, but the five-spoke alloys and shapely waistline conspire to draw admiring glances, and the "Amethyst" paintwork is quite unique. There are few other MPVs on the market promising to be sporty as well as spacious, the other notable exception being the Honda Stream, and in our eyes the Grandis looks more appealing.

Inside the Mitsubishi it is people-carrying business as usual. The Grandis seats seven in comfort, with plenty of legroom for every passenger. As with the Honda, the third row of seats folds completely flat, allowing the option of extra passengers or luggage. Most controls were familiar from the Outlander, but the quality of the Grandis interior was a little less impressive, with annoying creaks from the plastics when on the move. The Honda Stream nails the Mitsubishi on this aspect.

On the move, the Grandis proved to be disappointing, though perhaps only because it had been built up as an MPV for the enthusiast. Steering feel for a start is non-existent and the helm itself was too light for our liking. In contrast, the hard brake pedal made us wonder whether or not the servo was connected. Thankfully the five-speed gearbox is slick to use (the Honda's is better...) and the 2.4-litre engine does a good job of moving the bulk, though the extra 100kg or so that the Grandis has over the Outlander was obvious during acceleration. We managed an average fuel consumption figure of only 25mpg. Thankfully a diesel version is on the way, which takes the concept further away from the sporty MPV tag.

In conclusion, though on paper the Honda Stream has a much smaller powerplant, it is actually the better car, certainly better to drive and it therefore deserves to be marketed as an MPV for the enthusiast. The Grandis does not live up to this brief, though it does look good and is more spacious than the Stream. The price may put buyers off too, as the cheapest Grandis is more than £1,000 more than the Stream. It boils down to the morning decision at the end of the road. Left or right?